Black Dishes on Upcoming Show, Hatred of Airports

By Broadside Copy Chief Kerry Sheats

Lewis Black, the comedian known for his social satire and enraged performances, is coming to George Mason University Saturday, Oct. 18. I had the chance to speak with him about his tour, his performance style and our mutual distaste of candy corn.

Broadside: Of this leg of the tour, what are you looking forward to the most?
Lewis Black: Just to make what’s going on seem funny.

Broadside: So, why did you pick Mason to perform and not a major D.C. location?
LB: I’ve done shows a while back in the Warner Theatre, so I did that a little while back. George Mason came about because we were thinking of initially of possibly doing a special for Comedy Central there. And also, I like playing schools.

Broadside: Are you going to gear this part of your act towards college students at all?
LB: College students go to the same shit as real people, but I gear a portion of it to them. It’s essentially the same show…But mostly, I talk about what’s going on. And a portion of the act is about losing my virginity, so that works.

Broadside: What is your least favorite part about touring?
LB: Having to get on a plane to get to the tour bus. Or any time I have to fly.

Broadside: You don’t like flying?
LB: No, I like flying. I don’t like being in airports. When you do it as much as I do, you just dread it. I have to actually spend an hour prepping myself not to scream at people.

Broadside: Speaking about screaming at people, are you really that angry at candy corn or is that just your shtick?
LB: No, I think it’s a pretty disgusting candy. I just kind of stumbled on doing this. As a kid it was just disgusting to me, and that’s where the humor comes from, what makes me angry. Candy corn really makes me angry.

Broadside: How did you find out that your way of performing—being angry—would be successful?
LB: A friend of mine told me to go on stage and start yelling and screaming and he wasn’t angry and I was angry and I should really express it. I did it and it just worked and then I began to really work on it…and it really seemed to be the key to what I was doing.

Broadside: What was your childhood like? Were you funny in school?
LB: Yeah, I was funny. I hung out with a bunch of really funny people, so it’s kind of a pre-requisite for the group I was in. We were all kind of funny and it kept me on my toes. My mother is very funny and so is my dad.

Broadside: When did you discover that you could make a living out of being funny?
LB: 20 years ago.

Broadside: How did that come about?
LB: I just started to work clubs as a headliner and was making what I consider to be a pretty good income. Because I’d been making nothin’ so it was a pretty good income.

Broadside: What are your thoughts on the 2008 presidential election?
LB: I think it’s beyond disturbing. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. I literally treat is as—I think it’s to the point where it’s fiction. I couldn’t write what I’m watching. I think it’s like waking up every day and somebody gave me LSD. It’s nuts. I would not have expected a black man to be running for president in my lifetime and I certainly didn’t expect a woman with absolutely no qualifications to be running for vice-president…So to me, as a result, it’s fiction. And that we could have a president who has died and we would end up in a position where when we’re looking at who could take over, that neither of them really seem to be prepared…it looks bad…I would have expected more at this point.

Broadside: I read in one interview that you said that you don’t have a very good memory, so is your act kind of ad-libbed, or do you perform it so many times that it just becomes second nature?
LB: I don’t have a good memory in terms of day to day things. But my act is something that is the focus of my day and I have friends who watch it and I have tapes but I really do it so much…I’m back working after 10 days so it’s always a bit of a slip-up with remembering stuff, but I would say that I remember 90 to 95 percent . . . And then I just talk about stuff that occurs.

Broadside: Is there anything else that you’d like to comment on?
LB: Just that I’m looking forward to coming back to the D.C. area (he was born here, and raised in Silver Spring, Md.). I like visiting it a lot…I think it’s a great area.