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Directed by John Davies, the feature-length documentary's synopsis reads: For a decade, Chicago’s All Jokes Aside was the premiere Black Comedy Club in the country giving early exposure to most of the important young comedians including: Bill Bellamy, Cedric the Entertainer, Dave Chappelle, Deon Cole, Earthquake, Mike Epps, Jamie Foxx, Adele Givens, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Bernie Mac, Carlos Mencia, Mo’Nique, Craig Robinson, Chris Rock, Jb Smoove, Sheryl Underwood and George Wallace to name a few. Using a mix of stand up and interviews with the comedians who performed there, Phunny Business chronicles the rise and fall of All Jokes Aside, takes an in-depth look at...

Showtime is celebrating Black History Month by featuring documentaries and comedy, stand-up specials that highlight the culture and experience of the Black community. This includes a new documentary from filmmaker, historian and author Nelson George. The doc, entitled Brooklyn Boheme, spotlights some of the defining black voices that rose out of Brooklyn, including: Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Common and Erykah Badu.

Check out the full rundown of Black History Month specials on Showtime below:

Brooklyn Boheme

Airs Thursday, February 2nd at 8:30 Pm (Et/Pt)

This intimate portrait from noted filmmaker, historian and author Nelson George explores the Black arts movement that exploded in the famed Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1980s-‘90s and launched the careers of such acclaimed artists as filmmaker Spike Lee, comedian Chris Rock, musicians Branford Marsalis, Common, Erykah Badu and yasiin bey (formerly known as Mos Def), among many others.

Why not fold documentaries into my list of the "Best Films of 2011?" After all, a movie is a movie, right? Yes, and some years I've thrown them all into the same mixture. But all of these year-end Best lists serve one useful purpose: They tell you about good movies you may not have seen or heard about. The more films on my list that aren't on yours, the better job I've done.

That's particularly true were you to depend on the "short list" released by the Academy's Documentary Branch of 15 films they deem eligible for nomination. The branch has been through turmoil in the past and its procedures were "reformed" at one point. But this year it has made a particularly scandalous sin of

omission. It doesn't include "The Interrupters" (currently scoring 99% on the Tomatometer), which has received better reviews and been on more critic's Best lists than any other.

Any long time resident of Chicago will no doubt fondly remember All Jokes Aside. The black comedy club located in the South Loop neighborhood that was in operation from 1991-2000 and literally the Mecca for any up and coming black comedian during that period. Name any black comedian today; go ahead name one: Chris Rock. Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric The Entertainer, Mo’Nique, Jamie Foxx, Dave Chapelle and Mike Epps just to name a few who all got their start at All Jokes Aside.

So it shouldn’t surprising that there’s a lot of great footage of those comedians during their early hungry days and an equally great story about the club as well which brings us to the new documentary Phunny Business: A Black Comedy. The film, co- produced along with John Davies and Reid Brody by Raymond Lambert who founded the club and directed...