By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, April 27, 2015
Lewis Black is the one constant on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." He has been on the show going back to original host Craig Kilborn in 1996.
Every so often, the famed "angry comic" would appear and go on a dyspeptic five-minute tirade, whether it was about Lance Armstrong doping, Glenn Beck, Hummer owners or Earth Day. His most recent appearance in mid March featured a rant about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus dropping elephants from their show.
“Thanks Obama!” he bellowed. “What are they are going to do now? Wash cars? Put out fires? Other Flintstone [expletive]?”
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In an interview to promote his upcoming stand-up comedy show at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Friday (buy tickets here), Black said he expects he'll continue to appear on the show even after Trevor Noah takes over for Jon Stewart this fall.
“I’m the last comic standing,” Black said. “I’ve been there longer than anybody.”
But he does have a bone to pick with the producers: “I would have liked to have auditioned for that seat. I think it would have been a nice thing to do.”
Sure, Black doesn’t want the job at all. He just wanted the courtesy of being asked.
Curiously, pundits didn’t place him on their extensive lists of potential Stewart replacements. “The story of my career,” he said. “It leaves me in a position where I have just enough celebrity that it’s fun but not so much it’s annoying.”
Black doesn’t know a great deal about Noah but said he heard the bulk of Stewart’s writing staff will remain. “That’s good news,” he said. “They’re the engine on that show as much as Jon.”
He has struggled to find a regular home on TV beyond his occasional "Daily Show" appearances. He has pitched show after show and seen only one make it to air: Comedy Central's short-lived "Lewis Black's Root of All Evil," a mock debate show which lasted only two seasons and 18 episodes.
He felt his show was evolving and “ready for takeoff” when Comedy Central pulled the plug: “I’ll never comprehend it!”
Black, 66, already knows what many TV executives think of him: “They think I’m too old for this. All I do is yell. They don’t realize I can do other things.”
For now, he's become a steady theater act who can sell 2,000-plus tickets at Cobb every couple of years. This round, he is adding a streaming element to his comedy shows. On the website www.therantisdue.com, he allows fans to ask questions and watch the Q&A portion of his concert live.
“I may not get a TV show,” he said, “but I’ll appear on your computer!”
He hits the Cobb Energy stage one day before Bill Cosby, who is facing protests. Black said he is boggled that Cosby is still on tour after all the heat he has received over sexual assault allegations.
“It’s like obliviousness on a level I can’t imagine,” Black said. “Phew! I don’t get it! It’s beyond belief!”
I asked him about what was bugging him. He mentioned Congress and the Iranian negotiations, living wages and gas prices dropping somehow being a bad thing to some people. He also told Larry Wilmore on his "Nightly" show that Ted Cruz is like "a bad acid trip." On the bright side, "his redeeming value as a comic because when you put something like that you there, you give me work. I don't have to work. Just quote him!"
While he is hardly a fan of Republicans, he thinks the party is far worse than it used to be. "Eisenhower would not survive now. Nixon would not survive now. They have no clue to their history. Let the tail wag the dog with this Tea Party."
When I asked about Atlanta, he commented about the bad traffic. When I told him things might get even worse in the Cobb area because of the new Braves stadium in 2017, he said, sarcastically, "That's spectacular. City planning at its best! Hang in there Atlanta!"
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