Claremont Independent

I thought I could write this article before I even attended the Lewis Black show at Bridges on February 20th. I imagined the title saying something like "Lewis Black: Nothing but Bush" or "Someone Needs a New Job Now That Bush is Back in Texas." I would have gone on to write about how Lewis Black's career hinged on his Dubya rants, and now that Forty-Three was not providing any new fodder, Black might as well quit comedy.

Fortunately (or rather unfortunately, depending on your preference for socialist political satire), Black delivered an unexpected performance. Fortunately (for everyone this time), he took my potential list of titles and used them all himself in the first couple of minutes of his routine. His jokes were a lot funnier than mine.

For those of you who spend more time doing the things you are supposed to be doing (like, you know, studying) instead of watching Comedy Central all day like myself, allow me to set a background for this article.

Lewis Black is a world famous comedian commonly known for his angry rants, ridicule, and astronomical blood pressure. He seems to enjoy making fun of politics, religion, and pop culture most often. He has devoted the last eight years of his life to criticizing, ridiculing, and insulting then-President Bush. With Bush out of office, you might imagine (as I did) that Black would not be nearly as popular as he once was. You would have imagined wrong.

He opened the show with a rant about how no one in their right mind should consider themselves a Republican or a Democrat these days. How could anyone still call themselves one or the other after, as Black says, neither party has done absolutely anything for the American people in the last thirty years? I had a smug look on my face at that point. "I must be one of the few people in the room who voted for neither Obama nor McCain," I thought to myself.

Black continued by ranting against the Democrats (no more beating the dead Bush), incredulous of a political system in which they can sit around and do absolutely nothing for eight years and accordingly be qualified to run the country.

I sat there laughing the whole way through, all the while incredulous myself that Lewis Black could speak for five whole minutes without making me scared for the future of humanity.I loved the new Lewis Black. Not only was he hilarious, he was starting to sound like a Republican to boot! Then he started talking economics.

I could repeat some of what Black said about the economy and free trade, but I am not going to. I do not want to make any Econ majors queasy. But I guess I knew the honeymoon had to end sometime. Obama gets a hundred days, Black gets five minutes.

Of course, I knew it was going to be that way. In fact, I thought it was going to be even worse before I came. The interesting thing, though, is that even when Lewis Black and I have polar opposite opinions on an issue, he can still find a way to make me laugh about it. It is a gift of comedy bestowed on very few people -the ability to take society's most pressing issues and turn them into hilarious stories. Do I agree with much of what Black says? Absolutely not. Do I agree with anything Black says? On a good day. But do I appreciate the use of comedy to open a dialogue about important societal issues? Of course!

Not many people have the ability and the courage to talk about touchy issues, and Lewis Black is one of those rare individuals. He can be talking about immigration one moment and his father's testicles the next without a hitch in between and with a laughing audience the whole way.

Despite obvious misgivings from a Libertarian/Republican, I found Lewis Black's show to be one of the most entertaining nights I have had on campus this semester. Now if only I could find some whipped cream…

Chase Gray CMC '12 is Associate Editor of the Claremont Independent.