Lewis Black on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
Lewis Black on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" - © Comedy Central
Lewis Black is one of the most prolific and popular performers working today. Lewis Black executes a brilliant trifecta as stand-up comedian, actor and author. Receiving critical acclaim, Lewis Black performs over 200 nights a year to sell out audiences throughout Europe, New Zealand, Canada and The United States. Lewis Black is one of few performers to sell out multiple, renowned theatres including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City Center and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In August 2007, Lewis Black was the first stand-up comedian to ever perform in concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Lewis Black's live performances provide a cathartic release of anger and disillusionment for his audience. Lewis Black yells so they don't have to. A passionate performer who is more pissed off optimist than mean-spirited curmudgeon, he's perfected expressing what the rest of us can not say in polite company. Lewis Black is the rare comic who can cause an audience to laugh themselves into incontinence while making compelling points about the absurdity of our world. It's no wonder he's been compared to Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, and Bill Hicks.
Lewis Black was born in Washington D.C. and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. Colicky as a baby, it seems he was destined to be angry and easily irritated. His mother, a teacher, and his father, a mechanical engineer, instilled in both Lewis Black and his younger brother Ron the importance of education and the necessity to question authority; lessons which have influenced Lewis throughout his private and professional life. When Lewis Black was 12, his father took him to his first play and he quickly fell in love with the theatre. This ultimately led Lewis Black to pursue a career in drama. Degrees followed from the University of North Carolina and Yale Drama School, with a stint in Colorado owning a theatre with a group of friends in the interim. During his tenure at UNC, Lewis Black first ventured into stand-up, performing at Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. Stand-up continued to be a steady presence as he pursued his career in theatre.
Lewis Black eventually settled in New York City and became the playwright-in-residence at the West Bank Café's Downstairs Theatre Bar. Lewis Black oversaw the development of more than 1,000 plays, including works by "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin, "American Beauty" writer Alan Ball as well as his own original works. In addition to overseeing the works on stage, Lewis Black emceed every show. As the West Bank grew, so did Lewis Black's skill as a stand-up and eventually, the fulfillment of performing stand-up outweighed that of working in the theater. Having found his public voice, Lewis Black left the West Bank in the late 80's to pursue stand-up full time.
In 1996, his friend Lizz Winstead tapped him to create a weekly segment for a show she was producing on Comedy Central called "The Daily Show." The segment, a three minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into Back in Black. It became one of the most popular and longest running segments on the show and also created a long and successful relationship with the network. Since then, Lewis Black has taped four specials for the "Comedy Central Presents" series, co-created "Last Laugh with Lewis Black" and continues to perform Back in Black on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" today. These popular appearances on Comedy Central helped to win him Best Male Stand-Up at the American Comedy Awards in 2001.
Increased exposure from "The Daily Show" eventually generated a record deal with Stand Up! Records. His first CD, The White Album, was released in 2000 to much critical acclaim. Lewis Black followed with five more, three under the Comedy Central Records label. Lewis Black received a 2006 Grammy nomination for Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues and in 2007 won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album for The Carnegie Hall Performance.
Having developed a strong relationship with HBO, Lewis Black has filmed two specials, "Black On Broadway" and "Red, White and Screwed." He has a regular feature on Inside the NFL and in 2006 was asked to participate in Comic Relief. He was honored to do so.
A much sought after guest for several late-night television shows, Lewis Black has been seen on "Larry King Live," is a frequent guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brian" and has appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman." He's had numerous, memorable appearances on CNN and is particularly happy to have contributed to MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."
In the midst of a rigorous touring schedule and several TV appearances, Lewis Black's first book, Nothing's Sacred (Simon and Schuster, 2005) debuted on the New York Times Best Seller List. He's currently at work on a second release (Riverhead Books) expected in 2008.
Having written over 40 plays, much of his work has been produced around the country. "The Deal," a dark comedy about business, was made into a short film in 1998 and picked up by the Sundance Channel. In 2005, Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles produced "One Slight Hitch," a play that was later seen in 2006 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Patel Conservatory. In October 2007, The New York Musical Theatre Festival will stage a performance of "The Czar of Rock and Roll," a musical he co-wrote with the late Rusty Magee about the rise of an Elvis-type figure in the Soviet Union.
In 2006, Lewis Black had a break out year as an actor. Lewis Black co-starred with Robin Williams in Barry Levinson's "Man of the Year" (Universal Pictures), appeared as "the fake dean of a fake college" in Steve Pink's "Accepted" (Universal Pictures) and as the harried airport manager in Paul Feig's "Unaccompanied Minors" (Warner Brothers). In addition, Lewis Black lent his voice to the role of Jimmy in Bob Sagat's parody, "Farce of the Penguins" (Thinkfilm).
In addition to his professional pursuits, Lewis Black is dedicated to a number of charitable organizations. As a long time mentor with the 52nd Street Project, Lewis Black was roasted in "Charred Black 2007" which drew the largest fundraising numbers in the Project's history. He's a member of their Advisory Board, is Co-Chair of their Capital Campaign and in 2000, the Ron Black Memorial Scholarship Fund was created in memory of his late brother. Lewis Black is also committed to raising funds for the Rusty Magee Clinic for Families and Health. He's a strong supporter of both the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Autism Speaks and was recently honored by The Brady Center for his commitment to ending gun violence. At the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he established the William Foeller Fellowship, having taught and performed at the festival for more than a decade.
Today Lewis Black maintains residences in both Manhattan and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Still loyal to his alma mater, he's worked with UNC students to create the Carolina Comedy Festival, a yearly festival on the UNC campus that not only highlights performances, but also provides workshops and lectures for budding comics, writers and performers. With his involvement at UNC, Lewis Black continues a life-long commitment to education and the arts.
In his leisure time, Lewis Black likes to play golf, even though golf hates him.