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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

The White Album

Lewis Black

-ismist Recordings · Album · 2000 · 50 min

A loud, highly articulate breakdown of Y2K-era politics and terrible weather.

Lewis Black built an entire career on the verge of an aneurysm, and his debut album captures that trademark fury in its nascent stage. He approaches Y2K-era politics and everyday annoyances with equal levels of apocalyptic rage. Black is deeply, personally offended by the weather, the International House of Pancakes, and the concept of sunblock. He channels the frustration of a man who expects the world to make sense and is perpetually appalled to find out it doesn’t.

The performance was captured at Laugh Lines Comedy Club in Madison, Wisconsin, a fitting location given his opening bit about experiencing thunder, lightning, and snow simultaneously in the state. Released in 2000, the album coincided with his rising profile as the resident ranter on The Daily Show. Beyond his meteorological grievances, Black takes aim at the Heaven’s Gate cult, the absurdity of the Bill Clinton impeachment hearings, and the distinct cultural failings of cities like Miami, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. He finishes his geography lesson with an ode to New York City, noting that it remains the only place in the country where profanity functions as a comma.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Bill Clinton and the Lewinsky impeachment controversy

    Satirical, furious dissection of political theater and societal obsession with oral sex shenanigans.

  2. The Heaven's Gate cult

    Mocking the absolute idiocy and absurdity of the cult members' beliefs and actions.

  3. Auditioning as himself for a television pilot

    Recounting the surreal, frustrating incompetence of network television development.

  4. Weather reporting, hurricanes, and the Ozone layer

    Venting exasperation at overly dramatic TV weathermen, Al Roker, and hypocrisies surrounding sunblock and ozone depletion.

  5. Chain dining at IHOP

    Excoriating the bizarre realities and irritations of dining at the International House of Pancakes.

  6. Other Idiots from Arkansas

    Reading aloud from an apparent newspaper report about two men injured after placing a bullet inside a truck's fusebox.

How it plays

Tone
Furious, sarcastic, dark, politicized, and exasperated.
On stage
An energetically angry, exasperated curmudgeon delivering furious, profane rants in a gravelly voice, likened by Black to an angry adolescent character venting rage.
Pace
High-intensity, raw, rapid-fire pacing that pummels the listener into submission with sheer exasperation and tension.
About
American politics and scandals, Human stupidity, Everyday irritants and consumer culture, Cults, Weather reporting and environmental hypocrisies, Regional gripes about American cities

What the critics said

Praised as gut-wrenchingly funny and blisteringly sharp, earning acclaim for emphasizing intelligent, ironic political and cultural critique over simple vulgarity.

In the room: An intimate, electric comedy club atmosphere capturing unfiltered, raw live energy.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmusic.com, ismista.com, grokipedia.com, standuprecords.com, en.wikipedia.org, timmcmahan.com, villagevoice.com.

Backstory

Turn-of-the-millennium America, marked by the Bill Clinton impeachment scandal, late-1990s cultural and political absurdities, and consumer culture follies.

Details

Released
Taped
1999, Laugh Lines Comedy Club, Madison
Runtime
50 min
Where
-ismist Recordings (album)
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (1998)
After
Taxed Beyond Belief (2002)

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