# HBO Special - Lewis Black: Black on Broadway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938 "2004-05-19T10:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/1 "2004-05-19T10:20:14Z")
Oh man. Man oh man oh man oh man. _checks to see if I wet myself during the show_ Lewis Black has always been one of my favourite “Daily Show” regulars. I love his delivery, jokes, and his silly anger. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a stand up bit from him, but I must say I wasn’t let down. It starts out a bit slow, but by the end he is geared up and going strong. I have to say I think this is right up there with Eddie Izzard’s Dress to Kill show. Funny, funny stuff. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/2 "2004-05-19T11:10:06Z")
Lewis Black has been my favorite comedian ever since I caught him on a standup show about 8 years ago. I can’t listen to his comedy album while driving because I really just laugh myself silly every time. A friend of my ex’s and I used to drive the ex craaaazy with Lewis Black quotes (really, they drop into everyday life so easily). Tell me he did the “If it weren’t for my horse” bit. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/3 "2004-05-19T14:55:41Z")
I thought it was painfully unfunny. I don’t think spending an hour just yelling FUCK really loudly and acting all pissed off (about really stupid things, I might add) constitutes “comedy.” Boooo. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/4 "2004-05-19T15:10:27Z")
He had me laughing my ass off through the whole hour… “I should really–FUCK IT’S COLD!” It’s funny cuz it’s true… ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/5 "2004-05-19T15:15:22Z")
He lost the hubby and me with the slow beginning. His commentaries on the Daily Show are hit-or-miss, but we thought we’d give it a shot. About every third thing he said was actually amusing. Unfunny things delivered in an angry voice do not automatically become funny. We had other things on the ReplayTV to watch, so we bailed. Maybe we should have stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/6 "2004-05-19T15:34:21Z")
I don’t have HBO, so I didn’t get a chance to watch it. However, I’m a fan of Lew’s, so I probably would’ve enjoyed it. That said, I think _The White Album_ and _Rules of Enragement_ are far better than _The End of the Universe_. _WA_ and _RoE_ are angry comedy at its best, I think. Nothing is gratuitous, and all the anger and swearing are perfectly appropriate for the character and situation. _EotU_, on the other hand, seems to be a lot of swearing and yelling for the sake of swearing and yelling. “A lot of people don’t what to do when they go to Vegas- here’s what you do. Go to the casino in your hotel and get a hundred bucks in quarters. The you go up to your room and lock the door. You sit on the bed and you look at those quarters for a long time. Why? Cause you’re _never gonna see 'em again_. Then you go to the bathroom and you flush em all, one, by one, by one. And the nice thing about that is every so often the toilet will back up and you’ll feel like a _winnner_!” ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/7 "2004-05-19T15:36:06Z")
Have to agree with **Ooner** and **Podkayne**. All the guy does is yell. I’ve never seen him make any original point or even tell any story in a clever manner. He just yells about stupid stuff. Mostly, I just stare blankly at the screen if I see him on The Daily Show. A friend of mine thinks Black’s the king of comedy, but he also thinks Chris Farley is one of the funniest men to ever walk the earth. So there you go. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/8 "2004-05-19T16:13:04Z")
I thought his show was hilarious and thought-provoking. The bit about bottled water made me laugh and think “Wait a minute…” I like his take on the WMDs: “Why did the government stop lying to us?” I don’t know how Lewis Black does it but the way he said that we are snowflakes STILL has me giggling. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/9 "2004-05-19T17:11:13Z")
Another vote for brutally unfunny. So many people had told me how funny he was, so I had high hopes going in. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-special-lewis-black-black-on-broadway/245938/10 "2004-05-19T17:11:14Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > The bit about bottled water … the way he said that we are snowflakes… Judging from those two bitys, it looks like most of this material is from _RoE_, which is also what he presented on Comedy Central’s Bar Mitzvah.