By Ed Condran
Most comics don’t embark on final tours, but then most standups spend their 20s trying to find their voice as humorists. Lewis Black, who is on his “Goodbye Yeller Brick Road Tour,” which stops Aug. 16-17 at The Summit Showroom at The Venetian, isn’t like most of his peers.
Black, 75, was a playwright throughout his 20s. Black fell into standup and forged his own path by creating his own style. There is no comic that’s quite like Black, who practically froths at the mouth in the middle of his unpredictable diatribes.
Black is the happiest angry man you’ll ever meet. The comic is fueled by rage, which is evident during his hilarious rants.
“We’re living in a phenomenally well-written piece of satire,” Black said while calling from his New York City apartment. “If you saw what we’re living like in a book and it was fiction, you would have to laugh.”
Black always appears on the edge of losing it, but that anger is an energy that propels the caustic humorist.
“Having this rage is huge because that’s when I’m funniest,” Black said. “I’m at my best when I’m angry and frustrated. It connects with the audience because of their frustration.”
Black follows in a long line of iconic comics who were inspired by their anger such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce.
“All of those guys have had such an impact on me,” Black said. “It’s fine to be angry and a comic.”
The Yale Drama School graduate insists that he’s as pleased now as he was when he was a struggling playwright in New York during the 1980s. “I’m no happier now than I was back then,” Black said.
After studying playwriting for seven years at the University of North Carolina and Yale Drama School, Black barely made ends meet. Black can’t help but look back and laugh at one missing aspect from his prestigious education.
“No one at UNC or Yale ever taught me about plot,” Black said. “It’s like teaching math to students but never having anyone in class learn about numbers.”
Like Carlin, who had hoped to become the next Danny Kaye but fell into standup, Black did comedy on the side. At midlife, Black realized that standup was his ticket out of poverty.
“I didn’t become successful until I was 40,” Black said. “It took that long to figure things out, but it’s fine.”
If You Go
