Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

- Season 4

(2017)

Comedian Larry David and leftist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, whom David famously impersonated on Saturday Night Live (1975), learn about the horrors their ancestors faced. They also discover that they have more in common than they thought.

In an episode filled with incredible twists and turns, actor Christopher Walken, singer Carly Simon, and comedian Fred Armisen, each learn about a grandparent whose real identity and background had been a mystery to them.

Actors Ted Danson, his wife Mary Steenburgen, and William H. Macy, are three mainstays of modern-day Hollywood, who discover that their family legacies predate the United States, itself.

Three guests, journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates, film director Ava DuVernay and transgender activist Janet Mock, find their identities challenged. By placing their ancestors' lives in the context of history, they gain an appreciation for their family narratives and see how those narratives illustrate the diversity of the black experience.

Three guests, actress Scarlett Johansson, comedian Paul Rudd and actor John Turturro, explore the tremendous challenges faced by their immigrant forebears.

Three African-American guests, TV host Bryant Gumbel, producer Tonya Lewis-Lee and CNN journalist Suzanne Malveaux, delve deep into their family trees, discovering unexpected stories that challenge our assumptions about black history.

Three guests, actress Lupita Nyong'o, NBA star Carmelo Anthony and Republican strategist Ana Navarro, explore how their family trees were shaped by political turmoil and violence, discovering sometimes unexpected ancestry along the way.

Actresses Téa Leoni and Gaby Hoffman, two guests whose lives have been shaped by family mysteries, are introduced to biological ancestors they never knew they had thanks to genetic detective work.

Musician Questlove, TV personality Dr. Phil and journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, three guests of disparate backgrounds, dig into their Southern roots, where slavery and its aftermath shaped families both black and white.

Humorist Garrison Keillor (replaced by earlier Maya Rudolph story), comedienne Amy Schumer and comedian Aziz Ansari, who have found fame mining their family stories for comedy, learn about ancestors who overcame immense suffering.