Originally posted Friday, October 19, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Comic Lewis Black is so defined by his anger that he was literally cast as Anger in the 2015 animated hit "Inside Out."
But get this: the 70-year-old stand up has normal blood pressure and takes no medications related to it.
"My blood pressure is spectacular," proclaimed Black today from Fort Myers, Fla, where he's doing a show. He will be back at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre November 2 for the first time since 2015. (Tickets from $39.50 to $75 here.)
One time, he said, an Esquire reporter gave him blood pressure tests after went on a rant or two. It took all of three minutes for his blood pressure to bounce back to normal.
“I think it helps that I let it all out on stage,” he said. (He now does about 120 dates a year.)
Black has good genes and could be around a few more decades: both his parents are alive and well at age 100.
And after 15-plus years doing theater tours, he can afford to provide them both 24/7 care. His mother knits and does puzzles. His dad loves watching golf “although he never played,” he said.
Black is not invincible. He suffered severe pneumonia in Ireland in 2017 and spent 10 days in the hospital. Care was great, he said. But what astounded him was the (relatively) modest bill: $8,500. He figured it would have cost at least $45,000 or more in America.
“My insurance company just got away with murder,” he said. “And they still made me pay part of it.”
And like any good comic, he was happy to suffer for his art: “at least it was good for my act.”
Black also continues to make occasional appearances on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," something he has done since 1996 when Craig Kilborn was host. And he deliberately does rants that have nothing to do with politics.
For instance, earlier this month, Black vented about electric scooter sharing apps.
“You can get to you destination five minutes earlier and all you have to do is give up your dignity!” he groused. He marvels that in one city, he saw the scooters just scattered around sidewalks, not even docked anywhere. “That’s not sharing!” he opined. “That’s littering!”
He said during his current stand-up show, he deliberately avoids mentioning Donald Trump by name. "He is mentioned way too much already," he said.
But that doesn’t mean he’s not ticked by the state of affairs. His current tour is called “The Joke’s On You,” and he describes what’s going on as “epic insanity.”
While Black has always had bones to pick with both Democrats and Republicans (and believe me, he's as sick of Chuck Schumer as he is Mitch McConnell), his animus is currently more directed at those who are in power.
“You’re selling out so cheap,” he said, of Congress. “Don’t you have any sense of leadership, any sense of dignity? Your whole thing is to just come out there and continue to hold his hand and pretend it’s not happening.”
When Black went to college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1967, he remembers seeing a fraternity on horses commemorating the Civil War by wearing Confederate uniforms. It boggles his mind that 50 years later, there is still a debate about Confederate statues.
“I spent my whole life pushing back on those things,” he said. “It’s time to move on. We are supposed to evolve.”
At the same time, he feels like this white supremacy revival is akin to the dying moans of the last dinosaurs on Earth. “It’s white men deciding we’re going to hold on to the planet,” Black said. “You’re not. Give it up. It’s a whole new ballgame!”
While he sees societal progress, he sometimes feels like it’s two steps forward, three steps back - “and we’re putting on the Depends.”
Black is working on a new comedy special though he's not sure where it will land. He knows Netflix is the place to be. His stand-up buddy Kathleen Madigan has gotten a few nice paychecks from Netflix.
For now, he hopes to dial back his travel and stand-up dates and focus more on writing. Right now, he has a one-man play in mind and a book.
And he’s rooting for Madigan’s star to rise so eventually “I’ll open for her. Or maybe I’ll just sit in the audience and heckle her!”
COMEDY PREVIEW
Lewis Black
8 p.m., Friday, November 2, 2018
$39.50 to $75
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
2800 Cobb Galleria Pkwy, Atlanta
