Fresh Squeezed Comedy
May 2, 2023 3:35 PM Subscribe
Released just a couple of hours ago, Lewis Black brings us his very recently completed comedy hour, Tragically, I Need You [1h3m]. CW: This deals very directly with the unfolding, trajectory, and personal harms of the COVID pandemic. It is also full of anger and ranting about these things, per Lewis Black's oeuvre, so maybe cathartic.
22 minutes in and he's as brilliant as ever.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:56 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:56 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
At about 34 minutes: "What's 1/4 of 1/16th of a teaspoon of cumin?"
Not nearly enough! But then, I'd say measuring cumin in anything less than tablespoons per person is a travesty.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
Not nearly enough! But then, I'd say measuring cumin in anything less than tablespoons per person is a travesty.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:17 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
I literally LOL'd at his description of the Cats production he missed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2023
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2023
Dancing is NOT permitted at this venue. We can be fined $6,642.
I swiped this from outside a local nightclub because I knew one day I would laugh at it. We had a fucking dancing ban! The fine cost more than my first car! I think I'm ready to laugh about it now, this deeply weird and terrifying thing we all went through. I'm certainly going to preserve this WTF sign for the future.
Though there was one thing that made me laugh deeply at the time. There was the race to create a vaccine, and Australia's hope for being the first came from the University of Queensland. There was a catch though, they would have to test the vaccine on hamsters and they are illegal in Australia. If they ever got loose they'd wreck the place and we've been through that before. The decision was made to test the vaccine in the Netherlands. I can imagine that meeting - where are we going to find the hamsters we need? A shy undergrad raises their and suggests Hamsterdam?
posted by adept256 at 7:42 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
I swiped this from outside a local nightclub because I knew one day I would laugh at it. We had a fucking dancing ban! The fine cost more than my first car! I think I'm ready to laugh about it now, this deeply weird and terrifying thing we all went through. I'm certainly going to preserve this WTF sign for the future.
Though there was one thing that made me laugh deeply at the time. There was the race to create a vaccine, and Australia's hope for being the first came from the University of Queensland. There was a catch though, they would have to test the vaccine on hamsters and they are illegal in Australia. If they ever got loose they'd wreck the place and we've been through that before. The decision was made to test the vaccine in the Netherlands. I can imagine that meeting - where are we going to find the hamsters we need? A shy undergrad raises their and suggests Hamsterdam?
posted by adept256 at 7:42 PM on May 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
He says “god damnit” with such relish.
posted by hototogisu at 8:37 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by hototogisu at 8:37 PM on May 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
Not nearly enough! But then, I'd say measuring cumin in anything less than tablespoons per person is a travesty.
"It's the road to madness."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:18 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
"It's the road to madness."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:18 PM on May 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
they would have to test the vaccine on hamsters and they are illegal in Australia. If they ever got loose they'd wreck the place and we've been through that before.
Maybe they'd eat the emus...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:48 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Maybe they'd eat the emus...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:48 PM on May 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Honestly, if something was managing to catch and eat the emus, it'd be almost post-apocalyptic. I swear emus remember they used to be dinosaurs and they're still not adjusted.
posted by Merus at 4:17 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Merus at 4:17 AM on May 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
So I decided to rewatch this tonight, and I want to mention a couple of things:
1) There are more than a couple of moments in this where Lewis gets up against a wall that other, lesser comics would take into a stereotypical, distasteful turn. But Lewis walks right up to that and then does some kind of hyperspace jump that is totally following what came before but proves that YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AN ASSHOLE TO BE FUNNY, YOU JUST HAVE TO BE A GOOD WRITER/COMIC.
2) Modern comedy is veering more and more toward storytelling with jokes, even nearly a one-person show kind of format instead of what we think of as "stand-up comedy". And during this transition, comedians are basically doing acting exercises combined with writing exercises in front of audiences night after night while they create their hours. Lewis, meanwhile, has actually written for the stage. He knows how to shape things to begin with, even while he's using his time in front of an audience to hone the final shape. What impresses me most in this special is, I've been watching this guy for literally decades and even more from his podcast where he's less written and more informal, and I will tell you.. this guy has HONED this monologue's character to a T!
Anyway, I'm more impressed with this the more I think about it. I wish he had a bigger audience for stuff that isn't on The Daily Show because I think he's really hitting a new prime for himself right now.
posted by hippybear at 7:54 PM on May 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
1) There are more than a couple of moments in this where Lewis gets up against a wall that other, lesser comics would take into a stereotypical, distasteful turn. But Lewis walks right up to that and then does some kind of hyperspace jump that is totally following what came before but proves that YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AN ASSHOLE TO BE FUNNY, YOU JUST HAVE TO BE A GOOD WRITER/COMIC.
2) Modern comedy is veering more and more toward storytelling with jokes, even nearly a one-person show kind of format instead of what we think of as "stand-up comedy". And during this transition, comedians are basically doing acting exercises combined with writing exercises in front of audiences night after night while they create their hours. Lewis, meanwhile, has actually written for the stage. He knows how to shape things to begin with, even while he's using his time in front of an audience to hone the final shape. What impresses me most in this special is, I've been watching this guy for literally decades and even more from his podcast where he's less written and more informal, and I will tell you.. this guy has HONED this monologue's character to a T!
Anyway, I'm more impressed with this the more I think about it. I wish he had a bigger audience for stuff that isn't on The Daily Show because I think he's really hitting a new prime for himself right now.
posted by hippybear at 7:54 PM on May 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
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Like him overall. Will watch.
posted by Windopaene at 4:27 PM on May 2, 2023