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Tragically, I Need You

Lewis Black

YouTube · 2023 · 61 min

A famously angry comic reluctantly admits he missed other people.

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It is the sight of a seventy-something misanthrope coming to terms with the fact that he actually missed the people who drive him crazy. Lewis Black spends the hour pacing, pointing, and shouting, but the underlying realization is that isolation is a worse punishment than enduring the general public. Instead of only screaming at politicians, he details the quiet madness of spending too much time alone with a cat and too many bottles of alcohol.\n\nFilmed in May 2022 at The Paramount Theater in Huntington, New York, and released for free on YouTube in 2023, the hour catches Black at a transitional point in his career. Approaching his mid-seventies and preparing to wind down his decades of heavy touring, he remains a fixture of sustained indignation. The material is more inward-facing than his earlier work, documenting a quarantine-fueled journey of self-discovery.\n\nNotable bits find him analyzing the absurdity of food packaging, specifically how every recipe is written for a happy family of four, and recounting how his own pandemic marathon consisted entirely of drinking. His signature style of loud, finger-pointing frustration is fully intact as he touches on vaccine arguments, the bizarre behavior of Walmart shoppers, and his begrudging admission that humanity is ultimately necessary.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Walking onto the stage to Metallica's 'Enter Sandman'

    Mocks the expectation created by the intense entrance music when all that comes out is an aging Jewish comedian instead of sword swallowers or wild animals.

  2. Audience members failing to do their homework

    Advises audience members that if they get offended by his jokes it is their fault for not researching what they were coming to see despite having ample time during lockdown.

  3. His 103-year-old mother

    Describes her sharpness, insults about his comedy, and imaginative fabrications such as claiming she visited Thailand or raised a completely different family.

How it plays

Tone
Angry, thoughtful, frustrated, and cranky.
On stage
Grouchy, cranky, feisty persona delivering patented informative rants.
Pace
Elevated delivery and high-energy rants tempered by self-deprecating commentary on his aging body.
About
post-Pandemic state of the world, isolation and solitary confinement, aging, vaccines and masks, conspiracy theories and politics, his 103-year-old mother

What the critics said

Praised for his thoughtful, energetic, and compelling delivery of pandemic reflections, though some viewers and reviewers felt the pandemic-centric focus was dated.

In the room: An excited audience eager to be out of the house post-lockdown, reacting with loud cheers and laughter.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, lewisblack.com, letterboxd.com, latimes.com, abcnews.com, forbes.com.

Backstory

Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic world following months of isolation and quarantine starting in 2020; picks up where his Grammy-nominated special Thanks For Risking Your Life left off.

Details

Released
Taped
2022, The Paramount Theater, Huntington
Runtime
61 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Benjamin Brewer
Topics
Before
Thanks for Risking Your Life (2020)

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