 Welcome back. He's a comic who transformed rage into hilarity. Hailed as the king of rant, Louis Black returns to the Florida theater Friday, December 15th for his Off the Rails tour, and he joins us now by phone. Welcome to First Coast Connect, Louis Black. No, my pleasure to be there. Hey, we're thrilled to have you. So you've had such a varied and storied career. You've done movies, television, stand-up. How do you define your place in the comedy landscape? How do I define it? I was just lucky. People thought I was funny. That's really my place in the comedy landscape. It was kind of, it isn't where I expected to be. So it's always a wake-up kind of going, wow, I can't believe this has been going on this long, because I was, I got, I started as a, I was in theater. I thought I was going to be a playwright. I thought, really, I was going to end up teaching theater. So this has all been spectacular. When did you realize that you were funny? And like, was your early humor, was it this kind of rage-based humor, or was it something different? Well, no, when I was a kid, it was all sarcasm, because my mother had a really, he was good at it. My father, my mother was really sarcastic and funny. My father read books and made him laugh. And those, you know, like Catch-22, he's the one who basically told me to read it. So I got a bit from them. My friends were very, very funny, but it was all about sarcasm and this is, you know, and things that were silly. And then it wasn't until I got into college and started, you know, telling stories and stuff to my friends about things that were happening and that kind of evolved. Eventually, I was doing stand-up on the side. I was doing, really just doing stand-up for a way to kind of write things and get them out there. But once I kind of got on stage and was doing it regularly, I realized that I was had a friend who told me, you know, you're really angry, you've got to yell. And I was always a little worried about that as a way to kind of ingratiate myself to audiences. But I was, I was funniest when I was angry. It's really cathartic to watch, you know, as somebody who likes to channel a little bit of anger myself. I really find it, you know, enjoyable, that fury. What's been funny was early on, kids, kids would, and it was the kids who kind of found me because of the Daily Show. Early on, kids would say, you know, you're just like my dad, only you're funny. I come from an alt-weekly background. I feel like as a comic, you were always really available to do interviews with alternative weeklies in cities around the country. Do you have a sort of a special connection there, or is it just love of the underdog? The alternative papers were really the strong local voices in terms of, you know, getting, you know, in terms of dealing with what was going on in whatever area I was visiting. So they were, you know, from the, from the very beginning, it was, it was kind of like, it's, they all kind of spun out of the rolling stone when the rolling stone was really the rolling stone. And there was a real energy to that. There was a real energy to those publications that I really enjoyed. And, and like me, they were basically going, basically what I really liked about them was that something would happen this, that week, in the papers responses, those alternative papers responses were kind of, you've got to be kidding me. In your latest special, tragically, I need you, you actually talk about the fact that you're making jokes and people, if they don't like the jokes, they can just not laugh, right? Right. That's it. It's that simple. That's the fastest way to get to a comic. You know, that was really the fastest way to do it. It's kind of like the Will Smith me. If he had just allowed that, that, that joke, which was a bad joke that Chris Rock had said, and allowed the, the room to deal with it, the room would have done it. And made, and made Chris go, oh, and, and then what would have been funny is Chris's reaction to that. What is your favorite venue for comedy, whether you're consuming it or producing it yourself? Do you, you know, you did the John Stuart show for a long time. You've done a lot of TV. You do stand up, you know, wonderfully and continually. You've been doing it for like 30 some years now. Yeah. Which do I like that? What I like the most is stand up because it's, I mean, it's independent of everything. I don't have to worry about an editor. I don't have to worry about like the daily show. They, they really told me what it was that I was going to talk about. So I mean, I get to decide what I talk about. I don't have to know. I don't have to deal with the producers. Well, you know, I'm not sure. I enjoyed doing the root of all evil, but we had to deal with Comedy Central and there was, they would come on every day and give us their, their take on things. And I had no interest in their take on things, but stand up really was the place that I felt the prettiest. And if I was offered the great thing about stand up, but I was offered something in a movie or a TV show, and I didn't want to do it. I didn't have to because I could go on the road. And when I cross a line, I've always done this when I've kind of gone too far. I'll say I've gone too far. I don't need the audience to tell me. I already know. You have been voted 51st out of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time by Comedy Central. And I, I wonder how you take that ranking. Does that mean anything to you? Obviously, you're, you know, loved and admired by your fans, but does a ranking like that mean anything to you personally? Well, I mean, it's kind of, I did it again. I probably dropped out. As I, as I say from view, but it, it meant a lot at the time. And, but, you know, I take it with a grain of salt. I'm just glad to be mentioned with the people I've been mentioned with, you know, there's a lot of comics I like. There were some comics that weren't on that list that I thought should be on that list. And, and I know in the end I've been, you know, it's the one thing you learn from being in this entertainment business is it's, it has to do with timing. And it's, and I've been lucky, you know, I kind of came along at the right place at the right time. Like nobody knew who I was. And then I, you know, and then I started to do it and they, and Conan came on the air and he got it. So, you know, I couldn't get on the other shows he put me on. And then, and then Comedy Central put me on. So, and it had to do with the timing. And that's, that's been huge for me. And so I take it with, you know, that I ended up on the list is really dumb luck. What, what makes you laugh? Like, what was the last time you just completely lost it? And who makes you laugh like that? Well, Kathleen Madigan is a good friend and she makes me, I think she's one of the, I think she is the funniest person now working and she really makes me laugh. I never can remember what it is that sets me off. But she, she always kind of knocks me out. And I mean, there's a whole bunch of David Tell makes me laugh really hard. And I probably could go on and name it another 10. Ted Alejandro is really, should be known better. He opens for Jim Gaffigan. And from time to time, he's just great. He really makes me laugh. But John Oliver, John Oliver stand up really makes me laugh. Is there any like common commonality among those comedians that you find particularly funny? Like, is it something about their delivery, their style? There's, there's not really commonality. I mean, David just kind of, they all kind of in a way, except they cross a line in their own fashion. And they all have a view, a point of view that is, is kind of like so that you all have a really strong point of view that I will say. And it makes for, when you do, it really makes for great comedy. So you're coming to Jacksonville next week. And that's excellent. I anything that you, that people can expect from your show, what kind of themes are you talking about any kinds of topical stuff? Yeah, and I'm talking a lot about Florida. No subject matter there in Florida. I mean, it's really dry stuff, right? Yeah, very dry. Yeah, you guys banning books. I mean, you can't read all of the Shakespearean play in a classroom. What planet are you on? It's incredible. Greatest writer of plays. One of the greatest writers ever. Okay. And, and they're acting as if kids are going to again, get over sex by reading Romeo and Juliet. Are you serious? Go ahead. Every one of those shmucks who thinks that, that it's a, it's kids can't read it because of the sex in it. I dare them to go to actually read that stuff aloud and explain what it is that is so worrying about it. No kid after reading Romeo and Juliet has ever said, boy, I got to go hump now. Lewis Black, thanks so much for this conversation. Well, it was an absolute pleasure. I enjoyed it. And when, if you guys ever want to talk to me, just give a yell. Okay. Will do. Thanks so much. You can see Lewis Black and Jacksonville Friday, December 15th at the Florida Theater. Tickets are still available at floridotheater.com or by calling 904-355-2787.