Furiously Funny: Black to bring unique comedic prospective to Pittsburgh
Known for his angry diatribes on everything from politics to the calm that comes over him while listening to country artist Vince Gill, comedian and rant extraordinaire Lewis Black will share his insights 8 p.m. April 8 at Heinz Hall.
It is his unique outlook on life, full of disappointment and disillusion, that made Black such a hit during his midlife.
“It’s that the century is a disappointment. The baby-boom generation couldn’t fix anything. And we broke most of the toys we were handed,” Black said in Michael Cavna’s article with The Washington Post.
Born in the nation’s capital on Aug. 30, 1948 and later raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, he always had the desire to question authority.
He was bitten by the theater bug at the age of 12 and wanted to pursue a career in drama after seeing his first play.
He studied at the University of North Carolina and Yale Drama School and for a brief period owned a theater group with his friends.
He even performed at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Throughout his theater career, one thing always remained constant: stand-up comedy.
Black has also been a part of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” team, has several stand-up specials and records and regularly makes appearances on various television shows sharing his special brand of aggravated comedy.
While many can try and guess what topics Black will have in his cross-hairs during Saturday’s 8 p.m. performance, it is a pretty safe bet that politics will be discussed.
“This debate is making my brain feel like it’s being rubbed raw by a Brillo Pad,” he twitted while watching the early October debate.
In an interview with Jeffrey Lee Puckett of the Courier-Journal, Black said that this election has had a major impact on his comedy.
“In a sense, it’s made every comment a political comment. I mean, you don’t really have to do any work.
“All you have to do is wake up, look at what happened and then repeat it. I mean, seriously, I don’t know what my job is anymore,” he said during the interview. “I’ve been walking around the country going, ‘Really, you need me to give you another Trump joke? Really? You need that?’
“And if you need a Hilary joke, why don’t you spend some time trying to figure out what the Hillary joke would be. ‘How come you don’t do jokes about her?’ Well, it’s hard. That’s the problem. By the time you get to the punchline of the joke, most of you are sleeping. It takes too much of a set-up, OK? So don’t expect it from me. I don’t have the energy for it.”
While Black spends most of his time in the midst of a rant, he does have hope when it comes to the future.
“I think ultimately what good comes out of it is that hopefully kids are paying attention,” he said. “That’s my hope. I’ve given up on my generation. We’re a wash. But the kids are already like, ‘Gay marriage? Really? You’ve got a problem with that?,'” said Black in the interview with Puckett.
“That’s the group. They overcame a lot of social issues, a lot more quickly, that my generation still can’t come to grips with, and that’s so profoundly sad that I can’t even see straight. By watching this (election) hopefully they’ll have taken a step forward in terms of what they look for in leadership and we finally move ahead in doing what we have to do and becoming a country with more than two parties.”
Tickets to Black’s stand-up comedic performance start at $39.50.
This performance was originally scheduled for Nov. 12, but due to the musicians strike at Heinz Hall it was rescheduled for now. Any tickets purchased for the November performance date will be honored.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 1-800-440-8539.