Comedian Dick Gregory, The D.C. Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C., Tuesday, January 30, 8 p.m.

Wow! When it comes to blasts from the past, here is the genuine article! Dick Gregory, now 75, is a living legend, a humorist who used his celebrity to advance the cause of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He’s at the D.C. Improv for one night only in a show that will be taped for BBC Radio. Gregory was a giant in the cause of civil rights in an era when it was hardly and easy thing to be. He catapulted to the top of the field of comedians in the early 1960s, but influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King and others, by the late 60s he was marching and personally intervening on behalf of the cause. This is a man worth seeing, if only for the chance to thank him for what he’s done. Tickets from www.dcimprov.com or (202) 296-7008.