Lewis Black to Trump: Stop tweeting
President-elect Donald Trump may confound people with his comments, especially his tweets. Comedian Lewis Black leaves no confusion with his blunt assessments, especially about Trump tweeting in the White House.
“As president-elect, he can tweet until his tits fall off,” says Black, 68.
When Trump becomes president on Jan. 20, he should tweet every six to eight months, but otherwise, knock it off, Black urges.
“You have [expletive] to do,” Black says. “Go do it. Stay out of my face. You don’t tweet. You’ve got to stay in front of the camera and talk to it.”
Why doesn’t the former “Apprentice” star do more TV these days?
“He’s not good at it,” Black says.
Fans know that Black is very good at stand-up. He brings his Rant, White & Blue tour to Hard Rock Live at Universal CityWalk on Saturday. Black considers it a good title, one that fits the times.
Black has bemoaned American leadership in recent years, but now he’s astonished.
“This is beyond anything I imagined. I took LSD to prepare me for this, and it didn’t work,” he said.
When asked if he’ll miss President Barack Obama, he pauses. “In comparison, I’m forced to,” he finally says. The last presidential election “just really says there are a lot of people fed up, sick of what was going on in Washington.”
He detested Trump before the election, and Black says his views haven’t changed.
“He’s a narcissist. He says what’s on his mind. That’s great. Most New Yorkers do,” the comedian says. “If people wanted someone to babble, I would have run for president.”
Black tours 100 to 110 days a year. After every show, he does a livestream at lewisblack.com and answers questions that people have sent in. The session is streamed live throughout the world, and anyone can see it.
In a 2015 interview, Black said of the media: “I don’t even know what my job is anymore. You’re presenting the satire, I’m reading it. I walk onstage. I point at stuff.”
It’s worse now, he says: “Now all I have to say is ta-da. I don’t even have to point. We’re living in fictional times. It’s weird. It’s not scary until [expletive] starts to happen.”
Other projects include writing a play and a nonfiction book about his interpretation of what happened after the 2001 terrorist attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York.
Will there be a sequel to the animated 2015 hit “Inside Out,” in which Black gave voice to a girl’s Anger?
“They’ve got to do it while I’m still living,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to do it. I don’t expect it. When you get older, like her parents, the emotions in her heard would be all the same sex. If you’re going to do it through puberty, I’ve got to be in transition.”