Thursday, January 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Stage: The last angry ham

By Newt Briggs

Lewis Black lends himself easily to metaphors. He is a manic street preacher, pounding on a plywood pulpit and shouting hellfire and brimstone. He is a living embodiment of Einstein's theory of relativity--proof that even the most meager bodies are possessed of an untold elemental fury. He is a powder keg, a walking aneurysm, a flesh-and-blood Krakatoa, and he's about to blow.

In other words, he's one angry dude. Like Sam Abelman, the crusty protagonist of Gerald Green's 1956 novel The Last Angry Man, Black is enraged by everything--bottled water, traffic, the Terror Alert Scale, fat people, skinny people, the rich, the poor and the dubious health benefits of dairy products. In fact, Black's Weltanschauung might best be encapsulated in Abelman's famous grouse, "The bastards just won't let you live."

And by "bastards," Black doesn't only mean Republicans, although the words were paired frequently during his 40-minute rant Friday at the House of Blues. If nothing else, Black is an even-handed mudslinger, lambasting stupidity and self-interest on both sides of the aisle. "You want to know the difference between the two political parties? The Democratic Party is a party of no ideas, and the Republican Party is a party of bad ideas."

Black also directed some choice words at Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean. "He's a goddamn arrogant son of a bitch. 'Look at me! I'm wearing shirtsleeves!' What a cocksucker." But his most virulent rant was reserved for Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, whose suggestion that duct tape might help protect people from a biological attack sent Black into a seething fit of obscenities and convulsions. "These are the same assholes that told me I should hide under my desk during a nuclear attack."

While Black is by no means a political scholar--his political critiques center as much on personalities as they do on policies--his rage serves a significant critical function. As 19th century theologian Bede Jarrett once observed, "The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough." If people were more like Black, the world might indeed be a better place. High blood pressure would run rampant and there would be an occasional need for mass sedations, but politicians would tell the truth and everyone would know that milk makes you vigorous and strong.
Lewis Black

House of Blues

Fri., Jan. 16