Duo shares laughs, stage, and bus

> BY GUY MACPHERSON

Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan sound like an old married couple. But that’s because they’ve known each other for 27 years, not because they’re in any kind of romantic relationship. At least not anymore.

“We tried that and then peacefully agreed we’re better friends,” says Madigan on the phone from Nashville. On the other line, Black pipes in, “We’re really good at friends. She’s like the sister I never wanted.”

The funny friends are hitting the road in Black’s souped-up bus for a tour of Canada. Vancouver is the second stop.

“I could live my life on a bus like that,” says Madigan, who usually travels more simply when she’s out headlining clubs and theatres across North America on her own. With the Wi-fi or TV, she says, “you can turn on some sports or a little news. And there’s a refrigerator with ham in it. I don’t know what more anyone could ask for on Earth.”

Black most appreciates what the vehicle doesn’t have: other people. “There’s something about seeing where you’re travelling, as opposed to bam-bam and in between you’re 2.5 hours breathing in the filth of the passengers around you.”

These two comedy veterans—each with an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee under his and her belt—are no Burns & Allen; they’ll be performing separately. Beyond that, the format is fluid. It’s standup comedy, after all.

“They keep asking us these questions like, ‘How’s the show going to go?’” says Madigan. “I don’t know!