Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Lewis Black
Episode Date: October 6, 2023Hey kids gather round for this great episode with the hilarious LEWIS BLACK. Lewis has tackled the issues that make us all scratch our heads in disbelief, and today, we're going to get to know the man... behind the comedy. We'll discuss his journey through the world of entertainment, his thoughts on the state of the world, losing on Jeopardy to goddamn Chuck Todd, and share a few laughs along the way. Enjoy our conversation with Lewis Black on "Whiskey Ginger"! ENJOY HIS NEW SPECIAL: Lewis Black Tragically I Need You - Exclusively on YouTube. https://youtu.be/KtE_g3cHTZE?si=PsHgclJBkSgvzqW7 #lewisblack #andrewsantino #whiskeyginger #podcast =========================================== SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS RABBIT HOLE $5 OFF with Promo Code: WHISKEY https://rabbitholedistillery.com/drizly SQUARESPACE Get that site up and running now! 10% off your order https://squarespace.com/whiskey MARINE LAYER 15% off your order with Promo Code: WHISKEY15 https://marinelayer.com ========================================= Follow Andrew Santino: https://www.instagram.com/cheetosantino/ https://twitter.com/CheetoSantino Follow Whiskey Ginger: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeyging... https://twitter.com/whiskeyginger_ Produced and edited by Joe Faria IG: @itsjoefaria Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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What up, Whiskey Ginger fans? Welcome back to the show. If it's your first order. What up, WCGinger fans?
Welcome back to the show.
If it's your first time joining the show, welcome to the show.
We got a good one for you today.
Like my man Steve Harvey Dunn say, it's Louis Black.
What an honor to have such a legend, such a great dude on this show.
So privileged to have him here.
You can go check out his special.
The link will be in the description down below.
It's available right now on the YouTubes. Go watch Lewis Black's new special
on YouTube. He's also touring all across this beautiful country. So go grab them tickets to
go see Lewis live. Also, I'm doing my final dates of 2023 with Bobby Lee. We're doing standup.
We do crowd interactions. We do stuff from the Bad Friends podcast. It's incredible. You get
over an hour of standup from all of us combined,
plus a bunch of other stuff.
Go to badfriendspod.com for those tickets.
Right now, tonight, as of tonight, we're in Boston.
Boston, Massachusetts.
We'll be there tomorrow night performing by Fenway, bro.
Then we do D.C., our founding fathers.
We go to Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and minneapolis go get those tickets right now
before we're done for 2023 that's badfriendspod.com badfriendspod.com for those tickets enough
rambling from me let's go to the episode in here we pour whiskey
you're that creature in the ginger beard sturdy Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse.
Gingers are beautiful.
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Gingers are hell no.
This whiskey is excellent.
Ginger. I like gingers.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger.
My guest today is one of my favorite people.
I don't know if I should say that for all my guests, but I mean, once again, today,
it's the legendary Louis Black.
Let's get right into it
because we already were chatting,
but what's important to me is
my little producer friend over there
who shall remain nameless
because he's a scumbag.
We were talking, we're both Midwest kids.
Now, you're East Coast guy,
but you did a lot of specials in the Midwest,
and I want to talk to you about that.
Is that because of that blue-collar thing that you always loved so much?
Well, it's just the Midwest, it was just the great venues in part.
Yeah, yeah.
And great crowds, and really not so much blue-collar, but they just get it.
They just went to have fun.
Right.
And, key to it, could drink and enjoy a show and not go over the edge.
Right.
You know, knew how to drink to that point where you got a really great buzz going and you're not throwing up.
Yeah.
And which I'm sure you've experienced in club well what where were we that we had to stop a show we talked about this last time we
stopped a show in in uh baltimore because some guy threw up in the front row town yeah yeah but
right you're dc yeah we stopped the show at the beginning we were just about to do the voice of
god and the intros and the please sit Down and the Turn Off the Vinyl Lights.
Was it the improv or which one?
No, no, no.
It was the name of the theater in Baltimore.
I don't remember.
But it was a big theater in Baltimore and we just –
The lyric, the hippodrome?
Maybe the lyric.
The lyrics, I think that's right.
Yeah.
And, man, this guy, he cleared out like three or four rows.
And so we had to kill the whole show.
No.
But it's funny because we don't –
Did you have to start – Well, we just had to kill the whole show no but it's funny because we don't did you have to start
out did you well we just had this we had to wait another 20 minutes and then they they it was kind
of a big fuss because people wanted to be reseated because they were i mean it was nasty it was all
over the place but we also it was me and bobby together and bobby's sober and i like to have
some sauce but i'm not like bert where i'm, go get beer. Go get beer before we start. So I'm surprised that our fans got that drunk,
because most of the time our fans like to party, but they're not.
It's not insane.
That happened.
I was at Caroline's in New York.
Yeah, I used to love that place.
Same thing.
Front row, dead center.
You just do that, and then you hear the sound.
Yeah, yeah.
Because you're in a club.
It's not a big theater, you know.
It's just...
You hear that, and you just go, oh, man.
Yeah, no, you know right away.
And then you hear the splat.
Oh, oh, and then some dude, oh, dude!
Yeah.
And then you watch the...
You know, it's like a great movie.
You know, you really...
Because your brain goes, okay, ball game over.
And you're basically, you're walking backwards to the dressing room waving at the crowd.
And you're watching as they all spread, which you did.
They all spread out there all making it.
It's like watching the waters part.
Yeah, right.
But that's the only time of heart attacks i've had in the audience really well
were they yeah somebody one at least one if not another holy shit yeah did he die uh you know i
mean eventually yeah he's exactly right but nobody at the time you kind of go you know you're like
oh because it's like and then you got to just talk about you know look that's your whole show now
well you know what are you going to do?
Let me lift your spirits after death has faced you.
If you're all looking death in the face and you're wondering, God, am I next?
Part of you goes, oh, I got five minutes.
Right, right.
I got a new five on all the tags.
I had a guy – I've had two mid-flights.
I was talking to another comic about this,
how many times we've had flights interrupted from something.
I had one guy had a heart attack, and one guy had a...
Wow, on the plane.
Yeah, what's it called?
Epileptic seizure.
Epileptic seizure.
That's even worse.
Yeah, but he was better off for some reason.
The heart attack guy, I think, was in bad shape
because they laid him down they
called in the nurse on the flight well you know people came running and he was laying in the
middle of the aisle and then um they shut the this was like still curtains you know i mean some planes
still have them but they shut the curtain for first class and um the people were scrambling
back and forth and back forth front of the back of the plane because i imagine they were towering
communicating with the towers to where if we could land and i think we were on our way we were on our scrambling back and forth and back and forth front of the back of the plane because I imagine they were towering,
communicating with the towers to where,
if we could land.
And I think we were on our way,
we were on our way to the East Coast,
I don't remember where,
but we were far enough away from a safe place and too close to like New York
where they were like,
we have to just go to our final destination.
It wasn't going to work to try to get into another,
we would have had to circle.
But him, I don't know about.
The seizure guy
he was okay when it was all said and done i think from what i know but the heart attack guy man they
they're you know this would happen on a fucking plane because humans are such assholes they
announce please there's a medical emergency i'm sure all of you know the paramedics are going to
come on the plane the moment that we get to the gate please stay seated what the fuck happens you
know yeah bing immediately every dickhead is like
oh they're trying to get off again nobody waited it was fucking insane they had to have someone
come and stand and hold people because people were just trying to get off that's how little
faith you have in society nobody cares about anybody else well it's something well that thing
too when you you know and then you think that they would do it for, you know, and you would think, too, of somebody,
everyone who's on, is on a plane knows that making the connection is vital.
Yeah.
And the plane is late, and if you could, please remain seated.
Never.
Never, never, never.
Never.
Nobody, no, nobody ever cares.
I do think, you know how, if you go to like a um six flags or one
of these like uh roller coaster parks you know like uh i think you know how they harness you
into one of these like it clinks down and holds you in and then when they release it then you can
get out that's what they should have on airplanes they should fucking harness you in and then you're
row by row you get unlocked and unleashed just because it would teach people just to sit the
fuck and you'd get off much faster but i've never had uh never had during a show anything tragic like that the only thing i've
had during shows were in my beginning careers which i want to hear about yours uh you know
where it's so light and you're and walking some of the room too they were free tickets yeah it was
in the mall it was in the mall you know. You had that at the beginning where it was just devastatingly light.
Oh, you mean few people?
I mean, oh, the psychotic thing was the third show.
Yeah, what are you doing?
We're going to do an 11 o'clock.
What, really?
Why?
Really?
And they come in and they're like, what?
And, you know, there's 15 people in the room.
The seat's 150.
It's, there's, you know, there has to be a critical mass for laughter.
Yes.
And 15's not even close.
That's a critical mass for sleep.
Right, right.
That's group sleep.
Yeah.
You can do a group sleep, sleep study.
You know, there's three here and two over there.
It's painful.
Yeah.
I will tell you that just in terms of a gig was off the charts.
And I've now been working a while, and I was playing.
Where in the Midwest are you from?
Chicago.
Chicago, yeah.
So Summerfest, Milwaukee.
Oh, yeah.
I love Summerfest, man.
I played, I was the longest running comic at Summerfest.
That's my, that in the end is my, that's my real claim to fame.
It's a good claim.
Like 17 years in a row.
Wow.
I was the last comic until, I don't know, in the past few years.
But for a while, I certainly was the last comic to play there.
Yeah.
They wiped out that economy.
I was going to say, I don't think they do comedy up there anymore.
We used to have a comedy stage that was really, it was fun.
Right.
And each year that they did it, it got better.
People were, people showing up got the idea of the, okay, we're outside.
Because you're outside.
You're in like the, you know, the tent that killed Orberts kind of you know this 3 000 people and then and then behind there's like
a whole um you know it's an amusement park basically you know a ferris wheel
mini roller coaster you and said so that's making noise back there and And so I'm on stage and I played it enough now that I was – I got whatever was – it's like you're really playing squash.
It's like, okay, shit's coming from there and I'm going to deal with that.
That's going to happen.
It's whack-a-mole at some point.
Yeah.
You understand where they're going to come from.
And so – and it doesn't bother you anymore and it, you know, it's got nothing to do with you.
And I'm watching, and they're kind of moving apart
in a certain area of the place, in the audience.
And the guy's getting a handjob.
No way.
How good is that?
And part of me is, is like trying to stay focused.
I don't really want to bring it up because it's ludicrous.
Because that's the end of the show.
Yeah.
And so I'm kind of like, you know, you're doing all of the, you know, your basic kind of da-da, da-da, da-da.
And then you're sneaking back.
Is he still?
I can't believe I literally was one of those moments
where you go wow
I guess this is why I do comedy
can you imagine
the conversation babe you know what I want
for my birthday I want to go see Louis Black
and I want to get jerked off in the park
she's like I got one better we'll do both at the same time because i used to go there as a kid up to summerfest uh
by the way that that that would be a tough place to go see because we'd go see because my parents
and my best friend's uh parents you know a bunch of a bunch of mix a bunch of irish gum we'd go up
there to go watch uh they'd go watch the same performers every year that would go perform up there and uh loved irish music and they always had had it up
there and i always imagined years later when i got into comedy how hard that those outdoor parks must
be because i did a few i've done a few over the years and you got to have such a command of the
crowd because there's so many distractions and they got that it's like a ski lift, it's like a chair lift
that runs through the middle of it, so people are just like on a chair lift
yelling shit as they go by drunk
it's a fucking, it's a tough, tough venue
but I guess once you've
captivated them year after year
it's almost like people will come
and do the right thing
it's also Milwaukee, and there again
Milwaukee, the home of
they could drink all the stuff we're presenting here.
Yeah.
They'd be fine.
They'd be fine.
Yeah.
They could pass a driving test.
I mean, who else serves a Bloody Mary and a six-ounce beer?
I love it.
You got to love that.
Did you ever go to Sobelman's?
Do you know what that is?
Sobelman's?
Bring up Sobelman's Bloody Mary.
Is this the one with the cheeseburger?
The cheeseburger.
Yeah.
This is one of my favorites.
So I have a lot of connection up there too.
God respect.
And that's amazing, right?
And it's important.
My childhood best friend went to Marquette.
And so I would go up to Milwaukee a lot to go goof with those guys
because they were getting a real education
and I was a moron going to a state school.
So it was just like any chance I could get to be around intelligent fun people i would marquette was
awesome school and i would go up there and we would go to sobelman's and that was a bloody
marriott sobelman's it's it's like six meals i mean they would have shrimp cocktail a cheeseburger
chick fried chicken pickles pickle i mean it's unbelievable it's really and it's but that's
milwaukee in a nutshell that's wisconsin that's it. But that's Milwaukee in a nutshell. That's Wisconsin.
That's it.
Yeah.
So in part, too, they show up to that jumbo tent,
and they're kind of, they can focus in there.
So, you know, and it got better.
It was great in the sense of you really learn crowd control.
Totally.
You get it.
And you watch others like watch Bobcat work.
And so you learn that stuff from, you know, because also they love him.
But then you're Bobcat, so somehow this guy starts just third row.
He's like, you know, reaching out to Bob, whatever he was yelling.
And he wants Bobcat's hat.
Oh, right.
No, you can't have my hat.
So Bobcat, basically the set became getting the guy to take off all of his
clothes to get that and i was like wow you know and you knew you could see in part of his head
you know you could see if you're a comic you know that there's a part of him that you you can watch
is just being all right yeah you know he's holding it but then and then there's the turn of like okay
you fuck yeah you are gonna lose all your dignity and all your clothes and it was it was one of
those extraordinary moments and you just kind of learned you do what you have to do yeah to to get
through that time and then you're done yeah if it's so disruptive you almost don't have a choice
i've told the story before but it reminds me when i i was doing a couple of things with joe rogan when
he was like doing starting to do arenas and we were doing these massive theaters and i think
we're in we're in either ac or vegas casino who cares a casino and a guy was so disruptive and
you know casinos are slow to kick people out because depending on where they're
sitting if they're high roller you know they're like well we'll get there but that guy spent 40
grand this morning and you know so this guy was so rude and joe was controlling it as best he could
and they were kind of trying to kick him out but he was ruining a good chunk of time um and he stood
up and he had like a uh like a cross like a fanny pack but on your chest you
know like what do you you know what i'm talking about a like a cross purse i don't even know
and he had cash in there and he's trying to hand it to joe and i didn't even understand what he
was trying to say but joe grabbed the cash and started throwing it out to the audience and it
was all we could do i mean that's how we ended the show basically and it was like what could you do he literally stole the guy's cash and was throwing it out to people and i was
like there's no better way to end it but you could tell he had probably 20 more minutes to do but he
was like fuck it i'm not gonna yeah there's nothing it's already in such an uncomfortable position
putting into a putting a closer in right after that would feel weird unless it had some sort of application to what happened.
So there's moments where you almost kind of utilize that and then bail.
And it's like you get what you get.
Yeah, that's it.
I can't do anything else.
Yeah, and it's up to – and it is.
Look, you had a problem with that?
Then you're supposed to do that.
This is not – I am not – I used to – it's something I worked with.
I don't know if you ever ran across my opener for a long time. It was a guy named John something I worked with. I don't know if you ever ran across him.
My opener for a long time was a guy named John Bowman.
No, I don't know him.
And he's extremely funny.
But one of the things I learned from him working in clubs was that since –
because there was a turning point where these assholes stopped having any kind of security in the room.
Yeah.
It's almost like it just dissipated. It went away. It went away. Yeah. Boy, that extra 150. turning point where these assholes stopped uh having any kind of security in the room yeah it's
almost like it just dissipated it went away it went away yeah you know boy that extra 150 oh that's
gonna break you you know while you're selling blow on the side fuck you so but you know and then
there are places that did have like there would there was there's some places where i could
distinctly sacramento had two guys from from the Sacramento State football team there for every show.
Well, you know, and it's kind of like you literally they're standing on either side of the stage.
They're moving around.
And I would come on in the beginning.
I said, ladies and gentlemen, you're lucky tonight.
You've got this is he's the right guy.
Plus they play for the team.
And here's what's going to happen if you if you fuck around tonight.
They are going to break you.
You understand that?
They're going to run at you like you're a lineman and they are going to hurt you.
So just let's sit there and keep it, you know, keep your mouth fucking shut.
So so the it's it's's really that whole thing of security.
So John taught me, since they weren't there, so you got the yippee.
Some schmuck sitting out there about four rows back.
Come off the stage, go down, and start walking around the room and talking,
and then stand
right behind the person.
Oh, my God.
And I would just yell.
I mean, I'd just yell for fucking five minutes and pat him on the back, but never say anything
to him, and then walk around some more, make sure, and then get back on stage, and that
was the end of that.
That's perfect.
What a good way to deal with it.
It was really smart i mean it was kind of like if you get
and it's really whether you got the the voice for it too because it's not it's not the but it's it
it was it was easier to do that than to be to you know to kind of like listen to the yipping
right well that's what interesting you just say that it made me think because you have the voice for the cadence and and the physical voice for it but like your comedy i like i wonder because you are so
your presence is heavy and it's demanding and you and you're loud but you're poignant
do people find do you find that over the years obviously not anymore but over the years would
people yell out more often because you would yell and be poignant about stuff?
Do you feel like people kind of wanted to be combative with you about stuff?
Because they thought it was fun, but they don't know.
Yeah, I mean, I don't really know where it came from,
but I think it's the same for all of us.
It's like, you know, I've come out here tonight.
I'm going to take you on.
You had a bad week?
You know, and that's the other thing.
It's like, fuck you and your bad fucking week.
I have a bad life.
All right.
My shit.
Look at what I'm doing for a living, you fucking dick.
This is what I do.
I stand up here.
It's like, uh-huh.
That's what we do.
And then I got to stop looking at the audience because there's nothing weirder.
It never gets talked about.
I don't – people – you look at the audience.
I look just above their heads and I look at people.
But when they're laughing, it's bizarre looking.
I mean we all look like – when we're laughing.
It does look weird.
It does look weird.
You don't really – it's fun to hear.
But to see, it's like –
It's very uncomfortable.
It's really strange. I do the same thing. I do what I call like a – a lot of times someone will say, but to see, it's like, you know. It's very uncomfortable. It's really strange.
I do the same thing.
I do what I call like a, a lot of times someone will say, did you see us?
You know, if it's a family friend.
Did you see us?
We were in the, I say, honestly, I don't see almost anybody.
Sometimes I see faces in the front and I register them sometimes.
But for the most part, I do the thousand yard stare, which looks like I'm looking at people across this back row.
It look, and to them, they'll go, he's looking right at me. I do the thousand-yard stare, which looks like I'm looking at people across this back row.
And to them, they'll go, he's looking right at me.
But no, I'm usually looking at the blurred space of where the colors mesh of like darkness and air.
Oh, that's it.
It's that beautiful, happy medium.
Same thing like when we did some shows with Bert Kreischer together.
Rest in peace, Bert.
I don't know if everyone at home knows what that is. It's terrible.
That's so bad.
I'm just kidding.
No, no.
No, he's never going to stop.
Are you kidding me?
He'll be fucking dead.
He'll still be doing shows from the dead somehow.
No, but we did a couple.
We did arenas together.
We played Vegas, which was just wild.
But you practiced the same skills there.
Little tweaks, right?
Like with arenas the
beats are a little bit different you have to kind of give them some more room but same thing with
views i would assume when i did arenas that i would look at more people because they're i mean
like in on you right in the front but i do the same blank stare out to that 200 section or whatever
you know yeah because you kind of have to i you prefer, like, at this point in your career,
what is your preference of show size?
Because we all go through these fluctuations a lot.
You want to play these big venues,
and sometimes people go back to doing really small stuff,
and I don't know, like, where are you at?
What do you want?
Mine is just the, I haven't, it's inside my head.
There's 1,500 people who show up inside my head.
I don't even have to go anywhere.
And the show is unbelievable.
That's great.
You're killing.
And then they go and burn down the town in my honor.
I would literally say for me, A, it depends on the room.
So I was just in Boise.
Yeah, love Boise.
Boise has got that room and I can't think of the name of it, and 800 people.
And it feels like 1,500, and it's partly because the room has a nice bounce to it.
Yeah.
Great sound in the room.
So, you know, it depends in part on the room, but generally, all of a sudden, done probably 1,500 to 2,000.
Yeah, that's kind of the sweet spot.
Yeah, I mean, it is.
It's really where it works.
I found that, like, over the years
as I've gotten, you know,
privileged enough to, like, play bigger shows,
that I will, like, I always, you know,
even when I do, when I go home
and I do Chicago Theater,
which is, like, for me, monumental
because as a child, it's heroic,
but you still, when i do the
the more intimate ones which is around a thousand some change it just feels like it's almost the
perfect math yeah but there's not too many people and they can have they're all kind of together
because the problem with big big big theaters well they're not together the problem with chicago
i mean which i loved playing was but it's still, it's just, it's 2,800 to 3,000.
It's just, it's like, once again, 300 too big, 500 too big, 2,500, it might work better.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because it's just got, and the ceiling is a little too fucking high.
Yeah, it's big.
And they're back.
Right.
So it's like, you know, it's, you know, it's always like any of those rooms.
It's like, you know, you got your joke.
It's like you basically, here's my backhand, bam.
And the Chicago Theater gets out about, you know, as hard as you hit it, it's still going to drop 10 feet before the wall.
The wind is going to push it down.
Yeah.
That's what happens.
It's Chicago.
And it's a really, and it's this magnificent theater, but it's just too, I feel in the end,
it's too big for comedy.
It's big.
And we, you know,
I know that my friend Kathleen
does great there.
You do great there.
Yeah.
I did well there,
but it's still not that sense of like,
you can never,
you can coalesce them,
but you don't have the feeling
they're coalesced.
Right, right.
Well, yeah, it's got that,
I think what also happens
in a place like that,
the magnitude and the history and all that stuff,
it kind of puts a big shine on it, so it feels better anyway,
even if you know you're like, man, it doesn't sound the way I love it to sound,
but it just feels, for me, historic.
It's like hometown stuff.
We're going to play in a couple of weeks.
We're playing in D.C.
The Warner?
No, I played the Warner Theater.
I like that.
We're going to a place that I've never heard of before.
It's called the DAR Constitution Hall.
Yeah.
Daughters of the American Revolution.
Yeah, Revolution, right.
You'll have your whole audience 100 almost 212 years old well
they're mummies what's amazing i've never played i didn't play dar i did oh man this is i did
jeopardy at constitution hall really yeah you were a you did it you were a contestant on jeopardy on
on uh you know celebrity jeopardy or whatever the fuck they called it.
And it was
and the only category was during
but that's
it's a good hall to play.
How did you do in Jeopardy, by the way?
Well, here's what
they said to me. There I am.
Beautiful man on Jeopardy.
Going against Chuck and Clarence, no less.
Clarence from Chicago, I think. going against Chuck and Clarence Clarence from Chicago
I think
who is that Clarence
by the way who's that man on that other photo
Chuck Todd giving the Nazi salute there
somehow some way
you could tell he won
that's that schmuck
Chris
Chris Matthews
so how did you do on Jeopardy
so the thing was
as they say
we're going to have
a category
we have a category for each contestant
sure
so they didn't for me
so I'm up against two news guys
and granted
I'm on the Daily Show but that means I know what?
I know one – my whole concept is, oh, that's – this is all I need to know because that's the joke.
I don't need to fucking know the history of Vietnam.
I just need to know – or Cambodia, Pol Pot, boom.
I've got this.
I've got it.
But they've got this or that.
They've got it all. And so they didn't give me like stuff I've got this. I've got it. But they've got, you know, this or that. They've got it all.
Right.
And so they didn't give me, like, stuff I would have known.
But you have a practice round where you're learning these because the buzzer is a piece of shit.
Yeah, that's so funny.
Every time I feel like, why are people not, it's just annoying to get through.
But it's horrible because it's you and two other people and it's whoever does it first.
Right.
And you do this practice thing and you try to get it.
You know, beat them.
Because if you literally, you're like an instant off, you lose.
You don't get it done.
So this is just about, it's funny to say that, not to cut you off.
It's just as much about the buzzing, buzzer timing.
Exactly.
Because your brain is firing to go i need to know
the answer to this question but if i don't if i don't buzz it in time i won't even get a shot and
then when you buzz it and you go i don't have anything nothing um and i did it once where uh
i said i buzzed it and i went oh this isn't i said this isn't right my I'm not even going to say it. My answer is in the question.
So it's wrong.
I know I'm wrong.
I'm answering with a lie.
You know, and then, but we had, you practice.
So they do in front of the audience.
They're there and they show the whole, it's the behind the scenes of like us. We're practicing. And they're going through it.
And they – it was drinks.
It was alcohol.
Bam.
All five.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
I got it like that.
Yeah, not tomorrow.
That one I got like no tomorrow.
I like erased the rest.
I'm sitting there going – you just have basically shown the world that I'm an alcoholic.
You know, and thank God this wasn't on television.
But I could if I would have won the fucking thing if that category had been in.
But it wasn't.
It wasn't.
Everything else was like, you know.
Yeah.
And then it was the winning.
War of 1812.
How much do you know? And then it was what major sporting event takes place in, I think it's May or April.
April or May.
I think it's May or June.
I can't even remember.
That's why I lost it.
But it was the Kentucky Derby.
Oh, yeah.
That's right.
That's, yeah.
And that was the end.
And I'm like, and you go, I don't know about that.
You know, I'm kidding.
What is it? I don't know anything about it. And Chuck Todd won it. I'm like, and you go, I don't know about that. You know, I'm confused. What is it?
I don't know anything about it.
And Chuck Todd won it.
Of course he did.
Yeah.
Chuck Todd, that son of a bitch.
And I'm, because I was going, I said at the very beginning, we're backstage and I call
a woman over in charge.
And I just go, you know, because the winner gets 25 or something, and 10 or
5 or whatever it is, so it's like 40,000.
Why don't we just
divide it up? Yeah, just kick us all
out. Just everybody gets.
And that's the way it should be.
Oh, no, no, it's about a winner.
It's not about a winner.
My charity
loses, and you're telling me it's about a winner
how do i tell the kids they're like whether you're like what do i tell the kids are like you're not
playing for kids you're like i am in my heart so what do i tell the fucking kids they're not
gonna get the money so what do you want me to say but she looked at me like I, you know, she also kind of referred to the fact that it would be like when they busted, I guess it was 21.
They busted the pay.
In the 60s, they had these shows where, you know, the person had to get to a certain, it was 21.
And Charles Van Doren, who was the guy who was the son of a major professor, and he ended up, you know, was basically being given the answers.
Oh, shit.
Yeah.
Feeding him all the facts.
So he had been given answers to these things.
And they compared what I was saying to that.
And I'm going, this is for charity.
It's fucking trivia questions. It's not like I'm saying to that. And I'm going, this is for charity. It's fucking trivia questions.
It's not like I'm going to win the money.
Right.
I don't get any of it.
Come on.
You can't compare those two.
And they're like, the kids aren't going to get the money either, Lewis.
Have a good day.
We take it serious.
Well, that's the problem with.
But it was like I had literally was trying to force them into a criminal activity.
Yeah, right.
Jesus.
Well, they treat it so – it is so interesting about game shows because they treat them like they are governed by the –
the federal government is going to get you in trouble if you cheat at it or something because they have –
I guess the gaming commission has a big piece to do with that. Because I had a friend do Bob Barker.
What's wrong with me?
Price is Right.
That's great, though.
When people younger than me forget shit, you have no idea my heart.
It feels good.
I'll be forgetting stuff the whole time.
Trust me.
I know.
Everybody does now.
I forget shit constantly.
But everybody does, and you wouldn't have.
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Ginger.
I like gingers.
I get that way.
You know what it is?
I talked to my doctor one time and I said, you know, sometimes I'm firing at, particularly at work, on stage, I'm firing sometimes faster than I can even imagine.
And then there's just days where I'm like, how come I can't even fucking think of that guy's name?
And he's like, because there's information in there that you don't really give a shit about.
his name and he's like because there's information in there that you don't really give a shit about yeah he's like that don't don't he's like don't freak out about stuff that you know it's you're
overwhelmed with your brain is in another place it's not significant enough for it to need to
know it and i said good because i don't remember my mother's name and i was like what no i just
feel like i forget these people or names or faces or people you meet and i go i can't believe i
can't remember his name and he he was like, don't sweat.
This is a normal part of you just replacing things with other things
that are more pertinent to you.
You're like, it's just flooded with bullshit.
Well, it's also two things, I think.
And it's Alzheimer's.
That's probably the other thing.
No.
Who knows?
I hope not.
You're not that lucky.
Okay.
All of a sudden, swatches of things you didn't want to deal with, you know, are gone.
Yeah.
But the phone is part of it because part of your brain is now on the phone.
Yeah, this thing is awful.
I mean, this thing might as well be the –
Well, it is part – and I'm kind of fascinated to see what happens with that generation, the younger, the ones, let's say they're 8, 9, 10 now,
how they integrate that.
Because this frees up a portion of your brain.
You take that.
For us, it took away a portion of our brain.
For them, it's created an empty space in their brain.
It'll be interesting to see how they use it. They'll probably just put
food and other refrigerated goods
in there but you'll see how they use
it. That kind of, but there's that
and then, and this is really
the one, the other kicker and they don't
fucking discuss this ever, these
fucking assholes because they
dismiss this pandemic
as it was
no big deal.
You know, it's just a couple of years off, a couple of years of people.
I didn't stay inside.
So for me, everything was great.
Okay, whatever.
Listen, jackass.
On one level, it really did fuck with our memory.
Oh, yeah.
So that you or me, it would end up normally, normal day.
Something happens.
You tell one friend.
You tell another friend.
You tell your wife.
You tell your kids.
You tell whoever.
So you tell the story five times.
So all of that, it sticks.
And then by the fifth time, you're fucking sick of the fucking story.
But you use the brain and that thing of remembering people's names.
All the names you talk about in that story, they stick.
And then the next day, but we stopped.
You'd get on the phone.
How are you doing?
How do you think I'm doing?
Things are just great.
What did you do today?
I did fucking nothing.
Got it?
Happy?
But we didn't really have – nobody was doing anything.
There was nothing – there were no stories to tell except I'm hiding.
I'm hiding.
I'm hiding.
And no one's seeking me.
I'm hiding without being sought.
It's miserable.
It is true though.
I think it did something so powerful to kind of – yeah, it is a gap.
It's like gaps.
It feels like that's gone.
I don't even know what it was.
The positive thing, I talked to a comic yesterday.
I was on the phone with a buddy for a while, and he had said one thing it did very well was teach me.
It taught me what relationships I value the most because he's like, I stayed in contact with certain people much more.
And he goes, and then I realized what relationships kind of weren't that rich or deep.
And he goes, and that's okay.
But it's kind of nice to be like, oh, I am very close with this person.
We actually speak more often.
Or we, you know, we just went out of our way to make sure that we were still conversing and growing our friendship or whatever.
And I said, that is kind of powerful.
Then you start to remove, which happens naturally with time.
I mean, as you get older, you just are like, we're not even that close.
I don't need to pay attention to that relationship anymore.
It's nothing bad.
You just slowly slice people out.
You know, like he's, little Coney is 24.
He thinks everybody's his best friend.
The world hasn't beat the shit out of him yet you know like he likes everybody he thinks he'll we'll meet
someone and he'll go that guy's great i'm like that guy's a piece of shit you have no idea you
haven't it hasn't happened yet but i can't wait for it to collapse on your fucking face because
because it's coming it's 26 yeah 26 that's what it all goes down. I'm serious. It's the turning point.
He's the generation of
you know, I guess
the thing that I'm curious to, how you feel about it
is bring up a photo of
Lex Friedman did a podcast
with Mark Zuckerberg
and
what's incredible is
if you just do an image of it, they did
these scans, that first photo of them.
So this is them in the metaverse.
They're not actually in the same room.
But they put on these glasses and they just communicate as if they're sitting five feet away from each other.
But this is the future.
And I guess this is coming out really, really soon.
But that's what it looks like right there. And they're just talking as if they're right next to each other but you'll see
a cutaway to them not being obviously in the same room do they kiss they do at some point they fuck
and i think that's that's kind of how the whole thing ends but this is the truth be told that is
a good honestly although a joke a reality of will this just be the future of people are just going to sit in this world and not go out anymore because they don't have to.
Yeah.
Let me turn this fucking – I thought I turned this piece of shit off.
No, it's fine.
It must have been really important.
I've got to go.
Yeah.
Let's get out of here.
Yeah, that's just my – my agent says we both have work.
We've been cast in the metaverse.
Yeah, no, I think we're close to that.
We are, right?
You know, I mean, seriously, you piece of shit.
But we are, I think, well, I mean, look at it.
It's scary.
Like, because I feel like I am.
Because it, oh, go on, I'm sorry. I was just going to say, I feel like I am. Because it, oh, go on.
I'm sorry.
I was just going to say, I feel like even my, you know, I'm young enough to be close to it, but I'm old, too old enough to be trusting of it.
I feel like the younger friends or younger people that we work with, he's super comfortable with this stuff.
And it scares me to be like, I don't know if that's where, because then that means we're gone.
I'm gone.
You won't even be, you know, it'll just be the podcast. We'll just be us doing that face-to-face recognition.
You won't even have to come here. Oh, here's the problem with it. And listen,
but I think, I think the problem is with it. I mean, maybe, maybe there's something good about that but i think and and i noticed it in the
in the year and a half of of covid that i you know if you're if you're not in the room with
the person you lose empathy yeah fucker yeah empathy it's kind of important because it doesn't
matter i mean if you you know if you that that's why Zoom was such a piece of shit.
Ugh, yeah.
You know, I mean, because you're,
it was good in the sense of being able,
like me and a group of friends
got to see each other and play cards.
Sure.
We figured out a way to do that on Zoom.
Perfect, you know.
But you don't have that,
it's almost a tactile sense without touching.
It's – that empathy thing is vital.
Yes.
And it's that being able to receive because we – it's energy going back and forth, not fucking footage.
And it drives me fucking nuts.
Yeah.
And that just is – and now you've shown me that you've
ruined my day i'm sorry i'm sorry i didn't want because i yesterday i was with howie mandel
just to drop a name and yeah i'll pick it up here take that with you i don't want that in this room
no but he has uh this i don't know if you've seen this thing. It's a... Oh, yes, yes, yes.
The hologram machine.
The hologram machine.
He showed me, yeah.
And that's, and at least I get it, okay?
Yeah.
Because it's not about, it's about entertainment.
Sure, yeah.
Or it's entertainment and sales.
I get that.
And so there it is.
And so I was watching yesterday and he was showing me this.
And I had already seen it.
There's the National Comedy Center, which I work with.
Where is that?
That's in Jamestown, New York.
Okay.
And even if I gave you a map in six weeks, you couldn't find it.
It makes Escondido seem like it's right in the open.
But there it is.
But we have, like, they did a thing.
Gaffigan talked about his, they showed three parts of his career.
And I also did it.
They did holograms of me and Jim.
And they used Jim's's his hologram.
And and it it was really kind of interesting, but primitive, but still pretty remarkable.
You know, excuse me.
And it was kind of before that, you know, what's his name?
You know, you know, Michael Jackson on tour before they.
Yeah.
The next evolution came.
But this thing, this next step that he's got is crazy.
And I said, when is the box, when do you get them out of the, when will they leave the box?
He said, it's just a matter of time.
And that's, and that, you know, so, you know, and they're going, you know,
you could be in, you know, 50 spaces, you know, at one time.
And I said, I can't even sell out one space.
Okay.
Don't put me in 50.
Slow it out.
Let's do one and then we'll move to the next one.
All right.
You know, but it's going to work for certain people.
We'll be able to, you know, but once again, you as the performer, even though you can see what's extraordinary to me is not the physical sense of something, someone being there, you being there, me being there.
That's insane.
But the fact that then we can see the audience.
Yeah.
That's where we go into, oh, oh, they play that Twilight Zone music.
Yeah, yeah.
I'd be going, that's nuts.
It is.
That to me gets a little – because here's the thing.
I've had this discussion with a few people after watching some of this,
and I don't think you'll ever duplicate live performance.
I do think it will make it easier for people to see people that don't have time.
Like if I say, oh, man, I want to go see Louis.
He's in my town.
But I have a new baby now, and I can't leave.
And I understand this happens, and this will make that more convenient to be like, well, you can just
feel like you're there.
Or you could kill the baby.
You could kill the baby or sell it or sell it.
There's a good market for selling babies.
Very good idea.
I'm sorry.
He used to work in baby sales.
I went over the line.
That's fine.
The sales is, I'm sorry.
No, you can, no, you can sell it.
Hillary Clinton's got a website right now.
We'll put it here.
It's that and two free pepperoni
that's how you get two pizzas no so i think you could i think like it helps that audience but also
nothing will replace yeah this thing and this exchange you know like seeing and sitting with you
i'm not smart enough to know but i know there's a pheromone exchange of energy that coming out of my pores as we sit, that helps the way we interact.
And it makes your animal instincts feel either safe or threatened or intrigued or turned off.
And that inherently helps conversation.
It helps thought and movement.
And I just, I don't think you'll ever be able to duplicate that.
And if they do, well, then fucking I hope the stone comes and hits us already.
You know, like I just I don't really I really love live shit.
I was intrigued to see I wondered what it would feel like to do it, to just try it once, just to see what that feeling is like.
And I agree. I don't think you're going to get the same feeling.
No.
By not being in the room.
Right.
It's closer than Zoom, and I think –
and for some folks, it will have no –
they're more comfortable with it.
Great.
But for me, I need that kind of instant – but instant feedback.
So I'm kind of wondering does that work or not?
And I'm fascinated by that.
I mean maybe.
I just think – I feel like I'm one of those guys.
I will go to any live sporting event and I mean any.
If someone goes, hey, I have tickets to go to a thing, I'll go.
I like seeing a live thing and also the other part of it is football football yeah baseball
basketball hockey soccer come on man you're gonna break my heart on that well we play next week yeah
no we don't we don't actually we don't at all the bears will be there but yeah they won't really
play except they played better last week
and they're playing washington who if there's a team that could have a nervous breakdown in front
of you that'll be that well that's interesting you say this i just read an article the other day
uh you can try to find this the red sorry the commanders are being sued by a native um a native american organization who is saying the native american group sues the
commanders for defamation listen how fucking wild you want to talk about the snake finally eating
its own tail um they say that the native american group sues the commanders uh here put this bigger
sued for uh then the commanders have been sued for defaming the Native American Guardians Association.
The claim arises in part from an allegation that the commander's employee called the group fake in a conversation.
And they want them to change the name.
They said that silenced natives and they want them to change it back to the Redskins.
No.
I swear to God.
It's maybe one of the wildest shit i've ever read in my entire life no
that's crazy where what's that in this well this is what what article is this uh this is uh
nbc sports wow i did not see that that is spectacular isn't it i mean it's brilliant
it really is well because inherently what happens is if enough people are mad about something right
there has to be another side that's going to give you the opposite how could you not expect that inherently what happens is if enough people are mad about something, right,
there has to be another side that's going to give you the opposite.
How could you not expect that other half to exist? Well, there was a group that did initially, I don't know if it was them,
that were saying that the group that was saying that enough is enough with the name
was not representative of the Native American.
And I think driving through certain parts of the country
and seeing the way Native Americans are basically forced to live
in the conditions that they've been placed under,
they could give a shit.
It was like, could you get me some clean water, you fucking idiot.
You're going to worry about the name of it?
That could be the Washington Clean Waters.
You guys could change it to that. Running Waters running board and then you'd be a two for
one you get two hander well like we had as a chicago kid the blackhawks got uh during all
this you know when the cleveland indians went to the guardians and like the blackhawks got approval
from uh the blackhawk tribe to continue to use it,
so we still have that.
Same thing with the University of Illinois, the Fighting Illini.
The Illini tribe, of course, approved because they're still doing it,
but their request was, and I feel like it was a fair one,
that the chief that they have march out before the game not be just a white guy,
which I feel like is a pretty easy request.
They're like, can the chief be actually native
and not just some fucking white kid from Des Moines?
And they were like, yeah, I feel like that's a fair,
I feel like that was a fair trade.
But they went out of their way to ask
if they felt that it was appropriate
and they're like the only,
I think they're the only few that have stayed like that
because so many other teams.
Florida State.
Florida State, right, the Seminoles.
But also from the beginning, to their credit, before there was DeSantis,
from the beginning we cut the deal.
Yeah, right, right.
Here's the nickname and we're going to do this, this, and this, and this.
And I'm sure the fund for them has grown even more significant because of their involvement.
You know what I mean?
I think they probably continue to do that.
Speaking of DeSantis, he's on next, right?
He's coming here next.
He's on the show.
That's great.
Yeah, they're polishing their guns in the room next door.
We like them to – we do a shootout.
That's like how do we start that show.
No, but, you know, as a – you opened a wound as a Bears fan.
I'm sorry, but I just—just because we were playing.
No, and you're right.
By the way, you're right.
Because I also—one of my closest friends lives in Chicago, stayed in Chicago.
He wrote for—he was one of the writers for Homicide, left on the street.
He's a great writer.
Yeah.
And a psych—you know, like, he wrote me a thing.
You would have loved it.
At the beginning of the Cubs season, I guess it was, he just started writing about his
hate for every major club owner.
I mean, like, paragraphs of, this son of a bitch did this, this, and this.
I won't be rooting for the Cubs this year.
Yeah.
This White Sox owner has always been a dick.
The Bears owner is a complete piece of shit.
So he basically disavowed himself from every team in Chicago on the basis of the owners.
Well, that's basically what we – that's been our problem since day one.
And I said – and then within like I guess two months of the baseball, the Cubs thing, all of a sudden the Cubs were doing it.
He's going, OK.
I said, now he's writing me about how the Cubs are rolling.
I go, what is the matter?
We're not fair weather fans,
but we show extreme love and extreme hate for our own teams.
There's many cities that do this.
Boston, I feel like, does the same thing.
But, man, when you disappoint us, fuck, we hate you so much.
It's unbelievable. Like, you know, people people are mean. Do you know who the McCaskies are?
The Bears look up Virginia. Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, for my friend.
Yeah. The funniest thing about this woman, she's I want to say she's got to be over 100 by now.
Right. How old is she? A hundred. Right. And and like look at this sweet old woman right you know people have
issues with the family and the history and i feel like you look at the sweet old woman but the shit
that people say about her it's insane it's so funny to think that's how dark of a city we are
so she's virginia hallis yeah the house yeah the house yeah that's right all right now it all comes
clear right but then people are like, when is she going to die?
And you're like, oh, my God, dude.
Well, there was, what's her name?
Loyola.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
I can't remember her name.
You should have read the letter that my friend Jimmy wrote about her.
About the Loyola nun.
Oh, man, the nun.
And he's a Catholic.
It was like he went after the nun.
But that is what a good Catholic does, go after the nun.
Yeah, exactly. Well, he said this is the nun who during the, you know, basically gave kids up during the Vietnam War.
She wouldn't like sign off, you know, kids trying to get out of the war and looking for, you know, didn't, it's on the verge of being kicked out of school and go to make the appeal to the nuns.
Nah, let him in.
So he is like, he's got her like, he's got her for war crimes.
I'm going, wow.
I said, yeah, but I like the team.
Yeah, well, you know, God.
And he spent part of his time in school.
I'm like, this, come on, Jim.
But that's kind of the passion.
I mean, also, I grew up an extremely short period of time in Catholic school.
My mother, you know, my whole – my mom's out of the family, and I'm happy it didn't continue.
You didn't have to suffer any of that kind of stuff.
What?
You mean – no, I'm –
Okay, yeah, because that's –
I had to be bar mitzvahed and stuff.
Same thing.
Same kind of pain.
Yeah, same kind of pain.
Same kind of a prison.
Yeah, it's a prison.
It's a nice little prison they keep you in.
Yeah.
But for the bar mitzvah, that's at least you guys get a party.
We don't get – there is no party.
Like when you get sexually assaulted by a priest, they don't throw a bash.
They should at least.
The difference is our rabbis were basically fucking around with the women in the congregation.
Is that what it is?
That's part.
I mean, that's where the Jews leaned toward, as I could tell.
The infidelity by the rabbi through some of the...
Yeah, because they weren't chasing the kids around.
No.
Well, they just said, they're so ugly, these fucking things.
What are you wasting your time?
Just go fuck somebody's wife.
That is wild to think that that's,
what a nicer version from that.
Now, it's funny you say this
because my buddy just had a,
you know, kid's bar mitzvah
and it's like they spend
so much money on these parties
because it's so important.
But I've never heard of a birthday
that costs $100,000.
No, it's madness. That's wild wild my parents didn't pull that shit but but did you have friends that did
that where it was just so extravagant it was you know there was i knew of them you know because my
temple uh there were two major temples in washington and uh and as I grew older, I said, because we had the show Jews,
you know, the ones we'd parade out.
You know, we had, you know,
the Secretary of Labor, you know,
he's in my temple.
You know, it was like that kind of thing.
So there was that stuff going on.
But it was really,
that was the kind of shit we were up to and they – I forgot what – I just literally –
The show Jews?
The show Jews.
Yeah, I know.
Well, we were saying – you're saying like the extravagance of the bar mitzvahs.
Oh, the bar –
The over the top.
So that's where – because then I got lost and I was like, wow, I can't believe I remembered that.
We would have some at my temple would throw those kind of things.
And then as I got older, you know, in my 20s, you'd go.
There was a friend of our cousin's and they had like a $125,000 thing and the kid liked to go fishing.
So there were these unbelievable like cost of small fortune uh replicas of fish done as uh you
know as balloons that they do they they and that they had this is what makes you they had you had
a breakfast before the thing a lunch and then a dinner my god you know you just spent the whole
day eating and uh you just kind of go, wow.
I mean, and the other thing, my parents did not do that.
And my parents, to their credit, said, we're not going to do that.
We're putting the money for you to go to college.
Right, right.
You know, my mother said if we could charge each of them to eat with us, we would do that.
Because it was really, it's ludicrous.
I mean, you must have this too.
You know, friends of yours here in Los Angeles, they send their kids to a private school.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, that's a lot of, most of LA now.
Okay, yeah.
Well.
I mean, not most.
You know what I mean?
It's just, it's big.
It's big out here.
It's 25,000, 30,000, 40,000.
Yeah.
40,000 a year.
I had a friend who said, well, we're going to send him to private school in New York.
I said, here's a good idea.
Why don't you just fucking keep them at home and put $25,000 each year.
At that point, that's what it costs into an account.
Yeah.
And, you know, and that's what you do.
And let him start a business when he's old enough or something.
Yeah.
Or try a dream or fucking anything.
But imagine, I mean, the amount of money.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Would be, I mean, what difference?
How, unless the school is dangerous, schmuck.
Fucking, are you kidding me?
Put the $25,000 in an account.
Yeah.
And let the kid go to school and then maybe spend, you know,
and then at the end he's got, you know, like, you know, a million five.
Then he can spend $100,000 going to a preparatory thing like the way basketball kids go.
Right.
To spend that extra year learning how to read.
Basic shit.
I mean but still, it's like how – and, you know, that and that whole thing of sending.
Why don't you go down instead of the twenty five thousand dollars you hired?
Hire somebody to go help fix the school schmuck.
Now, what's the money to you?
She got it.
And Putz goes off to school.
And then and then he got, you know, my friend who sent him to school, the became an actor well there's an investment and my friend's an actor i go what the fuck is the
matter with you i will you know what it is i think it's full it's it's also like where you know it's
definitely where you came from like we all public school kids and i would send my kids to public
school too i just think i know it's just
because that's how we were raised and it's like no you just you go to the school and you figure
it out and the bumps and bruises that come along with it so be it it's a part of the culture of
did you go to catholic school no i got kicked out of catholic school when i was a kid yeah they
fucked me right off yeah when i was young my mom mom knew that it wasn't going to work for me
because the church was just never going to.
I was such a fuck-around kid.
It's why I did this because I wanted to be free.
And, you know, thank God for public schools
because as wild as they are,
and sometimes the education is not as good,
you get all sorts of, you get all the types.
You get everybody, which is kind of nice.
Instead of being grouped in with the exact same kind of, uh, you know, monetary people that have the same
socioeconomic status and the same, you know, it's nice to get people that are, there's rich kids
there. There were poor kids there. There were middle, you know, it kind of teaches you the
fucking real world, which I think is a healthy alternative. But again, I, you know, whatever,
whatever makes, whatever makes you happy out there in the real world.
I just feel like it it was great for me because you get people from all over, you know.
And it's also they let you know, look how it's the levels of madness that have been reached at this point in time where you you forget that the goddamn fucking thing in terms of the United States was part of the basis of this country is public education.
Yeah.
And my public education was tremendous.
Yeah.
And it was all kids.
It was all kids, really.
I mean, now looking back, I mean, there were kids, 25, 26, 27-year-old teachers.
Right.
Who were coming in right out of school, and they're fucking excited to teach.
Yeah, they want to do it.
And nobody's bothering them.
You don't have a group of adults there you know like 10 of the school parents coming up going you know what i think no you don't no no one's interested what you think because you flunked
out of school you don't know anything that's happening here you know how to spell it's like
unbelievable yeah that is true that the uh the overseers is probably the biggest part of that whole system is people telling people what they should be doing and then everyone's opinions.
Then it just ruins the whole thing.
Well, then it's also – it's destroying – I mean now what's left of the public school system is being destroyed by these idiots.
Yeah.
It's gone.
It's basically peeling itself apart.
Because who wants to teach under those conditions?
It would be like literally somebody – sorry.
That's okay.
When we're standing backstage doing our material going, that's not going to work.
You really suck.
But just a little plug in your ear that's like, what?
And that's what they're doing.
Yeah, that must be what it is.
And to me, if they did that, that would be a reason that we should make money.
Right.
That's why we're getting extra money.
Right, right, right.
We made –
You're going to yell at me.
I better get a lot of fucking money for this.
You can yell at me the whole time, but let me get compensated for this shit.
This tour that you're doing right now – and by the way, for people that we talked about at the very beginning,
but you have a special that you put out that's available out right now.
You can go see it.
On YouTube.
Look at that.
Look at how beautiful, this beautiful man.
Tragically, I need you.
And that, you should go back to that.
Go back.
Go back.
He can't even find it now.
He's such a genius.
Go back again.
Yeah.
No, go back to the color. To his website genius. Go back again. Yeah. No, go back to the color.
To his website there.
There, that.
Yeah.
No, not exactly.
Well, I think it changes automatically.
But the painting there was my father's painting.
Oh, was it really?
So that's the backdrop.
So the background, when you go to visit his website, you'll see that the backdrop.
Yeah, thanks.
That's my father's painting.
And that's on the special.
Wow.
the backdrop. Yeah, thanks. That's my father's painting. And that's on the special. Wow.
Now,
has this been long-standing?
That painting to you,
did it have a sense of significance?
No, it was mostly
my tour manager
we used
in a couple of productions
that I did, we used my father's paintings.
Wow.
Because they really work well.
Do you have all of them?
I have.
We gave away.
I have about 170 that are still, you know, that are pretty remarkable.
And he came to it late in life.
I mean, he started painting at like 65.
Wow, really?
Yeah.
So his whole life, he never really got into it or was it a secret hobby or anything no i didn't know and then when he he said i'm
getting out of uh he retired when he was like 62 or 63 and and went and apprenticed to a stained
glass guy yeah and uh and then said you know i'm too old to be this is i really he started taking
painting which i think is really what he wanted to do all the time.
His whole life.
His whole life.
And, but he was, he became a mechanical engineer.
So all of his stuff is along those lines of shapes and forms and stuff.
Right.
And that's kind of where that comes from.
And you can see, and your website's lewisblack.com.
Yeah.
Is that right?
Yeah.
When you go to lewisblack.com for people that right yeah when you go to lewisblack.com for people at home when you're going to buy tickets and going to see this uh beautiful uh man go to uh go to his site
and you can see his father's painting now do you at some point do you want to have it in a museum
of any or anything like that or what i'm trying to do is uh you know now that once i get some time
again uh i'm a new uh you know put up an exhibition of the stuff because it's really – some of it is pretty remarkable.
Right.
And all of it was based on – you think that mechanical engineering is what kind of was the root for all that?
Yeah, that whole design.
He called himself – this will put you to sleep, folks, a hard-edged abstractionist.
So it's a lot of stuff that is really these geometric shapes and forms.
Yeah, but it's really beautiful.
And it's really kind of amazing.
We're going to start kind of making, like we're going to turn that backdrop into a scarf.
Oh, that's great.
And you will send me one.
I will send you one.
I really want one.
Do you?
Yeah, I would love one.
Yeah, I'll send it to you. I send you one. I really want one. Do you? Yeah, I would love one. Yeah, I'll send it to you.
I would love one.
Go watch the special.
It's available right now.
It's Tragically I Need You.
His beautiful father's artwork is in the background.
He's on tour.
It honestly has been a pleasure and a privilege having you.
I know you're running around doing a lot of stuff, so thanks for taking the time.
Oh, no, it's great.
I really appreciate it.
Oh, we didn't get a chance to spend any time.
We didn't get a chance to talk about that nude scene
that we shot together.
Yeah, and it's going to be groundbreaking.
I hope so.
I hope so.
If it doesn't, man, we didn't get paid enough.
Yeah, no.
But go see Lewis.
Their tickets are available on lewisblack.com.
You can go watch the special.
Go get tickets.
He's running around. I really appreciate you. We end the watch the special. Go get tickets. He's running around.
I really appreciate you.
We end the show the same way.
You look into that camera right there,
your cingale,
and you end the show with one word or one phrase.
It used to be a word,
but it's a phrase if you need it to be.
So whenever you're ready,
one word or one phrase.
One word or one phrase.
Yeah, you can pick.
It used to be a word.
People would say one word,
and then some people said, I want to give a phrase. I want to go out on a phrase. One word or one phrase. Yeah, you can pick. It used to be a word. People would say one word and then some people said, I want to give a phrase
of, you know, I want to go out on a phrase.
Fuck it.
In here,
we pour whiskey.
Whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey.
Whiskey. You are that creature
in the ginger beard. Sturdy
and ginger. Like vampires,
the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers are
pugilistic. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse.
Gingers are hell no.
This whiskey is excellent.
Ginger.
I like gingers.