15 Shades of Black – Archived from Scene Newspaper: September 2012

It’s election season on the national level and nothing provides a more abundant wealth of anguish, frustration and disappointment for many Americans than the campaigns and the promise of candidate promises.  It’s also akin to harvest season of sorts for comedian Lewis Black.  Black has fueled a career of over 20 years in comedy with musings, outbursts and the anger of disillusionment that most Americans feel pressuring them this time of an election year.

Be it known that Black is not just a political comedian, although one can’t blame him for using all the material that reckless campaigns and candidates give a comedian today.  Black’s foundations in the theatre arts probably keep him a bit comfy on-stage performing in venue’s like UW-Green Bay’s Weidner Center and other performing arts facilities.  His assessments of current events and the social fabric of the nation express the absurdity of reaction that most audience members wouldn’t dream of exhibiting in “polite company” as his biography notes.

Black’s on-stage, self-angered fits entertain audiences with his debates and disappointments with the unfortunate nature of the way things really are in much of the world we live in.  Black is a fair comedian, he dishes out blows of some very honest commentary, somehow served in a fashion that makes his audiences roll with laughter at the sad realities of the subject matter of his humor.

Black has entered main-stream as one of America’s most popular comedians of the current era and has appeared as a regular on his segment Back in Black on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show (with Jon Stewart) since 1996.  Black has numerous award nominations including two Grammy award wins (2007, 2011) and recognition on stage, the big screen and in print as an author of a trio of books.  Piers Morgan interviewed Black during Super Tuesday week in April 2012 and amid Black’s flurry of responses like that of a disgruntled optimist, Black got so angry (or passionate, depending how you look at it) during his response that he shook off his microphone.

Black spoke with Jeremy Johanski recently and while the subject matter wasn’t meant to be as heavy or taxing on old’ Lewis as his recent Piers Morgan interview, it’s evident that it’s in Black’s nature to share his thoughts in the same frustrated and passionate way a fan would see him on-screen or on-stage.  Johanski’s “15 Shades of Black” interview provides answers to some local topics and current festering morsels of frustration getting under the comic’s skin.  Enjoy, all you gentle snowflakes…and be sure to put the earmuffs on the little ones if you’re sharing this interview out loud.

Pick a Ryan from a Hat

Johanski (JJJ):  Recently Paul Ryan (R) of Janesville, Wisconsin was selected as the running mate for Mitt Romney…what are your thoughts on the selection?

Black (LB):  The way this campaign is going on both side of this ‘edition,’ he (Romney) could have picked Rex Ryan of the Jets! …and it would be just as much of a game changer.  It’s like, ‘Ok!, here we go!’  Let’s just add somebody else who’s going to make it.  I have to listen to somebody else who’s going to tell me what they’re not going to do.  Because, by telling me what they’re going to do, I know what they are not going to do.

I’m reminded about Paul Ryan…oh, and his big life change was that he read Ayn Rand…well, son of a bitch!  I mean, REALLY!  It really is one of the most appalling…that is beyond belief!  That would be like me saying I base my political philosophy on (Albert) Camus!  I mean, come on!  It’s a fictional book!  She (Rand) wrote fiction!  You read it when you were like 15 or 16 and it’s got nothing to do with economics.  It’s an idealized world of fiction, you fucking idiot!   It’s not the world!  They don’t let you blow up a building!

Black’s Oxymoronic Philosophy

JJJ: So you’re a Jewish-Socialist…how does that happen?

Lewis Black (LB):  That happens because uh…you kind of end up realizing that…you know what attracts me about it?  It’s like enforced Christianity!  You know…you are your brother’s keeper, yeah!  And you’ve got to pay for it!  It just doesn’t make sense…we just keep talking and we’re the richest country on Earth and we’ve got all this and we’re really great and yet we’re the only country on Earth that blames our poor people for being poor!  Somehow they’re ‘scamming us.’

It’s ridiculous!  It’s not tough enough that you’re poor, you’ve got to be told you’re scamming us!

Seeing the People Rise

JJJ:  So living in Manhattan did you get to experience part of the 99% or “Occupy” movement?

LB:  Yeah…I thought it was admirable.  People are always yelling and screaming about these kids not doing stuff, and then when they do something…then people yell and scream at them!  It’s like, extraordinary.  I think it was important for them to do it and I also thought…I wished…when it should have happened, and it should have been more of us, is when the banks stuff initially hit the fan.  As soon as those mortgage things came out it should’ve been.

Why American Uprisings Fall Short

JJJ:  Like countries abroad, Americans, including some Wisconsinites rose up in protest of the elected leadership.  What do you believe keeps Americans from the follow through of getting so impassioned and sick of the way things are to forcefully remove an elected official from office?

LB:  Because we have ADD…and so we get a little distracted and so we’re going to go out and do that, and then there’s laundry and then …  you’re doing your laundry and you realize ‘holy shit, I’m out of…or I really have to buy t-shirts.’  Then you’re at the store and you come home with a new pair of shoes! …  It’s that, and in combination…they really wear us down.  Our leadership is as close to Prozac as you can possibly have.  Part of it is the feeling that even if you do accomplish it…nothing will change.

Democratic Voice Being Exercised Less

JJJ:  Voting must be important to changing the way things are, right?

LB:  It always amazes me that people don’t, that we as a country, we vote less than most countries, it’s like 45% stay home, 40% whatever the number is…and there’s a reason the people don’t … they act like its ‘oh, they’re not (available)…’  NO!  They’re not doing it because they’ve realized we’ve reached a point where it really is not different any more.  Both sides are getting a buck and that’s the way they’re feeling.  These people don’t seem to be interested in serving us…they seem to be self-serving.

The Real People Serving the USA

JJJ:  On the service aspect…you’ve been the down-the-middle divide between parties, who’s really serving the American people?

LB:  The men and women themselves (serving this country) were extraordinary.  I’ve said in my act that if the American people could sacrifice just one-tenth of what these folks (the armed forces) do for us…or give one-tenth the sacrifice they give…then we wouldn’t be having any problems.  What we do to them and continue to do to them is criminal, it really is.  They are really exceptional people that are sent over… you want to send them there once like you’re supposed to do, and then you know, you rotate them back, but once you can’t stay to your rules, then you’ve really overstepped your boundaries.  You abused them and it’s just not right.

In Hostile Territory

JJJ:  You’ve served on USO tours abroad to see the troops right?  Tell me about what that experience was like.

LB:  The closest thing that a USO tour was like for me was like taking LSD!  It’s mind-boggling, especially the first tour was like, every time I turned around it was like, are you…holy shit!  It was like an LSD trip…like WHAT?!  You’re not serious!?  Everything was unbelievable to me because I had never been really exposed to the military and so everything, you know…  I’m putting armor on and getting into a chopper and…like, holy fuck!  And then entertaining?!

No Health Means No Need for Healthcare

LB:  So I’m told that I’m going to have a really great healthcare plan by Obama and it will be done, and in a sense, it’s not done, and it’s not done because he really didn’t get the other side to buy into it.  And as much as you may go ‘oh, well, what fault of it is his?’ … It’s his fault too, that’s it!  I don’t care any more, I’m done…(bumbles).  It’s unbelievable to watch.  We need a healthcare plan.  Ok?!  We need it!  It’s not a discussion, it’s not even up for discussion…it has to be done!  So do it!  Just do it!  Don’t whine about it, don’t scream about it, don’t even talk about what the fuck it costs!  Sit down and do it!

Then you sit through that for a year…then when it’s over and it’s voted and he signs it and the hoopla and then … it starts over again… NO! … NO! … I’m too tired!!

By the time they’re finished with this healthcare plan, they will have destroyed my health!

Depression Treatment Through Comedy

JJJ:  You do comedy, but the nature of the stuff you talk about often has sad undertones to it in the real world…

LB:  Yeah, apparently! Hahaha!  That’s why I’ve always wondered how come I’ve made it!  I don’t quite get it.  It’s like when people come out and I open the act and say ‘Just so you know, we’re going to have a great time, but when you wake up tomorrow, nothing’s going to change.’

The Saddest Place in America

JJJ:  You get to a variety of different places, cities, venues…what’s one of the most depressing scenes you’ve witnessed?

LB:  Whew! … Of all the places…probably the most depressing places was Lorain, Ohio.  It was when the economy was failing and it’s an industrial town that had taken it on the chops and you know, nothing was getting done and it was just another whack…and anyway…out back of the theatre there was this train stop done in a classical or Victorian style and it was all overcome with grasses growing around it and through it and we’re all like, ‘what is that?’ and they’re like ‘oh, that’s where the train was going to stop.’  The train from (Cleveland)…that was supposed to be for the train station, and then they lost whatever their main industry was and they said the train never came…and you’re like “oh, ugh, oh boy.”

There’s No Place Like…

JJJ:  Where do you see on your schedule to visit that you’re genuinely excited to go to?

LB:  When I’m going to Washington, D.C.  That’s where I’m from and that place is really great, and really…I’m not blowing smoke…I love coming to Milwaukee and Green Bay and Madison…I’ve even played Oshkosh.  I’ve always liked Wisconsin, even Stevens Point.  There’s not a lot of places that I haven’t enjoyed going to.

The only time it really sucks is when…because we have a tour bus, we can’t park it in the city sometimes and so now we’re at some sort of a fucking hotel/motel five miles out of town, staring at a Denny’s.  You want to shoot yourself.  What makes it fun is going to these towns and seeing them.

…Green Bay

JJJ:  What’s the routine for Green Bay or what have you recalled about your visits to Green Bay?

LB:  I get off the bus at about one in the afternoon and walk around and take a look at the shops and see what’s going on and that’s really it…then I go take my nap, (laughs to self) and then it’s showtime.

I think this is probably the fourth time to Green Bay for me.  And what’s not to like about Green Bay…it’s the home of the Packers, hello!  I have a soft spot for them.  There’s only ever like four or five teams that I want to see win, and well, one of them…I’m a Redskins fan so now I have a little bit of hope.

Good luck this year.  You got screwed last year.  I thought you were going to make the run…it was painful to watch.

Friendship Tie to Titletown

LB:  My friend Tony Shaloub is from there…we go way back. He was at Yale drama school and I was there still hanging around and I see him on occasion when we have free time and we have a very close mutual friend who we keep in touch through and when we get a chance we play poker.

JJJ:  Lewis … a poker player?

LB:  Well, Tony thinks he’s a poker player…

JJJ:  …and you are?

LB:  No, haha!  I’m not.  But I’m better than he is!

Fresh Content Daily

JJJ:  How much of your material at a show is scripted regular content versus new or unique material?

LB:  It’s about 80/20 or 85/15.  What happens is that I’m re-writing every night.  It’s the same kind of thread.  Once I kind of find the thread I start working around the thread and I start to edit the thread, and so I pound away at things…probably much more than I should.  I could go on and on right now about Facebook…and I (bumbles to self) I know it’s too fucking long!  But people seem to like it…but I’m sure it’s too long so I’m just trying to figure out where I cut.  What is it that I cut to, and where is it the funniest and…that’s really it.

Lewis Black for President

JJJ:  So…being one of the most honest and blunt people on the topic of politics, when are you going to throw your hat in a ring for something Lewis?

LB:  NOT!  Not going to happen!  No!…no interest…(bumbles) I stopped being…you know…maybe if when I was younger I had gotten elected to some of the offices I ran for…(continues laughing…) I might have shown an interest, but people were obviously rejecting me when I was young.  I kind of participated in a lot of politics until I was about 25 and then I went, ‘this is not working for me!’

No matter your party affiliation come political seasons, Black’s comedy is a refreshing slap in the face leaving his audiences side-split, having laughed at the perils of even their own political point of view.