Nicolas Cage to Explore History of Swear Words in Netflix Special

Nicolas Cage is coming to Netflix for a new comedy series that explores the origins of swear words. 

History of Swear Words is hosted by Oscar® and Golden Globe® winner Nicolas Cage.

"An education in expletives: the history lesson you didn’t know you needed," reads the logline from Netflix, which adds:

History of Swear Words, hosted by Nicolas Cage, is a loud and proudly profane series that explores the origins, pop culture-usage, science and cultural impact of curse words.

Through interviews with experts in etymology, pop culture, historians and entertainers, the six-episode series dives into the origins of “F**k”, “Sh*t”, “B*tch”, “D**k”, “Pu**y”, and “Damn”.

Guest stars in the series of specials include Joel Kim Booster, DeRay Davis, Open Mike Eagle, Nikki Glaser, Patti Harrison, London Hughes, Jim Jefferies, Zainab Johnson, Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman, Baron Vaughn, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.

They will be joined by the following experts: Benjamin Bergen (PhD, Cognitive Scientist, Author of What The F), Anne Charity Hudley (PhD, Linguist and Educator), Mireille Miller-Young (PhD, Professor of Feminist Studies), Elvis Mitchell (Film Critic/Host of The Treatment on KCRW), Melissa Mohr (PhD, Author of Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing), and Kory Stamper (Lexicographer, Author Of Word By Word).

The series is executive produced by Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, and Beth Belew for Funny Or Die, Brien Meagher and Rhett Bachner for B17 Entertainment.

Cage is an actor, director and producer whose remarkable versatility has led to great success across all genres for over three decades.

Cage's recent work includes his award- winning, groundbreaking performance in the horror/thriller Mandy, the critically acclaimed Color Out of Space and the voice of Grug in Croods 2, currently in worldwide release.

During his early career, Cage starred in a variety of classic films including Valley Girl (1983), Racing with the Moon (1984), Birdy (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Moonstruck (1987), Vampire's Kiss (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Fire Birds (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), and Red Rock West (1993).

Cage received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) before coming to the attention of worldwide audiences with mainstream blockbusters such as The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Con Air (1997), City of Angels (1998), National Treasure 1 and 2 (2004, 2007) and Lord of War (2005).

He earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation (2002). He also directed the film Sonny (2002), for which he was nominated for the Grand Special Prize at The Deauville Film Festival.

Cage has also been prolific as a producer, with films such as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Life of David Gale (2003). More recently, Cage has appeared in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Kick- Ass (2010), Drive Angry (2011), The Croods (2013), Joe (2013), Dying of the Light (2014), The Trust (2016), Dog Eat Dog (2016) and Mom & Dad (2017).

The project debuts January 5. Watch the trailer below. 

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.