An Evening with Lew

The country is in a troubled place these days. If you can still hear the political bickering over the crashing of the economy, you'd notice that candidates are getting desperate, gas prices ain't going down, and that lipstick on a barnyard animal may or may not change the fact that it is a barnyard animal. A lot of Americans are angry with the state of the country, but none quite as much as Lewis Black.

Lew wandered onto a dark stage at the UC Davis campus tonight, with a laundry list of complaints and a sold-out Mondavi Center crowd to complain to.

If you're familiar with his work, which is often showcased on The Daily Show and various other Comedy Central programs, then you know what to expect: finger pointing, shouting and getting so worked up with frustration that he can't finish his sentence. For an hour and a half or so, he vented those frustrations on a choir of liberal Californians ranging in age from early teens to approaching-a-century, and boy did they like the abuse.

As he strolled out to greet the adoring crowd in his "it's laundry day" attire, he was met by a heckler from the moment the applause died down. Mind you, this is not a small club, but a sizable theater, and some smart-ass decided to shout out, before he even started his set, "Did you go on a diet?" He met the inquisitive douchebag head-on, replying that he had not gone on a diet. Rather, TV tends to add 15 pounds and at his age he sees no reason to curb his appetite. He continued from there, explaining that this was not how the show was planned, but since the audience seems to have something else in mind, we might as well go with a quick Q & A and he'll say goodnight.

Asking if anyone else had pressing questions, one girl shouted out "You're hot!", to which a fellow audience member asked angrily to "Shut up", as he clearly wanted the set to begin. Lew pounced on this as well, calling out the "shut up" guy for denouncing someone calling him attractive. The first ten minutes or so ended up being an impromptu back-and-fourth with those who thought they'd be funny by interrupting. Like a true professional, he worked it into a hilarious bit that started the night off on a side-splitting note.

As the night went on, he railed on McCain. He railed on Obama. Palin is an idiot, governmental economists are morons, and the thought of anyone who voted for Bush twice caused him to shake his head rapidly and stop his rant out of frustration. It was a great performance, where he delivered up-to-the-minute political ridicule, and left the audience laughing hysterically at their own grim situations. After a lackluster opening act, I had begun to doubt whether or not I was in the mood to laugh that night. From the moment he hit the stage, any doubt faded. This is one seriously funny dude.

Before tonight, I'd never seen a stand-up comedian live before. The closest thing I'd seen to one was last year's 3+ hour encounter with Henry Rollins, which wasn't really stand-up, even if it often proved to be hilarious. Stand-up is a difficult profession, and is absolutly painful to watch if someone sucks at it (which most people seem to in their early years, including Black (as was chronicled in his book)), so it's always impressive to see a pro in action. This guy knows what's funny, and he knows how to make an audience laugh. I'll have to check out some more of this stand-up business another time. Until then, I think I've been satisfied.