Lewis Black’s ascent to the top of the comedy mountain was anything but rapid. He toiled for nearly two decades in comparative obscurity until his “Back In Black” segments on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” propelled him to Comedy Central and HBO specials, Viewer’s Choice awards, Emmy nominations, and the peak for any performer: A night at Carnegie Hall. Along the way, his finger-wiggling apoplectic rants have tapped into a wellspring of discontent and outrage that requires continual venting. Make no mistake about it: Black is a very funny man – but sometimes, we find ourselves laughing to prevent a scream from escaping our throats.

Despite his unhinged facade, Black’s grip on the audience at the North Fork Theatre was firm. If “being in control” (as many comedians put it) is one of the primary measures of a comedy show’s success, there is little doubt that Black was in top form. His persona is so well developed that to watch him wandering around the stage, thinking out loud, before being shaken by a paroxysm of indignation is to imagine that his behavior would be exactly the same were there several thousand fewer people in the room. His delivery is familiar, funny, and a perfect complement to his material.

Black’s show essentially consists of two separate acts (not unexpected given his background as a playwright). While all his humor is observational in nature, his material is clearly divided between the mundane and the political. The opening portion of the show consisted of commentary on anticipation; anticipation of the loss of virginity, and the difference between losing one’s virginity to a CD as opposed to an LP. This evolved into a discussion of two groups that live in a peculiar type of anticipation (golfers and gamblers), the anticipation of Christmas (and how the holiday has come to dominate the calendar), and finally an examination of the viability of a Santa Claus candidacy for 2008 served as the entrée for the show’s political topics. The seeming effortlessness with which Black maintained the show’s narrative and flow was indeed impressive.

There is something for everyone in Black’s political material. Unlike some of his more ideologically motivated colleagues, his ire is not reserved for any party, branch of government, or point of view. His observations are keen and wry; when he noted that by authorizing the construction of a 700-mile wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico that Congress had in effect voted to “build a 1300-mile door,” it took the audience several moments to absorb the irony. Commenting on the Bush strategy to run as a “regular” guy, Black asked, “What regular guy is born in Connecticut, goes to Yale, and thinks he’s a Texan?”

Despite the copious laughter and the high quality of his material, Black’s show is not one from which one exits feeling light and airy. He freely acknowledges this, and pokes fun at the response his material provokes by saying fans have said to him, “You were great tonight. Now I have to kill myself.” By way of providing a “happy ending,” he read from an article describing an incident that involved blueberry pancakes, a frying pan, and the loss of a man’s “pride” to an unfortunate bite reflex; it left the audience howling. The irony is that this bit is no more or less absurd or implausible than any of his other material — it’s just less likely to directly affect us than health care, immigration, Social Security, or the actions of Congress.

In the end, Black’s performance fulfilled the legacy of such great comics as Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Sam Kinison. He left the audience satisfied, slightly disturbed, and more willing to question the insanity of what goes on around them. And, just maybe he left them with an unwholesome appetite for blueberry pancakes.
– Michael Lee