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Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues

Lewis Black

Comedy Central Records · Album · 2005 · 58 min

Lewis Black delivers an hour of frantic, cathartic political venting.

The centerpiece of this live recording is the realization that America has entirely lost its collective grip on reality. Lewis Black stands on stage, vocal cords straining and index finger trembling, as he processes the national meltdown over Janet Jackson’s exposed nipple at the 2004 Super Bowl. His furious confusion sounds like a man trying to talk a deeply weird country off a ledge.

Recorded at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California, in June 2004, the show captures Black at a time when his regular segments on The Daily Show had made him the country’s premier outlet for public anger. Released as an audio album by Comedy Central Records in January 2005, the set focuses heavily on the strange political landscape of the era. Black takes aim at the absurdities of the debate over gay marriage, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ascension to the governorship of California, and the general state of the American electorate.

The album closes with “Iraq, an Idiot’s Delight,” a sixteen-minute track where Black systematically vents his frustration over the ongoing war and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. His style relies on building an argument to a point of physical exhaustion, transforming complex political grief into a loud public tantrum. The recording earned a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album in 2006, cementing Black’s position as the era’s chief chronicler of bureaucratic stupidity.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime show and media reaction

    Ridiculing America's extreme overreaction and collective hysteria regarding the halftime performance.

  2. The controversy over gay marriage

    Mocking Christian right arguments that cite the Old Testament against gay marriage, pointing out that Christians adopted and reinterpreted Jewish scripture.

  3. Arnold Schwarzenegger's election as California Governor

    Expressing disbelief and rage at the political absurdity of Schwarzenegger's rise to the governor's mansion.

  4. The ongoing war in Iraq ('Iraq, an Idiot's Delight')

    Delivering an extended screed dismantling the disaster and absurdity of American foreign policy and presence in Iraq.

How it plays

Tone
Darkly funny, smart, fearless, sarcastic, and furiously indignant.
On stage
Acerbic, venomous, and angry with all forms of stupidity, characterized by flailing fingers and a glowering, eruptive delivery.
Pace
High-intensity, eruptive cadence building into fiery rants and screeds.
About
American politics, Pop culture and media hysteria, Super Bowl halftime controversy, Gay marriage, The Iraq War

What the critics said

Critically praised by AllMusic as a darkly funny, fearless, and remarkably strong set from one of America's least compromised comedians, proving his ability to elevate venomous rants to high art.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, allmusic.com, amazon.com, jweekly.com, open.spotify.com.

Backstory

Recorded in the summer of 2004 amid national controversies including the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show, debates over gay marriage, Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor of California, and the ongoing Iraq War.

Details

Released
Taped
2004, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa
Runtime
58 min
Where
Comedy Central Records (album)
Honors
Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album (2006)
Topics
Before
Black on Broadway (2004)
After
Red, White & Screwed (2006)

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