I’m on fire with the transcriptions this week. Here’s the printed version of my interview with Lewis Black; the actual tape has a bit more, but this is still pretty fun.

What can I really say to describe Lewis Black? Black’s righteous anger is so refreshing in this era of not caring, of comedy that refuses to be pissed of about anything except people who wear fanny packs (a legitimate concern, but c’mon). This interview took place in early 2000; the next year Black was named Comedian of the Year by the American Comedy Awards. Black continues to perform on The Daily Show as well as clubs and colleges around the country. As a matter of fact, he’ll be in Richmond on April 12, and I’m already working a Lewis Black interview, Vol. II. Enjoy!

(Mul)Doomstone

(Mul)Doomstone: What’s the one quality you find most lacking in most people?

Lewis Black: Common sense.

(M)DS: Do you think most people don’t have any or just not enough?

LB: Most of us just don’t have enough.

(M)DS: You include yourself in that?

LB: Oh, yeah. If I had enough common sense, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.

(M)DS: Why do you say that?

LB: Well, it’s a fun thing to do, but it’s not a life. I mean, some people are able to do it and have a life, but I’ve yet to be able to discover the remarkable ability to do that.

(M)DS: Do you feel you’ve chosen doing this over having a life?

LB: Well, it’s sort of like some psychotic calling, and there’s nothing biblical about it. It’s sort of like being a barking dog.

(M)DS: Were there comedians that influenced you early on?

LB: Oh, yeah. As opposed to now where there’s a ton of information available, back then it was like living in a cave, and you had to just grab whatever you could find. There was Jonathan Winters, Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman . . . there was an album called "The First Family" about the Kennedys that was just unbelievable. And then I got this magazine called "The Realist," which was written by Paul Krausner, and literally it just changed everything. I never thought of comedy in terms of being truly shocking before that. It just blew my mind to see, like, Disney animals fucking each other. It just boggled my mind.

(M)DS: What was your mindset when you were twenty, and how does that differ from what it is now?

LB: The main difference was that when I was twenty, I really felt like I had the time to look around and search out what I wanted. I really had time to experiment and I probably took more risks than I take now. I mean, I just didn’t care. If I had any idea, I would pursue it, whether it was a job or an idea I had of something to work on. The main difference now is that when you look toward your twilight years, you think, "Holy God! If I don’t put some money away now, I’m going to be living in one of those hideous home situations."

(M)DS: Does that make you work harder?

LB: No, I’ve always been sort of a workaholic. I started out writing plays, and then I’d act in stuff. When I left college, I started this theater company in Colorado, for God’s sake. That’s what I mean by taking chances. As opposed to a lot of people, especially around Comedy Central and in New York, who came here for one reason and then have to start doing something else because they feel they need a source of income. And they do, but when I moved to New York, I moved in with six other people just so I wouldn’t have to pay six billion dollars a month in rent. Back then there was more of a sense that we could do that. I don’t know if we were just more . . . adjustable or something . . . I can’t think of the word.

(M)DS: Adaptable?

LB: That’s the word. Adjustable? Christ. You’re hearing the beginning of the end, here. I was adjustable, I was born and raised in New Washington . . .

(M)DS: There seems to be a dividing line between stand-up comedians and political commentators. Do you align yourself with either side?

LB: I think I go back and forth.I first went on the road about fifteen years ago, doing it in clubs, but I never really expected I would end up doing this. Initially I did a lot of commentary, a lot of stuff about politics, because that’s what interests me, and I didn’t care, I didn’t care how people reacted, I was doing it for myself and I really didn’t give a shit. Then I went on the road and I found out that I was able to talk about other things as well. Now I talk a lot about what’s going on politically. It’s about 60% other things and 40% political. By the time this is all over and we elect one of these putzes, it’ll be about 75-80% other things.

(M)DS: So this is like your harvest season?

LB: Oh, this is a big time.

(M)DS: Do you think people in general are resistant to political comedy?

LB: They’re resistant right now. As soon as I start to talk about this election, I feel a palatable loss of energy in the room. But it’s not that they’re apathetic, it’s just that you’ve got to find an interesting way to talk about it.

(M)DS: So how do you deal with that, when you can feel their lack of interest? Do you just rely on the force of your presentation?

LB: Yeah. I drag them through it. You establish the fact that you are funny, and once you do that they’re more willing to listen to you talk about other things. I mean, people may not get or like a particular joke from time to time, but they like me going nuts about it.

(M)DS: How familiar do you find audiences are with the political material you present?

LB: It’s not a problem. I mean, I give them enough information that even if they don’t get the joke initally, they do by the end. I perform in Amsterdam, and people ask me what it’s like, and I say that it’s better than performing in Toledo, because they have more information about stuff, and they’re more interested in out politics than we are. Because, in a way, when you’re viewing it from afar, it’s more interesting than being stuck in this quagmire.

(M)DS: What difference does your exposure on The Daily Show make?

LB: It makes a huge difference. It allows them to get near me. I’ve been playing colleges, and I’ll probably be playing a lot more because the audiences have just been unbelievable. They get it. I’ve been waiting a long time for audiences to look like that. They will laugh so hard sometimes, that I’ll stand up there and look around thinking, "Who the fuck is so funny?"

(M)DS: And they’re receptive to your viewpoints?

LB: Huge! It’s really fun. I had one show recently where it felt like it didn’t work, They get it. They get the character, they get the anger, they get the whole thing.

(M)DS: You mentioned once that LSD had greatly enhanced your perception.

LB: I wonder where you heard me say that.

(M)DS: You were talking about the whole Lewinsky thing and you said that after taking acid, you felt like you had seen it all.

LB: Oh yeah, that’s right. I said that after taking acid I thought I had had every thought that was humanly possible. On the upside, acid really did open up a lot of doors, and on the downside, it scared the bejesus out of me.

(M)DS: Did you do it more than once?

LB: I did it three times. The first time, I really didn’t think I would be back. I didn’t know what me name was for three hours. I do a thing in my act right now where I say that when you see a refrigerator turn into a bear and then walk away, it leaves you a little shaken. And then the other two times I did it I kind oj enjoyed it.

(M)DS: It’s sort of a self-limiting drug. You can tell when you’ve done enough.

LB: Right. I mean, I had friends who did it like candy and would, you know, drive around and stuff. But what it did do was increase the framework from which I view this world. I mean, the frame we look through most of the time is very limited, and acid just rips that open. I think that type of thing is good from time to time, and it expands the frame through which you view life.

(M)DS: Do you find that expanded frame is something absent in politicans?

LB: Oh, God! I watched Al Gore speak a few nights ago, speaking about topics that I generally agree with, but the way he presents them, I think I now disagree.

(M)DS: So you’re as unhappy about the candidates as anyone?

LB: Christ, man. I mean, you ask the audience how they feel about these two, and they just end up feeling miserable. They feel completely cheated. And that’s why a jackass like John McCain looks good in the midst of all this. But the good news is, now we know McCain, now he can come back and try again. It used to be guys would come back around and people would say, "You know what? Fuck you!" and they’d still come back again. I mean, Nixon had to come back about nine times. By the time he was president, nobody liked him, but at least they knew who he was. These guys, they pop in and nobody even knows who they are. It’s like some sort of manufactured product.

(M)DS: I feel that way about Bush especially.

LB: I keep saying, look, if you want George W. Bush because of his father, why don’t you just go get his father? Why are we doing this? He’s still there, just go knock on his door! He looks like Churchill compared to this moron. And he was awful!

(M)DS: Overall, do you see any hope in politicians?

LB: Not now, no. Occasionally you see a blip on the horizon, but so few will ever really speak their mind.

(M)DS: Do you see any who do speak their mind?

LB: Maybe a few in Congress. Maybe they do and they don’t get much airtime. Tom Harkin shot his mouth off and now you never see him anymore. Kennedy will sometimes sit there like a giant frog on a lilypad and impart true wisdom, but then you look at him and think, "Holy shit, he’s carrying so much baggage that it doesn’t matter." There are certain governors who do. I was watching the governor of New Mexico the other day . . .

(M)DS: Yeah, that guy’s wild.

LB: He’s just unbelievable! But you know, he’s absolutely right, and he’s the only one bringing it up. They asked him if he was planning on running for reelection, and he said, "What?!? After this?!?" And I have to say, it was impressive.

(M)DS: And he’s a straight-arrow Republican.

LB: A straight-arrow Republican! And he’s the only one talking about drugs in any honest way, shape, or form. He’s saying, "I have done drugs and this is what they did." And it’s an absolute truth! You’re trying to stop people from doing something they are absolutely going to do, and there just has to be another way.

(M)DS: How much of a media junkie are you?

LB: Not much. It comes to a point where you feel like they’re just dripping wax on your hand.

(M)DS: It’s an alternate reality.

LB: Right. It takes me longer now to come up with a take on stuff, because it’s like watching something through a mirror. It took me forever to come with anything on the whole Elian Gonzalez thing. I mean, my initial reaction was just, fuck it, I’m exhausted. I mean, I saw pictures of them taking the kid, and the gun isn’t up to his head, but, you know. I mean, as soon as they took the kid out of the boat, why not just electro-shock him? It takes something to get through to me at this point, because it’s just such a morass of information.

(M)DS: Do you think the media is getting worse or is it even changing at all?

LB: I don’t think it has changed that much. It’s just a complete lack of insightful questions. They just can’t get past the spin-masters.

(M)DS: Why do you think that is?

LB: I don’t know. I mean, there’s this tremendous adversarial relationship between the press and the politician, and it just becomes a big circle jerk where they’re both tugging each other off, and we really don’t get anywhere. I think there is a quality to the news that is hidden somewhere behind the news. You watch Wolf Blitzer and you hear him talk, but you get the impression that he’s not letting on to all of the information he has. That’s one thing that makes The Daily Show work, is that we can do the news with an attitude, whereas everyone else has to keep up appearances, and there’s no attitude involved. That’s the one thing that was always amazing to me growing is, is that you would watch Walter Cronkite showing these pictures of utter carnage, speaking in these moderated tones, and you would just think, "What the fuck is wrong with this picture?"

(M)DS: What’s the one thing this year that has really made you blow a fuse?

LB: The whole New Years Eve thing. That drove me nuts that we scared each other so badly that we all stayed home and watched other people on other countries have fun on television. It was the worst new years ever, and it should have been the best. It was appaling.

(M)DS: What did you do?

LB: I performed. I was in Chicago and there were twenty-eight people there. Have you ever done comedy from twenty-eight people on new years eve? It would have been more appropriate for me to have gone around table to table and try to guess people’s weight.