Photographer: Victor Lightworship

Comedians from various ethnic groups have contributed heavily to America’s mosaic of mirth for more than a century. Starting in the early 1900s, Jewish jesters like the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Shecky Greene, Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles kibitzed on U.S. stages and screens. The 1960s saw the rise of African-American comics—Dick Gregory,...