Lewis Black talks parents to politics
COMMENTARY revelation. A visit to McDonald’s, specifically the drive-through box where orders are placed, helped him learn what’s wrong with America. “I don’t want to give that away,” he says.
Black talks health care, his 10-day hospital stay in Ireland and a bill less expensive than expected. “Health care works in some places,” he says.
The comedian doesn’t mention Donald Trump by name but blames the president for one thing. Black is not giving away that bit, either.
“It’s something so out of left field,” he said. “It’s huge. It has to do with the universe.”
But Black was in a fury on a recent day about the U.S. Senate and the confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Black was incensed by Republican senators Mitch McConnell, What: When: Where: Cost: Online: Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham (“needs a rabies shot”).
“We’re watching dinosaurs pass from the Earth, and we’re listening to their last howls,” Black said. “It’s like being present at the Ice Age. They can see it coming, they know it’s coming and there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s not going to be all white anymore.”
Yet the comedian is not enamored of the opposition. “They don’t know how to do anything,” he said. “The Democrats have not figured out a language to speak to the American people.”
The comedian dismissed Kavanaugh as “a jackass” who felt entitled for attending Yale. Black jokes that his birthright for graduation from the Yale School of Drama was to be a playwright.
“I didn’t get it. I had to go into stand-up,” he said. “I came out OK.”
Black is not worried about the Russian investigation or Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “I think Mueller’s good. He’s the only one who seems like an adult,” he said.
Despite lobbing many criticisms at the government, Black is adamant about voting. “If you don’t vote this time, then you’re really a [expletive],” he said. “I don’t care which side you vote for. But you vote.”
Black says he’s slowing down a little from touring and is working on a travel show focused on places he learned about on the road. He’s not sure where his next stand-up special will air.
“There still must be some interest somewhere in what I’m doing,” he said. With abundant sarcasm, he says of programmers: “I wish they would write me a note, ‘We would like to do this, but everyone’s lost interest. You don’t have to do this anymore. You can move on.’ ”
He is enjoying his “Back in Black” segment on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” on Comedy Central. “I’ve had more input into it than I used to. That’s been great,” Black said.
He, however, sees a blight on comedy.
“Trump is good for comedians in the same way that a stroke is good for a nap,” Black said. “He knows his audience, he knows how to talk to them. He certainly knows how to push buttons much like anybody who has a Jewish mother knows how well they push buttons. That’s what he’s good at.”
Which brings us back to Black’s Jewish mother. “My mother’s actually more afraid of dying of something Trump is doing than dying a natural death,” he said. If you have trouble with that comment, he adds: “A 100-year-old person can say whatever they want.”