Lewis Black is best known for his politically charged rants called Back in Black that are featured on The Daily Show. But hes been a working standup comedian for 20 years. Hes just released his new comedy album, The Carnegie Hall Performance.
Buy Lewis Black: The Carnegie Hall Performance
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to?
Lewis Black: Im eating a sandwich.
DRE: What sandwich are you eating?
LB: Its a roast beef sandwich. Im not supposed to be having bread but I said Fuck it.
DRE: [laughs] The guy who introduced you on the Carnegie Hall CD said you were an alcoholic.
LB: Right.
DRE: Are you?
LB: No. I would say I drink, thats for sure [laughs]. If one would say Im an alcoholic, one would have to then say Im a functioning alcoholic. But Im not, I will drink, but I dont drink all day. I havent had a drink before a show in 15 years.
DRE: So you used to drink before shows?
LB: I used to do it because I was I was scared. But I didnt do it much.
DRE: Are you less scared when you do your gigs now?
LB: Now Im fearless. If Im working a new room it still takes a few minutes to adjust. If Im doing live TV like Conan then its tough because its a little more nerve-wracking.
DRE: Carnegie Hall must have been a little bit daunting.
LB: Nah, the only thing was that we were making the CD and even with that I felt good about. Id worked Carnegie Hall once before as a host for a thing for Carolines when they had an anniversary thing there. It was really a fun place to play, much like playing at any theater in New York is fun.
DRE: Just by coincidence Black on Broadway was on HBO a few days ago. Its another great show but I think the first word you said out there was like Fuck this.
LB: [laughs] Probably.
DRE: Then on the Carnegie Hall CD the first thing you said was This is so fucking stupid.
LB: That came out of the fact of me being on the stage. I knew a lot of the people in the audience. I didnt know them but they knew me. Its a New York audience so its a bunch of people who really dont belong there. Mostly its that self deprecating thing of, this is too much.
DRE: Is playing Carnegie Hall a height for a comedian?
LB: Yeah, its pretty big. Ive always wanted to play there.
DRE: Was it offered to you or did you go after it?
LB: No it was offered. Carnegie Hall doesnt call, producers call. Carnegie Hall is in and of itself its own mausoleum. It was great being out there. Its a great room.
DRE: Like so many comedians do you think you shouldnt be doing as well as you are?
LB: No, I dont really feel like that. I felt like it was the right time and the right place.
DRE: I read quite a few interviews of yours in preparation for this one. All your interviewers expect you to be the same angry screaming guy. I always thought, If this guy was like that all the time, he would have been dead 20 years ago.
LB: Thats exactly what I tell people. Im not like that in my personal life. Youd really like to live with somebody like that. Thatd be fun.
DRE: [laughs] Its not exactly a persona though.
LB: Its part of my personality, it certainly comes out. From time to time it comes to be a part of what Im about but its not me.
DRE: Do you need to psyche yourself up before a show?
LB: Nah. Really, all I have to do is go through a day and then Im ready to do it. All you got to do is go to an airport and be working that night and when they say Take off your shoes. Im now prepared to go on stage that evening. That sound of them telling me to take off my shoes creates a blind rage.
DRE: There used to be a time when they said if you had sneakers it was ok, but its not that way anymore.
LB: Yeah, theyre really nailing where the problem area is. That better safe than sorry shit. Theyd be better off telling the person who is telling you take your shoes off to look for shit. The other psychosis is, you cant take a lighter but you can have two books of matches. They really got this down. I walked through the LA airport and if you didnt know where you were youd think you were in a Third World country. It just looked like chaos. No way this is a working security system. It doesnt work, we all know it doesnt work, its just spectacular.
DRE: I was just on the set of your movie Unaccompanied Minors. Id never been to Salt Lake City or anyplace in Utah before. I found out you have to sign up to be a member to get into a bar.
LB: Yep. That makes sense doesnt it?
DRE: I dont get that.
LB: Its like a health club. Dont think that didnt set me off.
DRE: What was it like having to be in Utah for ten weeks?
LB: To me it was like being in some sort of interesting prison. It was ok and very pretty but it was like living in a diorama. Look at those mountains, theyre very beautiful, but in the end what does beauty mean? It was interesting because it was like finding the secret city. Theres the real Salt Lake and then theres the Mormon Salt Lake. Finding the real city made it interesting because you go, oh, wow, this is going on here? How do you people survive? [laughs]
DRE: Im sure you had satellite TV in your hotel room or something but what else did you do?
LB: Restaurants. We found three or four really good restaurants which saved our lives. [Unaccompanied Minors director] Paul [Feig] and a few of us would have dinners together. We had one dinner one night when The Kids in the Hall were in town to do some scenes. That was nice because I hadnt seen them for a while. That was a funny fucking table. Then Id just wander around the mall.
DRE: Yeah, I think thats what most of the people do.
LB: We were lucky because there was a mall right down the street from the set.
DRE: We did the same thing and we were only there for a couple of days.
LB: There was a museum of Mormonism and I should have been there. God knows how good that would have been.
DRE: [laughs] I interviewed Paul and he said that he said he wanted to hire you to do basically what people know you best for. He said that if you work together in the future he might have you do some stuff that you havent really done before. How was it playing the angry security guard dealing with a bunch of young kids?
LB: It was great but its nice to know that hes actually thinking about using me in other stuff in a way. I had a great time and it was really fun to do. I was very comfortable because I did three movies in a row and that was the third one and thats when I really got comfortable.
DRE: You did go to drama school, though.
LB: Yeah, but for playwriting.
DRE: Were you plays ever produced?
LB: Yeah most or all got produced but I produced most of them.
DRE: Are you writing anything like that now?
LB: No, I havent got the time.
DRE: Were your plays comedies?
LB: Yeah most of them were comedies.
DRE: Are they published anywhere?
LB: Well, one is. The paperback version of my book is coming out [Nothings Sacred] and Simon & Schuster wanted some extra material so I said, Ive got a ton of plays. I put my favorite play, The Deal, in it.
DRE: Whats it about?
LB: Two CEOs strike a deal in a room that is so high there is no view.
DRE: [laughs] Your parents were in the audience at Carnegie Hall. Im sure theyve seen your act plenty of times, but what did they think of that show specifically?
LB: They really liked it, but the best line was my mothers. As were going up to place my manager says, Carnegie Hall, it doesnt get any better than this, any bigger than this. My mother said, you think so?
DRE: [laughs] Is your mom really funny?
LB: Shes really funny. Seriously funny. Scary funny. Dark, scary funny.
DRE: It sounds like thats where you got your sense of humor then.
LB: I got a lot of it from her but my father is the one who told me to read Catch 22. That was a big help.
DRE: Were politics always in your act?
LB: I did when I was very young. Initially I did all sex and then I evolved out of that and went to some politics. From there it really came from whatever I saw in the newspaper. It didnt have to be politics. I was living in New York and I was running this club at the West Bank Caf and every Saturday night we would do a show for free and I was the host with my friend Rusty McGee who was on the piano. I would come onstage with like ten news clippings and Id just start reading from them. But it could be anything like the topless bars are being closed or whatever. If it struck me I would just start yakking about. Then, literally, when I hit the road as a comedian, I would say 95 percent of what I was doing was not political.
DRE: Its interesting because Im a relatively young guy and I remember seeing Bill Maher on TV in the 80s and often he wouldnt discuss politics at all. What made you start putting politics into your act more?
LB: Id always had an interest in it and if something struck me as funny, I would do it. It was always in my act in one fashion or another because it was always something. Then more of it became funny and then under this president its been spectacular. Its the same thing when [Dan] Quayle was the Vice President. I had literally had 60 to 70 minutes on Quayle and I would do 20 a night.
DRE: Oh my God [laughs].
LB: Because he was just so wonderful. The quotes lent themselves so well. I would go through the quote and break it down and it was just great. Lets go forward to the future or pass to the back, how fucking spectacular is that.
DRE: Around 1999 you were really hot from working on The Daily Show. Then I heard you had some situations just didnt work out and then it didnt seem like you didnt become hot again until that big tour with Dave Attell and Mitch Hedberg.
LB: I didnt even know I was hot before that. Im glad I missed it.
DRE: So it didnt really have an effect on you either way?
LB: I didnt know I was hot. I had no idea. I knew things were going well, but the word hot wouldnt have been the word I would have used. I knew things were really rolling along finally. To me it was really like these really slight progressions. I could see that every six months things were changing. It really became noticeable after the tour. I had shit going on in 2000, but the shit was from Comedy Central signing me to a development deal. But then they did what Comedy Central does, which is well I dont know, what do we do? So thats where that spun out. Now I can call those cocksuckers up and tell them they destroyed my heat. [laughs]
DRE: With this new hotness, are you looking to do something besides The Daily Show and standup?
LB: Im not going to tell you, then youll say Im not hot again. [laughs] Im doing these movies, which is like out of nowhere. I dont know where that leads. But in Los Angeles they are like, Well, you know what this means. Therell be movie after movie because they live in this Creamsicle. It really depends. If these movies pan out then well see if that leads to other movies. A friend of mine, Richard Dresser, whos a brilliant writer and I have a pilot that went to FX last year. FX said and I quote We dont really know what we want to do with comedy. So it is really good that we went to them. Then it took them three months of literally sitting on our script and then I guess they went, oh its under our butt. But they didnt know what to do with it so theyre taking the script around. Its a script that I think is the best thing in terms of my voice. Its really a funny piece of work. Rich is a really smart writer, weve known each other for years. We know who we would put in it. We know the writers that we would have on and they all know me very well so it would just be fun to do. So what are the chances of that getting done? Zero, because it would be really fun. But I think it is possible that well at least get a pilot out of it. That would make me happy.
DRE: What is the show about?
LB: Its a half hour with one camera. You know the way Larry Davids show fits him?
DRE: Right.
LB: This show fits me. The situation has been set up that allows me to be me. Richard knows how to write me and I know how to do me so its a pretty good combo. Its essentially about a guy who is a pundit in New York and he gets a gig in Washington so he goes there. Hes been broke all of his life and he thinks this is going to him straighten him out. Then within two weeks he has a wrestling match with Howard Dean or whoever I can get on Capitol Hill to wrestle with me. Then I have to come back to New York. My best friends ex-girlfriend is now living in my apartment because I let her stay there. So it is just one thing after another. Its a really nice, constructive piece of work. It allows me to flip out.
DRE: Which you dont get to do.
LB: No, of course not.
DRE: I read you did 250 dates in 2005.
LB: Yeah, about that.
DRE: Would there be a time when you do less dates and concentrate more on other stuff?
LB: Its all dependent on what comes up. I kept my tour schedule up while I was working on these movies because its hard for me to let the standup go because thats my bread and butter and I really like doing it. There might be a time where I go ok, Im going to put this on the side and just concentrate. If the pilot worked then I would just focus on doing that. Then Id go like get back on and go around the country like a fucking idiot again.
DRE: What do you think of SuicideGirls?
LB: I like it. I just find it fascinating. Are you kidding me? I dont really go on and on about it like writing to girls about their piercings. The thing is I dont really get it. These women are just going, ok here I am. I know there is the empowerment thing but its just so insane [laughs].
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Lewis Black: The Carnegie Hall Performance
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to?
Lewis Black: Im eating a sandwich.
DRE: What sandwich are you eating?
LB: Its a roast beef sandwich. Im not supposed to be having bread but I said Fuck it.
DRE: [laughs] The guy who introduced you on the Carnegie Hall CD said you were an alcoholic.
LB: Right.
DRE: Are you?
LB: No. I would say I drink, thats for sure [laughs]. If one would say Im an alcoholic, one would have to then say Im a functioning alcoholic. But Im not, I will drink, but I dont drink all day. I havent had a drink before a show in 15 years.
DRE: So you used to drink before shows?
LB: I used to do it because I was I was scared. But I didnt do it much.
DRE: Are you less scared when you do your gigs now?
LB: Now Im fearless. If Im working a new room it still takes a few minutes to adjust. If Im doing live TV like Conan then its tough because its a little more nerve-wracking.
DRE: Carnegie Hall must have been a little bit daunting.
LB: Nah, the only thing was that we were making the CD and even with that I felt good about. Id worked Carnegie Hall once before as a host for a thing for Carolines when they had an anniversary thing there. It was really a fun place to play, much like playing at any theater in New York is fun.
DRE: Just by coincidence Black on Broadway was on HBO a few days ago. Its another great show but I think the first word you said out there was like Fuck this.
LB: [laughs] Probably.
DRE: Then on the Carnegie Hall CD the first thing you said was This is so fucking stupid.
LB: That came out of the fact of me being on the stage. I knew a lot of the people in the audience. I didnt know them but they knew me. Its a New York audience so its a bunch of people who really dont belong there. Mostly its that self deprecating thing of, this is too much.
DRE: Is playing Carnegie Hall a height for a comedian?
LB: Yeah, its pretty big. Ive always wanted to play there.
DRE: Was it offered to you or did you go after it?
LB: No it was offered. Carnegie Hall doesnt call, producers call. Carnegie Hall is in and of itself its own mausoleum. It was great being out there. Its a great room.
DRE: Like so many comedians do you think you shouldnt be doing as well as you are?
LB: No, I dont really feel like that. I felt like it was the right time and the right place.
DRE: I read quite a few interviews of yours in preparation for this one. All your interviewers expect you to be the same angry screaming guy. I always thought, If this guy was like that all the time, he would have been dead 20 years ago.
LB: Thats exactly what I tell people. Im not like that in my personal life. Youd really like to live with somebody like that. Thatd be fun.
DRE: [laughs] Its not exactly a persona though.
LB: Its part of my personality, it certainly comes out. From time to time it comes to be a part of what Im about but its not me.
DRE: Do you need to psyche yourself up before a show?
LB: Nah. Really, all I have to do is go through a day and then Im ready to do it. All you got to do is go to an airport and be working that night and when they say Take off your shoes. Im now prepared to go on stage that evening. That sound of them telling me to take off my shoes creates a blind rage.
DRE: There used to be a time when they said if you had sneakers it was ok, but its not that way anymore.
LB: Yeah, theyre really nailing where the problem area is. That better safe than sorry shit. Theyd be better off telling the person who is telling you take your shoes off to look for shit. The other psychosis is, you cant take a lighter but you can have two books of matches. They really got this down. I walked through the LA airport and if you didnt know where you were youd think you were in a Third World country. It just looked like chaos. No way this is a working security system. It doesnt work, we all know it doesnt work, its just spectacular.
DRE: I was just on the set of your movie Unaccompanied Minors. Id never been to Salt Lake City or anyplace in Utah before. I found out you have to sign up to be a member to get into a bar.
LB: Yep. That makes sense doesnt it?
DRE: I dont get that.
LB: Its like a health club. Dont think that didnt set me off.
DRE: What was it like having to be in Utah for ten weeks?
LB: To me it was like being in some sort of interesting prison. It was ok and very pretty but it was like living in a diorama. Look at those mountains, theyre very beautiful, but in the end what does beauty mean? It was interesting because it was like finding the secret city. Theres the real Salt Lake and then theres the Mormon Salt Lake. Finding the real city made it interesting because you go, oh, wow, this is going on here? How do you people survive? [laughs]
DRE: Im sure you had satellite TV in your hotel room or something but what else did you do?
LB: Restaurants. We found three or four really good restaurants which saved our lives. [Unaccompanied Minors director] Paul [Feig] and a few of us would have dinners together. We had one dinner one night when The Kids in the Hall were in town to do some scenes. That was nice because I hadnt seen them for a while. That was a funny fucking table. Then Id just wander around the mall.
DRE: Yeah, I think thats what most of the people do.
LB: We were lucky because there was a mall right down the street from the set.
DRE: We did the same thing and we were only there for a couple of days.
LB: There was a museum of Mormonism and I should have been there. God knows how good that would have been.
DRE: [laughs] I interviewed Paul and he said that he said he wanted to hire you to do basically what people know you best for. He said that if you work together in the future he might have you do some stuff that you havent really done before. How was it playing the angry security guard dealing with a bunch of young kids?
LB: It was great but its nice to know that hes actually thinking about using me in other stuff in a way. I had a great time and it was really fun to do. I was very comfortable because I did three movies in a row and that was the third one and thats when I really got comfortable.
DRE: You did go to drama school, though.
LB: Yeah, but for playwriting.
DRE: Were you plays ever produced?
LB: Yeah most or all got produced but I produced most of them.
DRE: Are you writing anything like that now?
LB: No, I havent got the time.
DRE: Were your plays comedies?
LB: Yeah most of them were comedies.
DRE: Are they published anywhere?
LB: Well, one is. The paperback version of my book is coming out [Nothings Sacred] and Simon & Schuster wanted some extra material so I said, Ive got a ton of plays. I put my favorite play, The Deal, in it.
DRE: Whats it about?
LB: Two CEOs strike a deal in a room that is so high there is no view.
DRE: [laughs] Your parents were in the audience at Carnegie Hall. Im sure theyve seen your act plenty of times, but what did they think of that show specifically?
LB: They really liked it, but the best line was my mothers. As were going up to place my manager says, Carnegie Hall, it doesnt get any better than this, any bigger than this. My mother said, you think so?
DRE: [laughs] Is your mom really funny?
LB: Shes really funny. Seriously funny. Scary funny. Dark, scary funny.
DRE: It sounds like thats where you got your sense of humor then.
LB: I got a lot of it from her but my father is the one who told me to read Catch 22. That was a big help.
DRE: Were politics always in your act?
LB: I did when I was very young. Initially I did all sex and then I evolved out of that and went to some politics. From there it really came from whatever I saw in the newspaper. It didnt have to be politics. I was living in New York and I was running this club at the West Bank Caf and every Saturday night we would do a show for free and I was the host with my friend Rusty McGee who was on the piano. I would come onstage with like ten news clippings and Id just start reading from them. But it could be anything like the topless bars are being closed or whatever. If it struck me I would just start yakking about. Then, literally, when I hit the road as a comedian, I would say 95 percent of what I was doing was not political.
DRE: Its interesting because Im a relatively young guy and I remember seeing Bill Maher on TV in the 80s and often he wouldnt discuss politics at all. What made you start putting politics into your act more?
LB: Id always had an interest in it and if something struck me as funny, I would do it. It was always in my act in one fashion or another because it was always something. Then more of it became funny and then under this president its been spectacular. Its the same thing when [Dan] Quayle was the Vice President. I had literally had 60 to 70 minutes on Quayle and I would do 20 a night.
DRE: Oh my God [laughs].
LB: Because he was just so wonderful. The quotes lent themselves so well. I would go through the quote and break it down and it was just great. Lets go forward to the future or pass to the back, how fucking spectacular is that.
DRE: Around 1999 you were really hot from working on The Daily Show. Then I heard you had some situations just didnt work out and then it didnt seem like you didnt become hot again until that big tour with Dave Attell and Mitch Hedberg.
LB: I didnt even know I was hot before that. Im glad I missed it.
DRE: So it didnt really have an effect on you either way?
LB: I didnt know I was hot. I had no idea. I knew things were going well, but the word hot wouldnt have been the word I would have used. I knew things were really rolling along finally. To me it was really like these really slight progressions. I could see that every six months things were changing. It really became noticeable after the tour. I had shit going on in 2000, but the shit was from Comedy Central signing me to a development deal. But then they did what Comedy Central does, which is well I dont know, what do we do? So thats where that spun out. Now I can call those cocksuckers up and tell them they destroyed my heat. [laughs]
DRE: With this new hotness, are you looking to do something besides The Daily Show and standup?
LB: Im not going to tell you, then youll say Im not hot again. [laughs] Im doing these movies, which is like out of nowhere. I dont know where that leads. But in Los Angeles they are like, Well, you know what this means. Therell be movie after movie because they live in this Creamsicle. It really depends. If these movies pan out then well see if that leads to other movies. A friend of mine, Richard Dresser, whos a brilliant writer and I have a pilot that went to FX last year. FX said and I quote We dont really know what we want to do with comedy. So it is really good that we went to them. Then it took them three months of literally sitting on our script and then I guess they went, oh its under our butt. But they didnt know what to do with it so theyre taking the script around. Its a script that I think is the best thing in terms of my voice. Its really a funny piece of work. Rich is a really smart writer, weve known each other for years. We know who we would put in it. We know the writers that we would have on and they all know me very well so it would just be fun to do. So what are the chances of that getting done? Zero, because it would be really fun. But I think it is possible that well at least get a pilot out of it. That would make me happy.
DRE: What is the show about?
LB: Its a half hour with one camera. You know the way Larry Davids show fits him?
DRE: Right.
LB: This show fits me. The situation has been set up that allows me to be me. Richard knows how to write me and I know how to do me so its a pretty good combo. Its essentially about a guy who is a pundit in New York and he gets a gig in Washington so he goes there. Hes been broke all of his life and he thinks this is going to him straighten him out. Then within two weeks he has a wrestling match with Howard Dean or whoever I can get on Capitol Hill to wrestle with me. Then I have to come back to New York. My best friends ex-girlfriend is now living in my apartment because I let her stay there. So it is just one thing after another. Its a really nice, constructive piece of work. It allows me to flip out.
DRE: Which you dont get to do.
LB: No, of course not.
DRE: I read you did 250 dates in 2005.
LB: Yeah, about that.
DRE: Would there be a time when you do less dates and concentrate more on other stuff?
LB: Its all dependent on what comes up. I kept my tour schedule up while I was working on these movies because its hard for me to let the standup go because thats my bread and butter and I really like doing it. There might be a time where I go ok, Im going to put this on the side and just concentrate. If the pilot worked then I would just focus on doing that. Then Id go like get back on and go around the country like a fucking idiot again.
DRE: What do you think of SuicideGirls?
LB: I like it. I just find it fascinating. Are you kidding me? I dont really go on and on about it like writing to girls about their piercings. The thing is I dont really get it. These women are just going, ok here I am. I know there is the empowerment thing but its just so insane [laughs].
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 14 of 14 COMMENTS
vaille:
Lewis Black is fucking hilarious. I can't drink anything when listening to him or else it'll wind up all over the surface in front of me.
melx:
Great interview. Love Lewis Black.