Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black

I was pleasantly surprised by this comedy special. Over the past few years, Lewis Black has become one of my favorite comedians because with the way the world has become, Lewis Black sees the real deal and reveals it to his audience, with a twist, his humor and mannerisms and comedy. He allows us to laugh at all the quirks in the government and politics, and being one that doesn't follow that stuff I learn a lot from his stand up but also enjoy the heck out of his performances! Lewis Black is not incredibly vulgar but he has a few choice words that I wouldn't want my kids to hear if I had them. He is very sweet at times, but very blunt and so you never know what to expect out of him.

I've seen several DVDs of Lewis Black's stand-up comedy, but this one is unusual because it is an entire stand-up routine...80 minutes of it. The other DVDs consisted of 30 and 60 minute time slot specials for Comedy Central. And, Black does a good job of entertaining Detroit in this video. What IS usual is that he is angry, insightful and funny. Hear his skewer Bush as he leaves office yet show utter contempt for both parties ("like bowls of $%^& staring at itself in a mirror")! He also takes on the economy, iPhones and so much more. There also is a HUGE amount of gratuitous cursing...as if Black is trying to set a record. Not surprisingly, it's NOT a video for the easily offended!

Ah those were the times - when you could make fun of both the Democratic Party and the Republican party without fearing any repurcussions or backlash from one side or the other. Also very eerie when you take some of the jokes he makes of Bush and replace his name with Trump ... ah well I might have lost a couple of votes by even mentioning that.

But back to what matters most: it's not just the jokes, but that he is telling a story. And he connects everything very smoothly. Transitions from one theme to another can be tricky, you know how to go from something happy to something sad. Some comedians don't even care and just switch gear without a warning ... Lewis Black is better than that

To review a comedian in a stand-up concert film is a difficult thing to do because all you can say is whether he is funny or not, and that's not a comment on the comedian, so much as your sense of humor. To review a political humorist -- if you can call Lewis Black political -- is even more difficult, because, despite the constant opportunities for mockery offered by politicians, they also excite strong emotions for and against: if you think that President Bush -- any President Bush -- is an ass, then you are caught between thinking any put-down of him is somewhere between hilarious and suicide-inciting. If you think Bush is a Great Man -- and someone, somewhere probably thinks so -- then you are intensely offended.

Lewis Black, however, is not so much a political commentator as an observer of idiocy. His political jibes are shot freely at politicians who behave idiotically and people who ask him if, now that Bush is out of office, will he have anything to be funny about. His humor is Will Rogers' bemusement filtered through Alan King's outrage at the the thought that this is the best people can do.

Mr. Black covers all the bases in his outrage, from formal politics to the nonsense of aging Baby Boomers to how his parents have managed to stay together for more than six decades.

And, yes, he is funny. At least I think so. Very, very funny. Take a look and see if you agree.

Although I have seen his bits on The Daily Show, and also enduring one season of Root of All Evil, this show was the first time actually seeing him do a full show. The biggest thing I noticed from early on was that the tone was much more balanced; of course in segments of a few lines (as host) or a few minutes (as guest), he pushes the anger and rage to the fore, but here, while that is of course still very much part of the show, it is never pushed quite as much as in the smaller segments. This did take me a minute to get used to, but it was an issue with me, not the show.

Settling into the tone I found that Black still based his material on disillusionment and anger, but the show had more of a balance and thought to it, so jokes were more stories rather than quick-fire one-liners delivered with a thrusting point of the finger, and the extremes to which he went in his delivery were more leveled out. This did make for more of an engaging show I felt, although different to what I expected. The laughs also come fairly consistently but without quite the highs either. Some of the segues between subjects were pretty clunky, but the subjects themselves are good, with a range of personal, opinion, exaggerated and so on. Although he is political in nature, there were more 'calling people out' moments than I expected given the balanced tone of the show, and these were well phrased and reasoned.

A surprisingly even handed show then; perhaps not as hilarious as his Daily Show segments but understandably more controlled and reasoned through, making for a consistent and enjoyably show.