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Lewis Black:
His angly political humor
is accompanied by trade-
mark finger pointing.

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(248) 474-8183

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Black Humor

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Comedy Central star left behind fleeting thoughts of
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ewis Black as a child wanted to
become a rabbi.
Yes, that Lewis Black. The
acerbic, fed-up-with-all-forms-of-stupid-
ity, fingers-flailing-in-the-air comedian
wanted to be a spiritual leader. He soon
realized, however, that his temperament
— red face and all — would fail him.
So he started telling jokes. Angry, politi-
cal jokes.
Here's a recent example: Chiding Mel
Gibson's public statements in support of
Terri Schiavo's parents, Black suggested
Gibson make a sequel to his 2000 film
What Women Want, this one titled What
Women in a Persistent Vegetative State
and Who The Never Met Want.
His controversial humor has made
him a star. Black, 56, appears weekly on
Comedy Central's popular The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart. He had his own
HBO special. He has a new book and
CD out. And he plays more than 250
shows a year, all for packed houses —

including an upcoming gig at Meadow
Brook Music Festival, where he takes the
stage 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13.
Not bad for a kid who originally
thought he'd spend his days in the pulpit.

Family Influence

"I was good in Hebrew, and what else
are you going to do if you're good in
Hebrew?" Black asks. "I wasn't moving
to Israel. I had a really great rabbi
when I was a kid ... he was terrific.
But by the time I was a bar mitzvah, I
was lucid."
Although Black didn't opt for the
clergy after all, he says his Jewish
upbringing informs his work.
"The thing you gain by being Jewish
is the sense of being an outsider," he
says. "So you have an empathy, a natu-
ral empathy."
It's funny to hear the acerbic Black
talk about empathy. Still, trace his
comic anger back to the source and
you find empathy is abundant.
His humor, it seems, derives mainly
from his parents, smart Jewish liberals