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Promotional art for Old Yeller: Live at the Borgata
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Old Yeller: Live at the Borgata

Lewis Black

Tubi · 2013 · 81 min

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

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The trademark anger is intact, but the target has shifted. Instead of aiming his shouts at a specific political administration, Lewis Black uses Old Yeller to grapple with a society that feels structurally broken and aggressively distracted. He directs his vitriol at the mathematical impossibility of Social Security, the collective failures of the Baby Boomer generation, and the exhausting reality of having to understand the internet.

Filmed at the Borgata in Atlantic City for EPIX, his ninth hour captures a comic in transition. The Bush years that fueled his highest-profile work are in the rearview. He is left to vent his frustrations at Mark Zuckerberg, Farmville, and the general speed of modern life. His parents are in the audience, and his father’s artwork serves as the stage backdrop.

While the frantic finger-pointing and lock-jawed delivery remain, reviewers at the time noted a distinct resignation creeping into the performance. The screaming is less about righteous indignation and more about the weariness of navigating a self-sustaining bureaucratic mess.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Baby Boomer legacy, Social Security, and math

    Examines the failure of the Baby Boomer generation and uses long division and bad math to deconstruct the insolvency of Social Security before pivoting into healthcare in America.

  2. Dumb Democrats vs. stupid Republicans

    Contrasts the two major political parties by calling Democrats banal and ineffective while branding Republicans dangerous, unaware, and unintentionally hilarious.

  3. Overmedicating children

    Rants about children being prescribed speed and mind-erasing medications, expressing wistful envy that high-grade stimulants were not legally available during his own school days.

  4. Indiana lawmaker opposing the Girl Scouts

    Attacks a real news story regarding an Indiana politician who refused to honor the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts due to a perceived radical agenda.

  5. Struggles with modern technology and apps

    Commiserates with his older audience about confusion surrounding modern tech platforms, specifically Twitter, Spotify, Facebook, Farmville, and iPhone obsession.

How it plays

Tone
Satirical, dejected, irritable, and politically cynical.
On stage
An aged, wearier, and more resigned variation of his signature apoplectic persona, alternating between conversational dejection and sharp bouts of screaming, finger-pointing, and jaw clenching.
Pace
Begins at a slower, measured tempo before building momentum and erupting into animated shouting tirades.
About
aging and generational divides, political dysfunction and partisan absurdity, healthcare and overmedication, technology and modern culture, Social Security and mathematics

What the critics said

Critical reception was mixed; reviewers noted that Black appeared calmer and wearier than in past hours, with some critics arguing the material tread familiar territory and felt like a deflated revision of older routines, while still acknowledging his impeccable timing and dependable delivery.

In the room: A sold-out, predominantly older casino crowd that shared Black's generational nostalgia and responded warmly to shared cultural touchstones like television rabbit ears.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: filmdb.co.uk, play.google.com, lewisblack.com, amazon.com, moviemezzanine.com, dvdtalk.com, thecomedybureau.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, atlanticcityweekly.com.

Backstory

Performed before an older casino audience with both of his elderly parents in attendance, standing in front of oversized backdrops of his father's artwork while reflecting on aging, childlessness, and post-Bush political disillusionment.

Details

Released
Taped
Music Box Theater, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City
Runtime
81 min
Where
Tubi
Director
Zach Nial
Topics
Before
In God We Rust (2012)
After
Black to the Future (2016)

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