Five Questions with Geoff Bennett, PBS NewsHour Co-Anchor & Co-Managing Editor

Can you use a break from Trump right now? Here it is:

Black Out Loud, the first book from Geoff Bennett, who you undoubtedly remember from his time with MSNBC before he went to PBS, comes out March 24. It traces the transformational history of Black comedy—particularly the explosion of 1990s television—and looks at what those shows meant culturally, politically, and socially. And you definitely need this book!

Because it’s about something that’s been missing in our national life lately: shared cultural touchstones. In the ’90s, tens of millions of us—across race and geography—watched the same sitcoms on the same nights and talked about them the next morning. Shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Martin, and Living Single became places where we encountered each other’s humanity, humor, and complexity. We built community. It was civil discourse at it’s finest.

Geoff explores these issues in the book, noting that those shows stood on the shoulders of decades of groundbreaking work by Black comedians, both on-screen and on-stage, to deliver nuanced portrayals of life, family, and culture. Just a few decades earlier, the idea of Black artists as a dominating force on American airwaves, with characters that were both hilarious and heartfelt, would have been unimaginable. Geoff explains how that happened and what can we learn from that.

At it’s heart, Black Out Loud is a story about how America can transform itself and be better off for it. It’s a story about who we are and who we can be, and it’s perfect for right now.

Geoff is the co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS NewsHour and serves as a contributor to NBC News. A Peabody Award-winning journalist, he has reported on national politics at the highest levels—covering the White House and six presidential election cycles—while conducting exclusive interviews with cultural icons, world leaders, and groundbreaking artists. His work bridges politics and culture, offering clear-eyed insight into the forces that shape American life.

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