Catching Up With... Lewis Black

Page 1 of 2

Speaking with Lewis Black drives home how fine the line can sometimes be between comedian and curmudgeon. On paper, his answers might make him sound like a bit of a drag. But there is something about the tone of his voice, that manic inflection made famous in his “Back in Black” segments on The Daily Show and his seven comedy albums, two HBO specials and four Comedy Central specials, which makes his words sound not bitter, but funny.

Unfortunately, some of this is lost on the printed page. But, the truth is that Black—who recently released a standup comedy movie, Stark Raving Black, and is amidst a tour that will last through May—is actually kind of a sweet guy.

Recently, Paste caught up with Black about politics, his favorite comedians and making anger funny.

Paste: Lewis, how are you?
Lewis Black: It gets better every day, doesn’t it? Hold on just a sec. I’m leaving tomorrow and I’m trying to figure out this clothing thing… All right, now we got it, you son of a bitch.

Paste: I usually talk to musicians, but I’m always excited to talk to a comedian because I think music and comedy are so closely connected. I’m interested to get your take on that connection.
Black: Essentially, comedy is its own version of music. You’ve got certain rhythms, you’ve got certain [sings a melody]. It’s music with tension release. You build the tension in the room, and then you release it. Given the choice, I would have liked to have been a musician, but I was a piece of shit when it came to that.

Paste: What did you play?
Black: I played piano, but the woman who taught me—true story—had arthritis. It wasn’t really meant to be.

Paste: When Stark Raving Black came out last October, I spoke to the director, Adam Dubin. He, of course, is more famous for directing music videos [Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!),” “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”], and he talked about you having a kind of rock ‘n’ roll rhythm to your jokes. When you craft a joke, do you think in terms of the rhythm of it?
Black: No. God, no. I’m thinking in terms of, “What’s the punchline? Where’s the fuckin’ funny in this miserable piece of shit I’ve come up with?”

Paste: It’s also interesting that you come from a background of the theatre, and you’ve written several successful plays. Standup comedy and theatre seem to be closely linked too. In both, you’ve got words written that you have to perform in front of an audience, but the end result is so different.
Black: Well, they are only different in the sense that [comedy] is a one-person thing. And, really, the other actor is the audience. I ended up doing standup because it was a way that I could write and get the shit that I wrote spoken. But, initially, I gotta be honest, I would rather have had somebody good doing it. I was terrible.

Paste: It seems like starting out as a comedian must be harder than most other forms of performing. With music, at least you’ve got other musicians up there with you and maybe some cool sunglasses to hide behind. But, with comedy, it’s just you. You don’t have other people up there with you.
Black: No, nor even the sunglasses. I’ve always compared it to learning how to box with your arms tied to your sides. The audience generally wants you to be funny. Nobody goes in going, “Boy, I hope they’re a piece of shit.” And, you know, [at first] you’re not that good, so the audience doesn’t give back, and they shouldn’t, until you’re just taking body blows, and you’re thinking, “Boy, if I just lifted my arm there, I could have deflected that.” It’s just like taking shots with your head until you figure it out.

Paste: But now, you’ve reached a point in your career where you’ve won several awards, you’ve done television specials, you can command large audiences…
Black: I’m done [laughs].

Paste: I mention that because I wonder if that makes it harder to keep your comedic point of view, especially for someone like you, where your act is really based on a razor-sharp point of view and an angry, cynical outlook. Does success change that at all?
Black: Well, the only thing that you have to stay on top of is the fact that you become further removed. You’re kind of in a bubble. To me, it’s very similar to, “Gee, why doesn’t government work?” Well, it doesn’t work because these cocksuckers are in a bubble. They have no clue. They go to the airport—somebody drives them. Outside of having to go through that line at the airport, they’re a bubble going into the airport, they’re a bubble coming out. They’re treated differently. And you just have to be aware of the fact that this is luck. This is not entitlement. I think it helped that it took so long for me to break through. I think that made a difference in keeping my point of view, because I was broke for so long.

Paste: So, you never forget that?
Black: No, you still think that they’re going to come and go, “Really, that’s enough, Mr. Black. We’re taking this shit away and putting you back on the fifth floor walkup.”