Lewis Black

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Image:LewisBlack1.jpgLewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian, author, and playwright. He is best known for his regular appearances on Comedy Central's The Daily Show delivering his "Back in Black" commentary segment, in which he ridicules (often simulating a nervous breakdown or rant) recent trends and cultural phemonena. He currently lives in Hell's Kitchen in New York City.

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Background

Lewis Niles Black was born of Jewish descent in Washington, D.C. and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, graduating from Springbrook High School in 1966. He was exposed to playwriting as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned a Masters in Fine Arts at the Yale School of Drama in 1977. Originally, his career was in the theater as a playwright. He has written over forty plays besides serving as the playwright in residence and associate artistic director of a Hell's Kitchen theater bar and restaurant on 42nd Street in New York City from 1981 to 1989. Black's stand-up comedy began as an opening act for the plays as he was also the master of ceremonies. After a management change at the theater, Black left and began working as a comedian as well as finding bit parts in television and films.

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Comedic Style

Lewis Black's style of comedy is that of a man who, dealing with the the absurdities of life and politics, is approaching his personal limits of sanity. Sarcasm, strong language, and trademark angry finger-shaking bring emphasis to his topics of discussion.

Some examples:

"I don't use sunblock anymore. Instead I use a very fine American product. Crisco. Oh, it's incredible. For a buck-ten you get a a tub you can share with everybody at the beach. And you never get burnt with Crisco, ever, because when you start to sizzle, you move your ass!"

"Now if you ever have the opportunity to go to Los Angeles, why don't you take a pencil out, sharpen it, and shove it in your eye? You'll be better off sitting in a hospital emergency room holding the pencil steady. Wondering what you're going to be looking like in a jaunty eyepatch."

"...when from behind me a young women of 25 uttered the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life. That was until Dan Quayle was elected the vice president and things took a turn. She said 'If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college.' I'll repeat that. I'll repeat that because that's the kind of sentence that when your brain hears it, it comes to a screeching halt. And the left-hand-side of the brain looks at the right-hand side of the brain and says 'It's dark in here, and we may die!'"

"Now scientists are saying there's a hole in the ozone layer. We have rockets, we have saran wrap.....FIX IT!!"

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Recent Career

In 2002, Black and fellow comedian Jim Norton were arrested because of their involvement with "The Naked Teen Voyeur Bus", a specially designed bus with Plexiglass walls that contained numerous (18 and 19 year old) "teen girls". This bus was to ride around Manhattan while being broadcast on the famous Opie and Anthony radio show. Unfortunately, management at the radio station failed to inform the O&A show that the route the bus was planning on, was also the route that the President was taking that same day. Twenty-eight hours after the arrest, Black and Norton were released. Black appeared on "The Daily Show" the next night and made numerous mentions to the event. Norton appeared on the O&A show and did the same.

Since 2003, Black has hosted the World Stupidity Awards ceremony at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival for the three years the awards have been presented.

In 2004, he had an HBO stand-up special entitled Black on Broadway, in addition to three previous Comedy Central Presents specials. Since November 9th, 2005, Lewis has been making appearances in small segments on The Weather Channel. In December 2005, he appeared in an animated holiday special The Happy Elf, as the voice of the extremely tightly wound elf, Norbert.

He is slated to become the host of his own show, Red State Diaries, in development by Comedy Central to begin airing in 2006 [1]. Comedy Central says it will feature Black on the road exploring the red states for explanations of the subjects of his comedic rants. This will be the second spin-off from The Daily Show, after The Colbert Report.

In April 2006, Lewis will release The Carnegie Hall Performance, a recording made on September 24th, 2005 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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Published works

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CD and DVD releases

  • The White Album (2000)
  • End of the Universe (2002)
  • Unleashed DVD (3 Shows from Comedy Central + Extras) (2002)
  • Rules of Enragement (2003)
  • Black On Broadway DVD (2003 HBO Special) (2004)
  • Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues (2005)
  • A Pair of Lewis Black Shorts DVD (Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick Story and The Gynecologists) (2006)
  • The Carnegie Hall Performance (2006)
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External links

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