Unlike Lindsay Lohan, Vladimir Putin, Justin Bieber, and Congress members who tweet pictures of their penis, impoverishment is a subject rarely joked about. Certainly there’s nothing funny about illnesses that result from lacking access to proper sanitation, or a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

To spur change, however, stories illustrating these problems need to reach as many ears as possible. That’s where Stand Up Planet, a two-part comedy special, comes in.

In the first half of the documentary, host Hasan Minhaj (Arrested Development) follows comics in Mumbai and Johannesburg as local issues—such as the incarceration rate for black men living in Johannesburg or the space-challenged homes in an Indian slum—become fodder for jokes and banter. (Example: “Parents say, ‘Go to your room!’ and kids respond, ‘Yeah, but where are we going?’)

Both countries are part of the booming international stand-up scene, where jokes are pushing the limits of what used to be considered acceptable. While Indian comics explore politics and women’s rights in the midst of a gender equality movement, in South Africa the first generation born since apartheid searches for laughs in race and sex.

In the documentary’s second half, Minhaj and his crew bring the international comedians to Los Angeles, where they perform at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory. Along the way, they meet legendary humorists Bill Cosby and Carl Reiner. “When you laugh, you know you got them,” Cosby tells the group in the trailer, imparting wisdom about humor’s ability to connect people.

Stand Up Planet’s message about the need for poverty relief will hopefully be heard loud and clear. Perhaps Reiner is right: “What will save the world is the comics.”

Link TV and Pivot, our sister network, will air Stand Up Planet simultaneously on May 14 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. Additionally, the documentary will air May 14 on Southern California’s KCET at 9 p.m. PT.