The most audacious comedians invoke “freedom of speech” to bring the biggest and most dangerous laughs to the American public. Featured: Mae West, Moms Mabley, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin.

In the ongoing war against hypocrisy, conservatism, political correctness, prejudice, prudery, censorship, sentimentality, liberalism, extremism and complacency, it was always the comedian who led the first wave of attack. Rather than using risqué jokes and four-letter words simply to get a rise out of an audience, the most audacious comedians - from pioneers like Mae West and Moms Mabley to 60s and 70s bad boys like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin - invoked what the First Amendment to the American Constitution calls "freedom of speech" to bring the biggest and most dangerous laughs to the American public.