Our Favorite Public Programs of 2022

This Year on the Zócalo Stage, Our Panelists Shared Some Jabs, Gave Voice to Resistance, and Reimagined Home

| Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

This year on the Zócalo stage, panelists dared us to reimagine home. Showed us that we can build a better America. Reminded us that incarceration is big business. Demonstrated what dissent can look like. And made us realize that even in the darkest of times, there’s power in laughter.

Since 2003, Zócalo Public Square has been on a mission to connect people to ideas and to each other. Whether you visited us in person, streamed our programming live online, or watched on YouTube or Soundcloud later on, thank you for being …

December 28, 2022

Comedian and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Kristina Wong

No, You're Not Going to Cut up Your Kid’s Underpants!

September 23, 2022

Kristina Wong is a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. She’s a performance artist, comedian, writer, and elected representative who has been presented internationally across North America, the U.K., Hong Kong, …

Political Satirist Bassem Youssef

I’d Like to Tickle Shaquille O’Neal

September 23, 2022

Bassem Youssef is a political satirist who was the host of Al-Bernameg, an Egyptian satire TV show that aired in the wake up the Arab Spring. Included on TIME magazine’s …

‘Humor Is What Makes Us Human’

In an Age of Political Tyranny and Deep Division, Comedy Can Help Us Understand Our Leaders, Ourselves, and Each Other

by Talib Jabbar | September 16, 2022

Fittingly, the Zócalo/ASU Gammage event “What Can We Laugh About?” last night opened with a joke from Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, who was moderating: “Knock knock.”

The prompt audience …

Are Comedians America’s Great Public Intellectuals?

Clowns Have Always Served as the Conscience of the Nation—At Their Peril and Maybe Ours, Too

by Solomon Moore | September 15, 2022

One of Shakespeare’s conceits is the wisdom of clowns. From Feste in Twelfth Night to the Fool in King Lear, they speak truth to power, but tell it slant and …

American Comedians Are Finally Getting Afghanistan Right

After Two Decades of Anti-Muslim Jokes and a Disastrous War, Humor Is Succeeding Where Politics Has Failed

by Ali M. Latifi | September 14, 2022

A joke can be the best way to present real-life issues. Comedians can poke fun at the absurdity of the human condition, even take on topics that feel taboo—like America’s …

comedy