The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial w. Lewis Black

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Episode #585: Comedy legend Lewis Black joins Bryan & Krissy to get ANGRY about all kinds of malarkey! Bryan fanboys over Lewis Black The Orioles/Braves/Cubs Performing in the suburbs The politicians did not leave us alone this summer Jacob’s Ladder New York in the 80s Writing plays Getting rejected Political drama making Lewis angry! Bryan should not be allowed to vote? Teleprompters Getting on The Daily Show More fanboying

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I mean, being a playwright, you know, I really wanted to be a playwright, so I'd send the scripts out and it and as I've said time and again if you're writing a play it was faster I thought I learned over time that if you actually put your play in a bottle and took the bottle and courted it and threw it into a river or somebody would find that faster and read it faster than any of the fucking theaters would do. The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now. Oh, you're a cat and kittens. Welcome back to the Commercial Break.

I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the coordinator of all things wonderful, Kristen Joy Holding. Best to you, Kristen. Best to you, Kristen. Best to you, Ryan. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. It's a TCB Infomercial Tuesday. I could not be more excited to have the next guest on. And that is Mr. Fucking Lewis Black.

Wow. Now, I know that some of you out there are going to be like, Mr. Fucking Who? And I'm going to say Mr. Fucking Lewis Black, pause the episode, do your homework. Because he is a legend among legends. Yeah, he is one of the best living, I guess, commentarians, comedians, yeah, ever that ever graced this earth during our lifetime, including Carlin Pryor Rock. I mean, there's so many we can go on and on and on, but he is one of the greats. And if you grew up in like the time

of Comedy Central Daily Show, the heyday of the Daily Show or Comedy Central, then you will know exactly who Lewis Black is. He's super fucking fantastic. He says the word fuck every three seconds. He's so funny. He's perfect for the commercial break. Yes, he is perfect.

And I don't care what age the guy is. I'm not an agist, because I'm an old man too. I'm not an ageist, I want Lewis Black on my show. So when they said, can you, will you, is it possible that you might, and I was like, I would fucking walk on glass to have Lewis Black sit down and talk to me. I know, I looked at our schedule and saw him on there, I was like, what?

We've got Lewis Black? I know, honestly. There's like some people where you go, really? He's coming here? I know. They wanted that? Somebody decided that was a good fucking idea? All right, okay. I'll do it. Yeah, let's take it. Lewis Black is a standup comedian. He's a playwright, he's a writer, he's an actor.

He's been in so many movies, I don't even know where to start. But I think probably what most people of a certain age would know him for is his stand-up comedy and his commentary on life, politics, love, I mean, everything under the sun. He's got this certain je ne sais quoi, which is he uses fuck like nobody else does. He moves his hands in weird ways. And I love it. He's incredible. He's just so good at what he does. He takes the world, he spins it around that brilliant mind of his and he spits it out in a way that's simple to understand and fucking hilarious. And I have to think that maybe Louis Black has shaped some of my political thinking,

some of my thinking about reality and the perception of reality, just some of my thinking in general, because I am one of those kids who grew up when Comedy Central was just coming online. And he was one of the first, he was on The Daily Show very early on, we'll ask him when, but he was on The Daily Show very early on. And I think he survived through the John Stewart years, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, he did. No, he was on there. Yeah. And so now- Insomniac.

Insomniac, that's right. I think politically incorrect. Was he on maybe, no, that was Bill Marr. I'm sorry. That's not- Conan. Conan, that's right. He was on Conan. He was a guest, a regular guest on Conan. So, the greats know him, they love him. And so, I'm interested to dig in and see, you know, what he, why exactly he's deciding to retire. I mean, listen, he's not a whippersnapper. He's not 22 years old. It's not like he's got 50 more years of standup comedy in him, but he's on his final tour.

Well, I would say he can kind of pick and choose after this. I think there's probably, yeah, I don't think he's like retiring. I just think he's, and maybe the tour thing is, okay, I've done it for many, many fucking years. And now I'm kind of over it. Yeah, and I want to be done with it. And we'll, I'm sure get into that too.

But the great Lewis Black at lewisblack.com is where you can find tickets to his tour. He's on through the year. He's doing like every other night, he's doing a show it seems like until the end of the year. And he has special tickets, F-U-C-K-U tickets, fuck you tickets that you can buy. I can't wait to ask him about that.

Also, he's also got two specials that I think you might be interested in. One is called, Thanks For Risking Your Life To Be Here, essentially. And that's on YouTube, completely free. And that is a special that was filmed on March 13th, 2020, the week that everybody started really freaking out about what was then called coronavirus. And then he did another special just last year called Tragically I Need You. And I think he's referring to the audience, like tragically I need you, right? And they're bookends. They're like two different, very timely perspectives on what was going on. One, when everything

was shutting back down, one when everything was shutting back down, was shutting down. One, when everything was, you know, starting back up and they're hilarious, they're pointed, they're interesting, they're thought-provoking, and only Louis Black can do it and the only Louis Black one. I know, he's got his own style. Yeah. If you're looking for like someone to be a smooth, you know, talking orator like this, that's not Louis Black. But if you're looking for someone to like tickle your brain in the right spots, that is Louis Black. And I'm so glad and grateful that he's here, lewisblack.com, and then go watch those two specials on YouTube. And he's

got Rantcast too, also, which maybe we'll talk to that, talk to him about that. So Chrissy, I do have an idea. Yes, yes, Brian. Let's go into our awkward transition phase. Why don't we just take a minute, we'll listen to some of our sponsors who feed our mouths and our children. And then when we come back through the magic of tele-podcasting, Louis Black, the great Louis Black, I'm going to start saying that anytime I say his name. The great Louis Black will be here right in front of us, Chrissy, and we'll get to have

a conversation with him. Could you imagine? I can't wait. As a young, butding little Kristen Hodeley watching Comedy Central, that someday this man who was just like melting your mind would all of a sudden be in front of you. Now?

Well, it's all happening. It's all happening right after. Dreams do come true. They really do. It's all happening right after these messages. We'll be back. Okay, you guys, I have an idea. Why don't we take a break?

Gotcha. This is the break. And you already know when you hear my sexy voice, it's time to whip your phone out and follow us on Instagram or skip the ads at the commercial break and on TikTok at TCB podcast. And of course, you know, if you want to get involved, you can always give us a call or text us at 212-433-3TCB. That is 212-433-3822. And guess what?

I finally have information on TCB Live. So the links are in the show notes, but let me tell you right now, you can come see us at Dania Beach Improv on Tuesday, September 24th, or at the Funny Bone Orlando on Wednesday, September 25th. It's gonna be fab. So go buy your tickets and we'll see you in Florida.

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And I'm Link. Maybe you know us from our daily YouTube show, Good Mythical Morning. But this is a little trailer for our podcast, Ear Biscuits, where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. And nothing is off limits. We talk about our sex lives, our mental health journeys, but we try to never take ourselves too seriously.

So we invite you to not do the same, or to do the same. We invite you to listen. Follow and listen to Ear Biscuits. Now for free on the Odyssey app and everywhere you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time. And I do have to ask you a question.

As a long suffering Orioles fan, can you believe where you are right now? It allows me to weep publicly. It's really unbelievable. I mean, but, and it took a while. I mean, partly I was enraged part of the time because we were, there were like, our catchers should have been up sooner. Yeah.

And you know, they were fooling around, you know, and then also could you hire a, still even now, can you pay for some pitching? Can you at least pretend that we're in it? It's like, literally you're going to continue to do this. And what's really amazing is they've screwed that fan base over for, and it's not been, I mean, it's been long, but not in terms of other teams that have been really. Sure. It's not been, I mean, it's been long, but not in terms of other teams that have been really. Sure.

You know, and, and these guys, you could still get like a 10 or 20 or $30 package that allows you to go to all the games in August and sit in the cheap seats. Whoa. That's incredible. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. That's insane. That's incredible. Yeah, we live in Atlanta where our Pornhub overlords charge every dollar, then have the audacity

to call it the Atlanta Braves when it's actually 30 miles outside of the city center. It's fucked up. It is way out, isn't it? Is it near the Cobb? Yeah, it's near the Cobb. It's right over there near the Energy Center. It's actually across the highway from the Energy Center,

which is a great location if you're white and rich enough to afford those seats, but you know, the, the, it lacks, in my opinion, it lacks the character of the old stadium, especially the, the Ted Turner stadium that was built for the Olympics, which was just an incredible place to see baseball. And, you know, whatever it's, it's all homogenized and corporatized and big dollars at this time. And I guess. Put that Cobb energy center out there, which they said, or you're going to perform out there now. Oh, yeah. You know, you go to a city and you want to, I am no interest in performing in the suburbs. You jackass. I got out of the suburbs.

You sit for a while and then that's enough. And then you kind of realize, no, I'm not going to perform in the suburbs, you jackass. And I got out of the suburbs, you could sit for a while and then that's enough. And then you kind of realized, no. In the city. So you want to perform, which I did for a while. I've got to perform. I was at the House of Blues there.

And we did a couple of the other theaters downtown. And then now I'm out at the Cobb Energy Center, which has no energy. Yeah, that's true. I'm so right about this. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's a beautiful place. If you're going to go see opera or the fucking orchestra

or, you know, Pranky Valley and the Dead Tops or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it's not, it's not the place you want to see Lewis Black or your favorite, you know, rebirth 90s band that once was popular and not popular again. And that's what they do. But, you know, they have to make money somehow. So I guess that's where they put it. And Atlanta is a perfectly lovely city with lots of great theaters, with

lots of great history, and they have, they just keep building more further and further away and calling it Atlanta. But that's my, that's a rant and you're better at that than I am. No, but I'm glad to hear it because it really did. It's one of those things I've wondered, you know, you go out there, I don't, I know I've got a few friends who, you know, live down there, but you don't really, you know, it's kind of like, really? Yeah. Well, that's what we all thought when, when the Brave Stadium was announced in Cobb County. We were like, are they the Cobb County Braves now

or are the Marietta Braves or are they just still the Atlanta Braves? But you can't argue with success and we are spoiled with success. As a long suffering Cubs fan until a couple of years ago, I feel you on Baltimore. I have to ask you a question right off the get. You put an Instagram reel, a YouTube short out

that I saw a couple of months ago, maybe it was like back in April or something, where you said, hey, politicians, can you give us a fucking break for the summer? Don't say anything, go to bar, you know, do your barbecues and leave us all the fuck alone. I love that. How's that going in your estimation?

Well, now I just, I did it again, and then I did it, and last night I was, the other night I was performing in Cleveland and I just launched into it. I mean, it's, yeah, it's disgusting. It's, and it starts with the fact that they go, this is what enrages me. Well, you know, we only have a hundred days. You know, seriously. Okay. Yeah.

You've already added a hundred days to Christmas. That didn't help. a hundred days, you know, seriously. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You've already added a hundred days to Christmas, that didn't help. It's like literally, do you not think we're capable? And if, and if we need this much time, then there really is something wrong that we are picking

people that we don't know. That there should be people on the table we already know. I mean, in part, when I was growing up, and now I'll sound like an aging fart, when I was growing up, you knew these, I mean, Nixon, you knew, and he tried, and then he tried again, and then he won. These people kind of stayed in the loop.

Now it's like, okay, Ron Lee, what he want. Yeah. You know, these people kind of stayed in the loop. Now it's like, okay, God, you know, Romney, okay, God, he's there for, you know, and, and in comparison, you know, when you look in terms of what we're dealing with, you know, really you got rid of him, he was kind of like the middle guy. You idiots. Yeah. Fucking idiots.

In the middle and, uh, you know, except for whatever, you know, we can argue, you know, this, that, or the other, you know, but basic, basic, and you go, no, that's enough, you know, he was a centrist and had had long been known as a guy who works across the aisle and had worked across the aisle during his presidency to get some shit actually fucking done. And, um, you know, but we can argue up and down about, you know, whether or not he's fit for the job or not fit you. And I think it's a valid argument to have, right. But it's, it was like one, one shitty performance.

Good night, Joe. See you later. Talk to you. Talk to you later. You, you have a really interesting, Chrissy and I were talking about this before you, see you later. Talk to you later. You have a really interesting, Chrissy and I were talking about this before you came on. I think we both remembered you because of your long stint on The Daily Show.

That's when we grew up. That's when our minds were blossoming. That's when we got interested in the world around us. And we're also cable kids, right? So we saw The Daily Comedy Central was amazing. And politics, really. Yeah, and politics. And that's when I became a super fan of yours. Like if you were on The Daily Show,

I needed to watch it and it was appointment TV for me. Did, was, but you had, you were like a playwright and you were in Jacob's fucking ladder, which is one of the most fucked up movies I've ever seen in my entire life. Did you, what did you play in Jacob's ladder? You were the doctor? I played the doctor. ladder, which is one of the most fucked up movies I've ever seen in my entire life. What did you play in Jacob's Ladder? You were the doctor?

I played the doctor. And the reason, one of the reasons, the hook, I think that I'm in that and stayed in that, you know, and a lot of the times you get edited out and it's a small, very small role, but there was a dog on the set and a great dog. And they were paying the dog more than me. And some of the other actors, the dog was getting a lot every day, but the dog was gonna be in the scene. And the thing was is that they brought the dog

and now the dog's a part of the movie. And the thing is, Tim Robbins, who was the lead, didn't really like dogs. He didn't want the dog around or whatever. But he doesn't like dogs. But apparently he didn't or whatever. And so really, the dog was going to be in the scene. And he was in the tub and I'm sitting there and I went,

I'm going to, this dog's going to be great in this. So I'm hanging out all day with the dog and I'm going to be sure this dog likes me enough that he's going to be not a problem when we get in there. And he certainly wanting to be, he's a well-trained, you know, he's, he's getting paid more than me. He probably, if you just watch that clip again, the most, the best acting done in that clip is the dog who's got, of all of us has the most sincere look. All of us, the most commitment comes from the canine. Yeah. And, and so that was how I ended up.

I think that the clip stayed in the movie and, uh, you know, because all they really needed was him in the tub being in an ice bath or something. Yeah. I remember that. I remember this scene in the movie, the guy's pouring ice on him and he's freaking out and the whole thing is going. They say never work with animals or children, but maybe in this case they'd have to have one.

Was that your first major motion picture role? No, the first major motion picture role was it was Hannah and her sisters. Oh, wow, that's a classic. And if you look, and here's another one of those crazy things. Julia Taylor is, was, I'm not sure if she still does, but was Woody Allen's casting person. And she's pretty remarkable. And she's on top of things. And she approached me and the friend of mine who's passed away who we had a place in New York

that we did theater in and he did music. I did, and I was writing plays and kind of hosting. And so she came in and basically said, you know, you're going to be in a Woody Allen film at some point. You should, well, that's, you know, like, oh yeah, right. Okay. The next thing I know we're, we're cast and had an

assistant. If you watch the scene that we're in, um, it's me, it's my first movie. Uh, it's Rusty's first movie. I believe John Turturro is in the scene. It's his first movie. Whoa. There's like first movie. Whoa. There's like, uh, uh, Julie Kavanaugh. It's not her first, but it's, uh, but what's her name?

Julie, Julia Louise Dreyfuss is her first movie. Oh, it's the scene where they're walking down the hallway. It's he's a writer for kind of Saturday night live or works on it. Yeah. What he does, uh, Chris Clemens, who was in a bunch of things that you've seen on television. And we're all in that scene. And if you watch pretty much, there's about eight of us

and it was everybody's first movie. And they're all people that went on. And had careers. When you were, when you got out of college, I read that you were a playwright and then you were working this theater. Is that the same theater you're talking about? You were there for like five or six years until it closed or got new management or whatever. Yeah, no. And also I, yeah, they, they kind of thought we were, that's unbelievable. They, my friend who's still, it's in its 46th year.

Okay. West bank cafe and downstairs there was a, what would be called the cabaret space. I hate that word. It just, you think of, you know, stuff that I don't. Gotcha. I'm picking up what you're putting down. Yeah. So it was really a theater space, had about a hundred seats, had a bar. And, um, and when we did, uh, we did, and the two owners that my friend, Steve Olsen called the Nullen Void,

who were the two owners of the place, they thought we were making a fortune downstairs, doing one act plays. That's a quick way to get that. Well, my dad said, son, you're going to go to school and you're going to be a one act play writer. Yeah, that's really, and are you going to build balsa wood planes? I mean, it's like, we were, you know, we were, we were surviving. I mean, and we were, we, it was kind of amazing because we did a, there was no place for, at that point in time, we started this in the early, like the early 80s, about 83, 84. And we had the actors who were there. I mean, James Gandolfini, one of his first performances was there.

The writers are really, Aaron Sorkin, his first... Jesus! Allen Ball, who True Blood, his first American Beauty, all of his first work was done there, all of it. There's a number of other writers who were just straight up playwrights that you're known for playwriting. Uh, and, uh, and we had everybody because nobody had, there was no places for people to work. And, and so you were just a home for all of these burgeoning creative

types that were doing a playwrights. I mean, or Aaron Sorkin, just one name and you could say, wow, that was success. Went on, he was on CBS Sunday morning and talked about the fact that he owed the success. You know, that was the reason he, it was from that moment that he got his agent, his agent got a few good men done on Broadway within a year. But otherwise there was nothing fucking going on in New York. It was just, it was kind of a dead scene in the eighties, right?

It was all studio 54 and punk rock, CBGB, right? Yeah. I mean, there were certain things, there were certain moments of certain plays that were done, but very little. And so we were this place. And what we did was, you know, somebody had to, we worked over the, on the premise, you know, somebody comes in, they do something that's good. They recommend somebody great and we would do them.

And so a lot of it, we didn't, you know, it was all about, and you bring the audience in and these people wanted an audience and they bring people in. And so when we were charging like, I mean, it's a hundred years ago, but still we were charging $3, $5. We were not charging a ton and, and we were paying our actors and had an, and

actually cut a, uh, we had a contract with equity. It was great. And so the Nolan void thought that you were making a billion dollars under their noses and so they pushed you to give them more of a cut of the revenue and you're like, well, shit dude, I'm not making any, I'm living in a fucking studio apartment on the West End. Manager who's now owner of the place, Steve Olsen, they fired him because they thought

he was making it hand over fin. So the place gets wiped out because he moves up the street where he bartends. Now we're all up the street drinking there. And the theater, nobody shows up. Nobody shows up to eat there because it really was and still is a place where you could walk in and see, you know, Al Pacino, or you could see,

you know, any number of people. Robert Sean Leonard, I can go to Ethan Hawke. There's a ton of people who just hang out and eat there. And it's still one of those places because across the street there are a whole bunch of off-Broadway theaters, or off-off-Broadway really. And so it was really became kind of a classic institution. And right now they're in the midst of, they just did not recover from the pandemic and they're trying to close it down. And we'll see if that actually happens. That's a fucking scene.

James Gandolfini, Aaron Sorkin, Ethan Hawke all hanging out having lunch at 100 C Theater. Yeah, I guess that's just like the, kind of the snapshot in time, like so many stories that you hear about. I've never been lucky. I'm gonna end up at a Chili's eating, you know, fucking $5 shit-a-ritas or whatever. There's no Ethan Hawkeye chance. Can't help it. It was really something. And it was just, you know, it's that whole thing. It's like you guys look, the one thing you learn from, you know, what you're doing in this business, what I'm doing in this business, but you end up being successful because you're in the right place at the right time.

And it's totally fucking timing. Absolutely. And it's really unbelievable because that's what occurred there. We just, you know, you go in, we went, well, you know, let's see if people want to do this. And then they all flood in. And so all of a sudden, you know, Edie Falco is there. I mean, you kind of go, what the fuck?

Fuck. Yeah. But you don't know them. You know, you're showing up on your stage and you're going, oh my God, you know. Let me ask you, because I think you're on to, I think you're absolutely right about this, is that the most of success is timing,

a little bit of talent, and also persistence. Because if you're not there at the right time, but you keep chopping the wood, you may find yourself when the timber falls, right? I mean, that's just the way that it is. Like we're 600 episodes into this. It didn't come easy, right? It didn't come easy.

And I'm still, I hope there's lots of, you know, wood to be chopped here, but I don't know. I'm getting old. I'm getting old. I read your history. It's true. You did, you know, you want this and then I tried that. You know, you go up all these blind alleys.

Yeah, that's true. I see what works. Yeah. When you, when you, so you are writing and do you find yourself, you're just so comically talented. I don't want to compare you to anybody because that's like, that's a, that's a cheap conversation. But I do have to say, I put you in this,

like in the same regard as like a Pryor or a Carland, you're a commentarian, you're like, you comment on the world around you in a very funny and unique way. Did you start doing standup while you were doing playwriting too, or are you doing that on the side? I was doing it on the side.

It was completely on the side. It was being done, um, as I, you know, like some people collect stamps. Yeah. I mean, it was crazy. It was really crazy. I'm kind of going, I was doing it partly because it fascinated me and I and all and it didn't matter. I mean, being a playwright, you know, I really wanted to be a playwright. So I'd send the scripts out and it and as I've said time and again, if you're writing a play, it was faster, I thought, I learned over time,

that if you actually put your play in a bottle, in like a, into a bottle and took the bottle and court it and threw it into a river or... Or somebody would find that faster and read it faster than any of the fucking theaters would do. So I did the stand up in part two so I could write something and get it out there. I'm waiting like two years for them to say, go fuck yourself, you're an idiot. It doesn't work, you have no interest.

And so it was a way in which I could do my writing. And I would go on stage and read stuff. Just, you know, and read comic things that I wrote that were comic and I'd comment. And I started asking, and then I started to work rooms that, you know, nobody in their right mind would work. You know, it was like, I wouldn't work comedy clubs. I tried. Yeah. And they enraged me because it was like, well, you're not one of the first 15 who showed up where you don't fucking want, you know, you should, you should let us know that, you know, because I was performing once at Catch, a rising star.

And, uh, the first time I performed, and this was the end of, I didn't go back. And the first time I performed, and this was the end of, I didn't go back. They wanted me to do, I mean, I was there 11 o'clock, 10, 30, 11 o'clock, I had a pretty good set. And they said, well, who do I talk to? They said, oh no, you've got to be the first five that are seen. And I went to work.

I went, nobody, this is, are you shitting me? I'm broke at the time, and I have friends who are broke. Now I've put together enough money to have my friends come so that to see if they think I'm psychotic doing it. But I'm putting out a small fortune as far as I'm concerned. I'm going broke to be there and the person's not there. So I said, I'm not going to do that. So I found spaces around in uh, in part, like the West Bank, eventually, where

before they were, I could go and just do stuff and not have to worry about, you know, bringing people or doing anything. And, uh, as long as I wasn't making money, what difference did it make? Sure. You just want to talk. Yeah. And so are you just like chopping away at it? Is it, you have such a unique style

and a unique voice and a unique opinion. And that's probably just part of the DNA of who you are. But when you get, and I know we're fast forwarding a lot, but when, how did you get on The Daily Show? And when you get that, you have, I think quite frankly, when I saw you for the first time, I was like, holy shit, this guy's on fire. He's fucking funny. And he's got something to say. Yeah. quite frankly, when I saw you for the first time, I was like, holy shit, this guy's on fire,

he's fucking funny, and he's got something to say. And I would imagine, at least in my brain, it takes a long time to just learn how to tailor it in a way that's interesting, funny, and saying something. A lot of it came from working at the West Bank, because I would open, I became comfortable on stage there

because otherwise I was a wreck on stage. I mean, it was, you gotta relax. And I found that to be the toughest part. And so, I was introducing every show. So there was no, you take out the realm of, you don't have to worry about if you're funny. So you can now be funny because nobody expects you to be funny. Ah, yeah. That way. And we would have a show at midnight on Saturdays that was free. And Rusty would play music and he was the composer of the place.

He would do these songs that were hysterical and also straight stuff. I would do stand-up. There were Warren Light, who eventually won Tony for his writing. He wanted to be a comic, I wanted to be a comic. I wanted to be a playwright now. Yeah, exactly. It's really silly.

It was a terrific comic. So they would come in, people would come in, and we did it for free because it was Studio 54 time. Yeah. There were all these places around town where none of my friends, and especially and people in the business couldn't get in. So the people would come pouring in there because it was free and it and we would do these shows and that was where I kind of honed the material. And I'd go on stage with just pieces of you know the newspaper I'd have like ten things that I ripped out of the newspaper and just go there no shit and this. And that would be my act.

Yeah. You just comment on what you were seeing. And then if it landed, I would follow it out. Wow. And probably because you were a playwright, because you had those writing skills and they were honed and you were doing the reps on the writing, you could smell a punch line coming

in your perspective, in your voice. So you would look at an article, you would say, oh, I know where I can go with this or I know where I can go with that. Yeah. And the one thing that's really interesting is that since then and what I've learned, I write on stage. That's where I don't sit at home.

I'll take a note. You know, there'll be something that really bugs me, you know. It's like, you know, I'll write it down. Anything that angers me. Yeah. Yeah. I immediately write it down. Sounds a lot like me.

And now it's reached a point where there's no need to, I don't even need to, how do you get angry when it's just, it's a constant flow of bullshit? Right. He's talking about childless cat women. I mean, what the hell? And where's the clothes to take? And then they're going, well, I can't believe they're still stuck on it. They're stuck on it because it's insane. It's so fucking unreal.

Yeah. And you know, what's more insane is that 30 years ago, this would have tanked any chance you had at a political career. But what's insane is the excuse making bullshit. And then the continuation of saying the same exact thing over and over again, with different words, trying to pretend like I really didn't mean what I said, but by the way, let me say it one more time because I really did mean what I said. Yeah.

It's a fucking asshole. And then folks with children who should have more boats. That was the other one. That's really good. Yep. Folks who have children who don't even have the time to pay attention to what the fuck is out there. She has more boats than the rest of us who don't have children and her noses are fucking

shoved into this shit on a daily basis. As a guy who has many children, I will tell you right now, I shouldn't be allowed to vote. I'm just constantly upset at something and I could go either way at any moment. I could write in Walt fucking Disney right now. And it probably would make sense to me. Um, when, how did you get, how did you get connected with the daily? You were on early, I think I Craig Kilbourn. Oh, the ride was on the first week. Um, the first week. Wow.

Week. Um, and it started with, we were, uh, in, in a studio without an audience. And Liz Winstead, uh, Liz Winstead was the executive producer. She knew me, she was a comic. The great thing was that Liz, and she doesn't get the credit she shouldn't, so I touted all the time. She's the one who got the Comedy Central to buy this. And that's an extraordinary because I had done it about,

I got in to pitch a political kind of news show and people just, what are you kidding me? Comedy Central. It's Ha Ha's on a Tuesday. Yeah. She got it so. And she had an executive, one of the producers, she was the executive producer, one of the producers was Hank Calo who knew me.

So both of them knew me. You know, right place, right time. They knew, like you were saying, they knew I had material. I had a ton of material, nobody knew who I was. And I was working, now I'm working clubs. I'm outside of the West Bank and I'm working clubs around town and I'm just honing my act to try to make it so that taking it from this room where I was kind of like, oh, he's psychotic, but isn't he cute too? Oh, this, I can transfer this into a, into kind of comedy clubs. Yeah, sure.

And, and so, uh, they, they brought me in and what we did the first six, seven times was until we got an audience, I would sit there and bring in stuff and, uh, I would do, uh, or if they had an idea but mostly it was me I'd come in taking my material and try to put it into an editorial form and I would just sit at the desk and then I would do it because there was no audience and then we'd do it again and then they'd say keep that drop that this will be good then I'd do it again great ending great opening let's try to tighten up the middle do it three or four times, great opening. Let's try to tighten up the middle. Do it three or four times and then great, you got it. And that was the way we did it.

And then they brought the audience in. Then I started writing it out. Hank helped me edit it and some of the other writers came on board. And now it's on a, now we go to teleprompter. Yeah. And so I'm reading it and there's, there, if you, you know, you should, get one of your children to learn this skill, which is to look at a screen and be able to read words and so that their eyes aren't moving. It's very difficult.

We tried to do this in the studio. It's very difficult. It's not, it's a skill that doesn't, becomes comes, it's like unnatural in every way, shape or form. You almost have to blur your eyes or something. And kind of just, yeah. Very easy, I mean, you know, if I'd known this, I could have, I could have gotten to the chase and been a fucking weatherman and just,

you know, be the funny weather guy. I would have loved to have seen that. Just in a gorilla suit. Yes, please. Weather guys, poor fucking weather guys. They don't do much, but they're always wrong. Lewis, they're always fucking wrong. We have a guy here who's very famous.

His name is Glenn Burns. He's as old as the sun. I mean, he's probably 102 years old. He looks great because of whatever, good genes, good doctors, I don't know, one of the two. But the guy is 100% wrong, unless there's a tornado directly over your house. He'll let you know that five minutes afterwards. But you watch him because he's the guy.

He's like the Glenn Burns guy. You're like, oh, I trust him. For what reason? I don't know because he's always wrong. When you get to the Daily Show and you have all of this exposure, and I know that Comedy Central is, and not at the time, HBO or ABC or NBC,

but it is quite a bit of exposure to a very fertile audience. Is that, that's the moment when all of a sudden you kind of take out your comedy career takes off? I have to imagine. That was part of it. It was a combo of that. It was a combo of, uh, David Tell and I becoming the face of Comedy Central because of a sudden, uh, I'm doing and s- He's on, um, uh, the Insomniac.

Insomniac, Late Night with David Tell. Yeah, yeah. Really a great show. Then he, David Tell. Really a great show. That was a great show. It was. It was a real breakthrough. I mean, nobody thought David was perfect. I'm doing this. Now they're putting, I'm doing specials

because now I've got a ton of material and I'm doing these half hour specials. So that's getting it out there. And then we end up, uh, we become on Friday nights, they do interstitials. So there's all a bunch of comics and, and David or I, or both of us would be the introers. Yeah. That put me out there. Then, uh, Conan picks me up.

I do more Conan's than anybody at that time. Yeah. The whole thing explodes. It's just unbelievable. I, because I was a teenager at that time. Yeah. The whole thing explodes. It's just unbelievable. I, because I was a teenager at that time, you really got embedded into my head, you and Dave. I think of Dave, now I look back on that show that he did and I say, that was Anthony Bourdain before Anthony Bourdain did Anthony Bourdain.

And just a little, just a little bit crazier, just a little bit wackier, right? But it really was a version of Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain and just a little bit crazier, just a little bit wackier, right? But it really was a version of Anthony Bourdain, this guy out there exploring the world and making commentary on it and also being funny in a way. And then you would do, I mean, you would just have such great commentary. And I really appreciate it. I think you helped shape the way that I think about a lot of things because I'm just a young kid in a messed up home watching TV late at night and reruns and you know, there's Lewis Black.

I like what this guy has to say for whatever reason. Um, you really did. I think it was the last moment. They, I'm the last guy who, one of the last guys whose career was created by television, then we move out, uh, you know, into the wild fucking west. And then we go, it all changes. So that it's on the phone, it's on this, it's on that, um, it's on the computer. And, uh, but it really was that.

And so, uh, and so everything really does kind of go through a sea change. I, because Dave and I, uh, and Mitch Hedberg did one of the first comedy tours outside of the, you know, the Blue Collar. I think people went out to the Blue Collar and we went out before and then the other tour that was done with Cedric the Entertainer. Right. Oh yeah, yeah, the Kings of Comedy. So you know, we're the first ones to kind of go do that.

And it was huge. It was huge for me because then I transitioned immediately into a, a comic who's working theaters. So I kind of follow in that path that, that, that Carlin did, which was a big break. It was a well-worn path at that time. Now, and to no discredit, no disservice to these comics, they reach an audience by finding the audience through social media.

They put it out there and people find them and they say, that's my taste. That's my flavor. I like that. And then they're filling rooms and some of them do it beautifully. Some of them make that transition from, you know, online comic to theater comic beautifully. And then others, you know, understandably make that transition from, you know, online comic to theater comic beautifully. And then others, you know, understandably, just like life, you know, you take a few swings and sometimes you miss, right?

Well, yeah, it's weird. I mean, you got to, it just, it boggles my mind. You got a comic who establishes themselves on TikTok. Is somebody fucking kidding me? I mean, I can't really yell. I mean, I established myself on, you know, Comedy Central with two and a half minute things, but you kind of go. But I, but I'm also, while I'm doing that, I'm going around the country playing

clubs, you know, and, and building an audience and it's, it really is a different, they're, they built in all the, a lot of them built an audience immediately And it really is a different, they built, a lot of them built an audience immediately, which is really huge. It's insane. We've had some of them on our show and there's greatly successful comics, really funny people with great senses of humor.

And they came from the world of, I was nobody, then I had a million followers on Tuesday and now I'm playing thieves, right? And I say this often, but the great Eddie Brill, who booked Letterman for a while, Brill, when I was speaking with him as a friend, he said one time, like, if a comic builds a great 45 minutes set,

45 minutes to an hour in their lifetime, and that gets noticed, they've been a success, right? He said, it's the ones who do it over and over and over again, they become legends. And he said, that's the hard thing to do. And I think it is because like, I don't know who was it, was it Sam Morrill or somebody said to us, a musician can go out and play, you know,

Eagles can go play Hotel fucking California today, literally are rolled off stage. They didn't play the same thing over and over again. Yeah, but you- Comics can't do that. You do a special and then people hear those same jokes. They're like, well, fuck, I already heard that one. You know, it's like, it's kind of miserable.

You have been doing comedy specials all through the pandemic. I saw your pre-pandemic or right as the pandemic was happening special year- It was a brilliant day. The next day we shut down. Wow. March 13th, our first episode was March 15th. So it was like two days before you.

Yeah, March 13th. And that was like, so I watched it, you know, years ago, and then I watched it again last week or something. I watched it and it's like a, it's like a time capsule. It's so crazy. And it's like a time capsule. It's so crazy. And to hear your commentary on the things that are going on like almost in real time as this ball started rolling

is a real throwback. And it's kind of a shock to the system a little bit. It's like, wow, shit was really fucked up and scary back then. Like really. I mean, I literally walked on stage and was thanks for risking your life. That was the first thing I said to the audience.

I had no idea what my opening line would be, but I knew we were fucked. And it was coming at a thousand miles an hour. And then it was like, do you want to fly through Chicago? No, that's the first place that somebody got it. I'm what do you think? I'm an idiot. And then what was interesting was to then do the, um, to do the bookend. It was so the second one was after the pandemic, you know, when I can do it after the pandemic and, and then, and I wanted to do that because

I felt that the two of them together, basically I'd never done anything like this where it was just, it was out of just a historical context. Who the fuck? Here's a historical fucking comedy thing. I mean, it's just, it was out of just a historical context. Who the fuck? Here's a historical fucking comedy thing. Seriously. Who's wife presents the Civil War? It was crazy. But some of the stuff that the blowback I got over things I said, it was like, just stop it. Okay? I was talking about how it

affected me, because I went on the road afterwards, and I thought, I'm gonna just paddle a while. I'm gonna basically just talk about how I responded to the pandemic, which was not good. I did not handle it well. And I started saying, and the audience was laughing, and I just went, okay, then they get it.

And if that's the case, then I should record this because everybody wanted me, you know, 80% of the people went through it and the other 20% didn't believe it happened. And those people, I wish could be locked up. And I'm like, locked up fuckers, because you you crazy. It's changing history.

You know, arguing over some detail over the, over Gettysburg, okay, you know, we can all have that argument to the day that we die. Arguing history that happened 30 fucking seconds ago, seems like just pure balls out insanity to me. Do you know what I'm saying? It's a different kind of brass potatoes. It's just fucking insane.

And you're right, like 20% of the people just didn't believe it happened. They were just believed it was some sham going on. And I think there's still a lot of people that do. But when you watch his first special and then you watch the second one, and I just wanna make sure I got the name right, it's Tragically I Need You, right?

Yeah, okay. So it's Tragically I Need You. It's available on YouTube to anybody that wants to go watch it. And thanks for risking your life. It's tragically, I need you, right? Yeah. Okay. So it's tragically, I need you. It's available on YouTube to anybody that wants to go to go watch it. And thanks for risking your life. What's that? It's free. It's 800 pound gorilla, which we've had so many of those specials on our show. So when you watch those two, it is a book at you see, you can remember just how scary March 13 fucking 2020 was. And then you can see

how we all handled it or some of us didn't choose to handle it, chose to bury our heads in the sand. And it was really very interesting. And I thought it was, I thought it was well done. I really do. Now, are you, are you done after this tour for reals, for reals? Yeah. What I'm done with is touring.

But you'll still do special events. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll, I'll come out like, of course, as soon as I said, I'm done. Then it's like, well, what do you mean you're done? Well, you're not, you know, I'm competing for space that I wasn't competing for before, and I like to be, you know, and it makes touring on a bus, which is what I've been doing for years become more difficult because it used to be, we go

from point A to point B and they were like this and now it's point A to point B. touring on a bus, which is what I've been doing for years, become more difficult because it used to be we go from point A to point B and they were like this and now it's point A to point B is up there. Right. It's madness. So basically I can't do it. I want to write more. I want to be able to go back and write. I want to write a play again. I want to write, um, a book maybe. And, uh, and then I'll show up and do stand up. I mean, like I was, I just, uh, my good friend is Kathleen Madigan and she was working down in. Oh, I love her.

This is great. Yeah. She's for my money. She's the best comic out there working. And she, uh, she had a show in, uh, in, um, in Atlantic city. And I went down and did 10 minutes that I'll do. Uh, as I said to her, if you want me to open, I'll come in and open. That's great.

Just buy me a bottle of wine. I don't give a shit. Yeah. And then, you know, if something comes up and I'm up and I've been, there's a bunch of things that I've collected that I think I need to comment on, I'll go to a show. But I'm not going to do 120, 100 shows a year anymore. Yeah, that's too much.

Well, I hope you do because, you know, Head Bird gone, Carlin gone, Prior gone, you know, and all gone too soon. And I think you're one of the great minds in comedy. I think you're one of the great realityists of our time. And I don't mean that like a reality show kind of way. I mean, you have a way of just saying things that open the eyes and go, oh yeah, you're fucking right. And so, and I wanna tell you that I really appreciate

your impression on me as a young man and through my life. And I think you're one of the greats, Lewis Black. And I hope you continue to, I hope you to continue to keep that mind fertile and sharing it with us when you can, even if it's on fucking TikTok. But I'll do the rancast. I still do a rancast every week and where I just yak. It's tougher because I really need an audience to help me figure out, uh, what's funny. Cause otherwise I'm just thinking about it. And, but I also, what I really like is that I read the rants of every, you know, whatever

folks send in. So, uh, uh, and it's been great. And it's, uh, and I think as it rolls along, it'll get better and better because people really, uh, just before the shit hit the fan, the level of the writing that was coming in my way was extraordinary because they figured out my voice. Yeah. It helped me kind of doing it on a, on, I was doing it at the, I was doing literally 25 minutes after the show.

So it was crazy because I was doing like 70 minutes and another 25, which is a totally different energy. Jesus, yeah. It was just, you know, and I really wanted, it almost is you gotta be higher with the energy because I'm reading these folks' things. And so I've been getting those out now and that continues,

that will continue to happen. I love that. Rantcast, LewisBlack.com, you can see him on his tour. He's on tour through the end of the year. If you live in a city, he's likely coming somewhere close to that. It's worth the drive. And I'll tell you what, get the fuck you tickets.

Because if you get a fuck you ticket to Lewis Black's final tour, you also go down in legendary. The F-U-C-K-U tickets, I should say that correctly. It's also, you don't have to deal with, it's an extraordinary, it's what we did so that you didn't have to deal with Ticketmaster or scalpers and you get tickets in the first 10 rows and you pay 20 bucks, which is less than what you're going to pay. And then if something happens, there's somebody you actually call and talk to.

It's brilliant. It's been great. It's brilliant. Fuck the Ticketmaster overlords, even though they are also doing our tickets for live shows. So not so much fucking, but you know, kind of fucking. Half fucking. Half fuck Ticketmaster.

Louis, thank you so much. We really appreciate you here today with us. That was incredible. Thank you. Well, you can come back after you get done with the tour. If you ever want to, you know, do two and a half minutes of rant. Yeah. This door is open all day long. I promise you that.

And if you want me, just call, because I got no life. Oh, trust me. You said it and now you're going to be like, who's this fucking asshole keeps calling my agent. That's great. It was He keeps calling my agent. It was really a pleasure. I really enjoyed it.

You're the best. The great Lewis Black. Go see him on tour. Cheers. Hello, my fans. I mean, Brian and Chrissy's fans. Boy, have I got news for you. We are officially coming to Florida for TCB Live.

That's right. You can come see Brian's bald head shining under the stage lights at TCB. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. And we're going to be doing a live show. We are officially coming to Florida for TCB Live. That's right, you can come see Brian's bald head shining under the stage lights at

Danube Beach Improv, Tuesday September 24th and at the Funny Bone in Orlando on Wednesday September 25th. If you can't make it to see us in person, text us or call us at 212-433-3TCB and leave us a little love note instead. As always, please, please, please follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok at TCB podcast. Our content is shockingly good, so get after it. And you already know I put every single one of those links in the show notes. You're welcome. His agent better turn off the phone and hide under the couch. Because if you don't think for one fucking second that I'm not calling Mr.

Lewis, the great Lewis Black, uh, every third day to see when he's coming back on the show, you gotta be wrong. Can you imagine Lewis Black on the commercial break does his little two and a half, 10 minute, whatever it is, he can have the whole fucking episode for all. I care. He does that rant here on the commercial break does his little two and a half, 10 minute, whatever it is, he can have the whole fucking episode for all I care. He does that rant here on the commercial break, like he really does a rant. I just, it would be, it would be the honor of my life. I could say that we finally made a good episode. I could say we finally made an episode worth actually listening all the way through and

I'm going to put them right at the end. So you fuckers have to listen to the whole thing. Yeah, the Louis Black segment. Yeah the Lewis Black segment. Wow. The great. Yes TCB and LB. Yeah. I don't know. We'll work on that. TGLB. Welcome to the TLG. I don't even know what to say. I just love the guy. He's incredible. We could have talked to him forever.

He's still sharp, man. He's so sharp. I hope I'm that sharp. I know I'm not going to be that sharp because I'm already not that sharp and I'm many years, not many years, but at least seven years younger than he is. Oh God, Lewis Black. LewisBlack.com. That's where you can get your tickets to his final tour. I mean, I'm saying this with like all sincerity and authenticity. If there is one comic that you have to see before he stops doing it or she stops doing it, there are a few that are still

living and doing it, but this is like right at the top of the list. Lewis Black is so great and so thoughtful. It's not just that you get comedy, it's that you get perspective and he's like a realist and a pragmatist and he doesn't give a shit what side of the aisle you're on. He's going to offend you equally. And that's what I love about him is that it's not about who you're voting for, even. Even though, you know, when you're listening to him on this interview, it might seem like he favors one side and maybe he does, but he equally offends everybody because he knows that life is mediated in the middle. Just like I happened to believe it's not about

right or left. It's about the middle. Cause that's where everyone fucking really is. It really is. So listen to me. Now I sound like Lewis Black. Okay, so LewisBlack.com. Thank you for risking your life. Or tragically, I do need you. Both available on YouTube, on his channel for free. Millions of views already. It's not like he needs us, but you know, if you want to go watch it, I highly suggest that you do. I'm going to. Oh, you have to Chrissy. I watched the first special, the one as COVID, because you know, you and I started our podcast two days later. I know, it's crazy.

We recorded our first show two days later. You can't get that show anymore because I took it off the RSSB, but it's there somewhere, it's there somewhere. And so it's like a snapshot in time. And I do remember how crazy it was. And I also do remember that I felt a little bit better about it because we were doing this show. Like there was some kind of lighthouse in the ocean

and I got to do that once a week. Do you remember that? One time a week. I think we recorded our first one on March 15th and then we released our first episode on like April we released that episode on like April 13 took me a month Took me a month to get that out the door. That's fucking insane All right, Lewis black comm for tickets go watch the specials You know how to do it also come see our live shows which will be nowhere near as good as his live shows

But hey, you know You gotta start somewhere. I don't know what to do it. Also come see our live shows, which will be nowhere near as good as his live shows. But hey, you know. You gotta start somewhere. I don't know what to tell you. You gotta start somewhere. I'm never gonna be as good as Lewis Black, but you also don't have to pay as much to see us. So, you know, if you have to pick or choose, go see him.

But if you have a few dollars left over, come see us. At the Bone on the 25th in Orlando. Not Funny Bone. At the Bone on the 25th in Orlando. Not Funny Bone. At the Bone. And at the Dania Beach Improv on the 24th, the night before, in between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. So we're going to call it Miami.

We'll just call it that. Even though it's in Dania Beach, which is... In Dania Beach. Fort Miami Lauderdale. Yeah, Fort Miami Lauderdale. That's right. Fort Miami Lauderdale Beach Improv Fort Miami Lauderdale. That's right. Fort Miami Lauderdale Beach in front. Tickets now available on their websites, on our websites, and if you go to Instagram, link in bio bullshit. So you can go there, click on the link, and you can buy tickets to both shows.

We would love to see you there. 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Text us. Questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas. Let us know if you're going to be at the show. TCBpodcast.com for more information, all the audio, all the video. Add the commercial break on Instagram, TCBpodcast on TikTok, and youtube.com slash the commercial break. All right, Chrissy, that's all I can do for today.

I think so. I love you. And I love you. Best to you. Best to you. And best to Lewis Black and everyone out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, we always say, we must say, and we do say,

Good bye. I gotta get some cocaine! I'm gonna be great at this!