Lewis Black

Stand-up specials

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He turns an impending aneurysm into a tightly wound joke.

🎤 16 Specials

He steps to the mic already annoyed. Lewis Black does not tell jokes so much as he suffers through them. He leans forward, jabs a rigid finger at the audience, and vibrates. When he hits the dumbest part of a premise, his voice cracks into a squeak. He leaves a pause where he shakes his head, completely defeated by the world, acting like a man physically unable to process what he just heard.

He occupies a singular space in comedy. Outlasting every host and correspondent on The Daily Show since 1996, he is the permanent resident of the televised rant. The act survives because it skips irony entirely. While other comics build sets on detachment, Black plays a man who still cares enough to get visibly furious.

The yelling works because it has a spine. It is easy to watch his face turn purple and miss the structure underneath. He takes a piece of everyday hypocrisy and traces its logic until the whole thing collapses. The most effective move in his act is not the shouting, but the silence. He will freeze, staring at the floor, letting the quiet stretch until the audience realizes the pause is the punchline. When a crowd does not follow him, he breaks character to complain about the joke, berating the room until the awkwardness earns a laugh.

The discipline comes from the theater. Before he was an arena comic, he earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and spent the eighties writing plays in New York. The angry guy at the microphone is a character, built by a dramatist who knows how to pace a scene and when to drop the volume.

Standup Specials

Tragically, I Need You

Lewis Black

2023 · YOUTUBE

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Thanks for Risking Your Life

Lewis Black

2020 · AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Black to the Future

Lewis Black

2016 · AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Old Yeller: Live at the Borgata

An angry comic yells at social security, the internet, and baby boomers.

Lewis Black

2013 · TUBI

In God We Rust

An angry citizen tries to understand smartphones, FarmVille, and Valentine's Day.

Lewis Black

2012 · EPIX

Stark Raving Black

A 60-year-old comic yells about mortality, the economy, and Vince Gill.

Lewis Black

2009 · COMEDY CENTRAL

Red, White & Screwed

An angry breakdown over mid-2000s politics and Dick Cheney's aim.

Lewis Black

2006 · HBO MAX

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Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues

Lewis Black

2005 · COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS (CD/VINYL)

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Black on Broadway

Lewis Black

2004 · HBO

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Rules of Enragement

Lewis Black

2003 · COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS (CD)

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The World Comedy Tour: Melbourne 2003

Wil Anderson, Maria Bamford, Lewis Black, Lenny Clarke, Anh Do, Adam Ferrara, Greg Fleet, Tom Gleeson, Lee Mack, Ardal O'Hanlon, Jeremy Hotz, Judith Lucy, Sabrina Matthews

2003 · TELEVISION (AU)

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