What if the foundational philosophy behind every modern user interface, WYSIWYG, was inspired by a 1970s drag character? The Xerox PARC engineers who wanted an interface that told the absolute truth named it after Geraldine, the creation of the comedian Time magazine crowned TV’s first Black superstar.

This episode follows Clerow Flip Wilson Jr. from an abandoned childhood in Depression-era Jersey City to the top of network television. It explores how he used disarming joy rather than anger to dismantle racial barriers, and why, at the height of his power, he walked away to raise his children.

• How Red Foxx’s endorsement on The Tonight Show in 1965 launched Wilson’s national career overnight
• The Columbus routine from his 1967 album and how Queen Isabel Johnson became the prototype for Geraldine
• The Flip Wilson Show’s rise to the second-highest-rated program on television and its showcase of Black excellence
• How George Carlin wrote for and guest-starred on the show during his counterculture phase
• Why he won full custody of his children in 1979 and stepped away from the spotlight to break the cycle of abandonment