Lewis Black - Politics, Prayer and Profanity Through Comedy

[Music] today's lecture is underwritten by the Winifred S diver fund for Chautauqua a longtime supporter of the institution she was one of four major donors who made the transformation of normal hall into bratton theater possible she was a pillar in her community here and in Jamestown we are grateful to persons life on it for diver who looked ahead to our present day and we thank those of you who support Chautauqua and as we begin this week of programming on comedy in the human condition I want to acknowledge the tremendous partnership we've embarked upon with the national comedy center please welcome national comedy centered secular director Journey Gunderson to say a few words about the center thank you all in good morning and thank you Matt for that lovely introduction this partnership is a long time coming and it's not just because the Department of religion calendar has always sounded like a classic joke setup you've got the priests the rabbi's and the ministers but what is missing is the bar the national comedy center will honor the craft and its legendary contributors with its world-renowned exhibit experience celebrates the best of contemporary programming and cultivate comedic arts with professional development and support for artists this partnership makes sense because of the synergy and values this audience Chautauqua pnes appreciates good programming and great minds proceeding feasibility analysis on the comedy center project tells us that quality programming is the key to sustainability and there's a reason Chautauqua's been around for 143 years as for great minds anyone who sees just the George Carlin exhibit on Bester Plaza or in Jamestown this week can tell you good comedians are brilliant minds so while Chautauqua's got over a hundred years on us it's the dedication to meaningful discourse education and the arts that is the synergy on which this partnership thrives and the value on which cultural institutions remain relevant paraphrasing Chautauqua's president Michael Hill we live in a time when access to information about we are however in short supply of wisdom of information placed in context of authentic meaning we like Chautauqua seek to provide that important context why were Garland's seven dirty words or Lenny Bruce's quips about the institutions of religion or government more than just jokes what does their having been arrested onstage tell us about free speech these weren't just joke tellers these were truth tellers and pillars of the First Amendment but how does all comedy edgy or not affect the human condition our theme this week it said that drama helps us dream about who we want to be but comedy helps us live with who we are this week and long term we will elevate this craft and comics to art form and artists your speaker today and a donor of ours Lewis Black said it's important that the National Comedy Center exists so a 10 year old kid with an affection for comedy has a place to go again Michael Hill of Chautauqua the work of this institution has the capacity to enlighten the young to a life of the art I've drawn this comparison more than once in making the case for the comedy Center for seven years now your presence here demonstrates that yes people will travel from all over the country and all over the world for a cultural institution even in the far west corner of New York drawing this parallel has been a little more helpful than some of the tag lines we tried out recently Jamestown New York the Niagara Falls of comedy or only 145 miles from Cleveland or my personal favorite surely you can't be serious well since exploring the best and human values was taken we settled on the story of comedy lives here we hope you'll visit Jamestown via the shuttle to the Lucille Ball comedy festival which we produce in honor of our visionary and to engage with the story of comedy for years to come and since I'll be at the Hall of philosophy at the 2:00 p.m. program this Friday I can actually close on I'll be here all week thank you very much [Applause] our guest this morning his comedian and king of the rant Louis black with a trademark style of comedic yelling and assertive finger-pointing mr. black provides searing criticism with a dose of hilarity after earning degrees from the University of North Carolina and Yale Drama School Louis black became the playwright in residence at West Bank cafes downstairs theater bar in New York City while there he oversaw the development of more than 1,000 plays including several of his own pieces and works by the likes of Aaron Sorkin and Alan Ball after leaving West Bank to pursue stand-up full-time Lewis Black was invited to create a segment for Comedy Central's The Daily Show what began as a three minute rants in 1996 evolved into back and black one of the most popular and longest-running segments on the show for both Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah 9 comedy albums 2 HBO specials 5 Grammy nominations and 2 wins three best-selling books and more than 40 plays let us not forget that he notably voiced the character anger in Pixar's inside out which by the way he'll be screening we will be screening on Wester Plaza tomorrow night with a brief introduction by anger himself we are incredibly pleased and honored to have Lewis Black here to open our week and partnership with a national comedy centre please join me in greeting Lewis Black on his second visit to Chautauqua and its first on our platform I think I'd like to thank Matt and really that's what Matt had to say is all that need to be said so I really hope you have a great day today and that it's really special I have to say that first off that I hope you you like my ass and [Music] on it's my most endearing feature I don't know if you realize that what goes on here now is completely counter to what's occurring in the country so you have to realize that this is what you're doing is wrong it's shameful and levels really well as I was becoming here yesterday I was just well I I was disgusted we're having a great experiment in this country and I wish to God you'd be a part of it we have tried as a nation to use our intelligence to better ourselves and it just didn't work so we're just going to go we were just we're just experimenting with the concept of doing things it's ignorant Lee is ignorant Lee is humanly possible we will there be sure there's a fact but [Applause] so if you know you're the ones who are making it impossible for us to move forward I didn't want to use that bad word so quickly comedy is easy writing a speech about comedy is exhausting there was a very nice article in today's paper he did a very nice job Brian did and it said the black hole opens open this week with examination of comics role in society well know that that won't be happening I could tell you about the rolls the breakfast rolls I've eaten during the course of my life first let me just tell you there are a few things you should know about comedy 10:45 a.m. is not and has never been a conducive time for comedy it's a great time for yoga Pilates or even a second cup of coffee 10:45 p.m. is actually a much better time but many of you would be asleep by that heat warm is not conducive to comedy you don't do comedy hood heat heat is for when well uh like a sauna or a steam room or when it's really cold outside I did the Letterman Show twice he notoriously kept that room cold it was sixty degrees and people laughed just to keep warm daylight is not conducive to comedy it's good for gardening or a religious service or if you're telling time with a sundial nighttime is the time for funny after a day of insanity nighttime is when one finds their sense of humor again comedy comes out of the darkness like ghost stories do only with a punchline the outdoors is not conducive to comedy it's good for badminton or volleyball or hiking if you jog by me don't look at me today [Applause] is it well that this is why I don't get speeches [Applause] the outdoors may be the worst thing for comedy especially for stand-up comedy you see stand-up comedy is rooted in silence silence that's where comedy has its roots not in the sounds of birds or planes or children at play silence that is where the chemistry of laughter begins it's where the tension is formed that is ultimately released through the laugh this will be difficult to understand it took me a long time to grasp it comedy at its simplest is tension release that's it that's what it is and there is nothing and I mean nothing less conducive to comedy than talking about it [Applause] so so all in all I am thrilled to be here [Applause] iced and apparently we're nine presidents including FDR stood Supreme Court justices such as Anthony Kennedy Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor Elie Wiesel Jane Goodall Jane Goodall and Tom Brokaw have all spoken here I couldn't be more honored to be here and more appalled that you've asked me to cover the speech did you run out of noteworthy individuals people of substance were all the Nobel Prize winners busy this week seriously I know a bit of the history of this place and my standing here in the light of that makes no sense this I gather from what I've read and it is the first time Chautauqua has devoted a week to comedy really did the election depress you so much but you finally remembered there is an artistic endeavor called comedy comedy oh yeah how does that work again that's right you're upset and when you hear something funny you laugh up and then you're not depressed it took you a hundred and forty years to finally get around to dominate [Applause] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] it's the kind of thing you like to do is do to walk a nine-year-old out of your audience that one said oh yeah the 10 year olds will be here just after they do their elementary school play things look if there was ever a place that was right for being made fun of it's here [Applause] where it is so idyllic and precious that you can leave one mildly nauseous I [Laughter] think I'm even developing a case of eczema and I've been here less than 24 hours but we hear it should talk we're not interested in the laughter bark we want to talk about it talk it to death until we barely have enough breath to laugh so let's talk about comedy as I said I have no desire to discuss it's important it's important its necessity its ability to speak truth to power or how it can confront even the most sensitive issues of our time and so doing often testing what society identifies as offensive but that I will tell you what I know I'm 68 years old and people still come up to me after I perform and say I really like you but why do you have to use so many dirty words I wanted to do a comedy special with the Kennedy Center and they said that I use the f-word too much someone actually watched my previous special and counted the amount of times I used the word 42 in light of the last election that that number has risen quite a lot seriously is it that unusual for a comic who spends his entire life watching the gap widened between what this country is and what it really should be to use words that help us express anger frustration and rage these aren't dirty words not in the least I don't care what your religion tells you these are words God gave to adults to use feathers doesn't help is that when you when you read that Donald Trump won in the election did you go Oh pshaw [Applause] here's what I know about comedy I've had more people when should have approached me and say I'm ever if I'm very funny everyone tells me I am I could be a comic no you can't not unless you're a natural and I've only met two in my life so good luck knock them dead what exactly separates the person who is funny from the comic the distance from where you're sitting here five feet five feet that separates you from being funny in your seat in the audience to being onstage in front of that audience it's a lot easier to be funny in front of your friends who think you're funny then convincing a roomful of strangers that you are funny so that three feet four five feet is really a thousand miles of wandering the country from one hellhole to the next and thousands of performances many of them ultimately humiliating on levels that you can't even begin to imagine in rooms so disgusting that one's death begins to seem to be a reasonable alternative and speaking of death in order to be a comic you have to love dying on stage sure they haven't left sure they're heckling me to the point of Tears but this one this one's really going to get them you stand there in front of a group of people and not one person in the room laughs at you and they are disgusted and you've been onstage for seven minutes and nothing has happened and yet as you watch yourself drop dead in front of yourself you still believe son of a I didn't do this joke I will be resurrected so in the end you've got to love failing in front of a lot of people because that's how you learn what's funny and why you're funny and it's no fun you've got to really be somewhat of an idiot to be a comic to put it another way it's like learning to be a boxer but only your hands are tied and so you can't do much to retaliate against an opponent opponent who is pummeling you so after the fight you go Chi if I'd only raised my right hand I could have blocked a punch and got that guy with my left fist it's just like the audience beats you senseless and then precisely you go back into oh yeah you learn through failure I knew there'd be a baby here and if you just gave birth I want credit that was actually the sound in my head two minutes before I had to come up here so are there people who just aren't funny who were bereft of a sense of humor maybe the Amish I've always wondered about them and who hasn't I really thought that was a lot funnier than you pricks gave me that's judgmental some of you judge that that's why you didn't laugh you went why is he going after the Amish [Applause] I know from experience that many in the Midwest in the south don't seem to grasp sarcasm and sometimes irony but cable and the internet is changing that for a number of years I talked the experience of stand-up in a week I get students up on stage to be funny and even though many of my students were training to be actors they were scared to death of stand-up many didn't believe they were funny at all what I tell everyone that I've ever taught stand-up and I truly believe this that everyone has at least one funny story to tell and if you don't it's time to get a new life you may want to move everyone that I've ever taught [Applause] was fun 80 every single person wasn't me it was them I all I did was provide a bit of guidance this is true but sadly many of those who pursued stand up after they took my class were generally those who would the least funny and those whom I actually thought could make it as comics went on to having productive lives it's extremely rare I think that someone doesn't have a sense of humor anyone who has ever laughed has a sense of humor I've met very few people that I believed had never laughed so how come there are people who just don't seem to have a sense of rumor outside of some sort of psychological condition the reason I believe that exists some people appear this way is is that it was never developed I think one sense of humor is like a muscle it's a muscle that is usually exercised by family and friends but rarely if ever is it exercised in the halls of academia it took you a hundred and forty three [Applause] from elementary school through high school we teach every subject Under the Sun but we hardly ever teach comedy you really and I understand this don't want to give kids that kind of weapon in a classroom so it's a muscle among and among a number of us that begins to atrophy so I was lucky that both my parents had great senses of humor and are still with me oh they are 98 and 99 [Music] and those of you who didn't applaud kind of pricks are you I know I've wandered these grounds are going well most ninety-nine what's 99 I'm still jogging well my mother turn 98 98 I asked her what it was like and she said no one should live this long I went through all the years today and you know what they don't add up after the presidential election I asked my father what he thought and he laughed and laughed and kept laughing it was starting to scare me so I said what do you what do you really think and he laughed harder this is how dark my mother's sense of humor was she was a terrible cook and I mean terrible my mother got a Cuisinart this is and she was very excited by it and she brought out her concept of coleslaw which was if she had mashed it and had been in the Cuisinart so long there was one piece of cabbage and the rest was look like milk [Applause] I always felt she cooked this way that so that my brother and I would enjoy Industrial cooking one night in one night only she cooked an unbelievable meal and one that was not easy at all it was incredible and we never saw a meal like that again years later I asked her why she said I just wanted to show you I could really cook well if I wanted to [Applause] I just had better things to do one day I saw my dad reading a copy of catch-22 by Joseph Heller he was laughing I've never seen him laughing while reading anything I asked him if I should read it and he said absolutely it would tell me all I needed to know about working in an office and life in general I was 13 at the time I read it I laughed hard really hard and I learned as much from about life as I have from any work of nonfiction it altered the way I looked at what was going on around me a few years later I stumbled on to catch cradle by Kurt Vonnegut between these two books I realized I wasn't crazy there was another way of looking at the world they changed my perception of myself in the world I was living in I was right I was right to think that one couldn't protect oneself by climbing under a wooden desk in case of a nuclear attack [Applause] that idea was not only insane it was funny and so I learned not only what I found to be truly funny I also learned just because someone is in charge it didn't make them right I could trust what I was seeing and I could laugh about it so I began to search for things that I found funny and that led me to subscribe to a satiric magazine called the realist that'll give you an idea of how many readers had had it was an unbelievable piece of work at the time and I started getting it when I was fifteen and my parents I can't believe they allowed it in the house I don't think they ever looked at it and it was more precious to me than all the breasts that playboy could deliver it was a pathologically dark really dark humor magazine for which Paul Krassner was the inspiration publisher and editor I'll never forget opening one issue and they are smack dab in the middle of the magazine was a panorama of all the Disney characters on first look it was seemingly harmless but on closer inspection you realized every one of them was doing something completely perverse gumbo was taking a dump on Donald Duck Goofy was screwing Minnie Mouse you can't even laugh at it now can ya Wow Wow folks Wow and Mickey was shooting heroin I won't even tell you what the seven dwarves were up to many of you would begin to weep the creation of a former Disney artist had taken the Vatican of children's lore and cut it down to size Disney I heard wanted to sue him but eventually changed its corporate mind these books this magazine in the comedy of George Carlin Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce they were like taking a drug a drug that inoculated me from losing my mind because it altered my point of view it made me easier for me to cope with a world that appeared to be crazy to me to put it really simply watching slim pickins in dr. Strangelove riding the a-bomb down to Russia waving his cowboy hat made it very easy for me to stop worrying and love the bomb the rest do you see the movie okay just see it there's the thing you can get it online I'll talk to you about it some other kind so I believe is a comic and if someone who loves to laugh at comedy has an effect on the individual and when enough individuals are affected it might affect our society but no one no one sets out to change or transform the world through comedy it's comedy the most important thing is the laugh anything else is dumb luck but what about the Daily Show with Jon Stewart didn't that have a profound effect on our society who knows but it didn't set out to do that it set out to be as funny as it could be I will tell you that Jon Stewart will tell you that the writers of the show will tell you that nothing flew unless it was funny I see all of these shows Samantha bees John Oliver's and Bill Maher's as insulation from the madness that we witness daily it allows us to step back for a moment from the madness and regroup and realize that this too shall pass hopefully political correctness by the way is the arch enemy of comedy it has nothing to do with comedy if you bring it into the room with you you're a prick [Applause] political correctness is for discussions on the porches of Jew taqwa and in classrooms of universities but it has no place in deciding what is or isn't funny that is left up entirely to the individual because in the end humor is subjective I will have a thousand people in the audience laughing it that a show of mine and then open Facebook and a few of the members of that audience having sat there will tell me I'm not funny and I'm not to them they're right it's because of what their sense of humor is political correctness is way too judgemental for comedy I hear it sometimes when men in the audience won't laugh at a joke because they judge the joke before you get to the punchline they miss the point of the joke they hear something they hear a buzz word and their brain goes cold and numb they go well that son of a I can't believe and then the joke guitars [Applause] in my act after spending 15 minutes talking about how we've neglected those with mental illness I say the following now that the gays are out of the closet the next group that has to come out are the mentally ill but they're mentally ill so they don't know where the door handle is and the audience the audience at least a good third every night makes a judgement than in there and as a result they don't get to the final line which is so we have to open the door for them , you shouldn't go after the weak defenselessness the misogynistic and shouldn't be some massaging mystic homophobic or racist but sometimes you're gonna laugh it's something you shouldn't that's okay quietly afterwards you should say to yourself I was a bad person to laugh at [Applause] when all is said and done I feel it is comedy that brings us together that our gatherings we tell our tales you won't believe what happened to me well you think that's something we do you hear what happened to me well that's nothing compared with and on and on we try to one-up each other we try and make our friends laugh we don't generally look to get together for pity parties boy I can't wait to get together with my pals and have a few good weeps we like to and we want to laugh and just what is a laugh well it's as mysterious as music I see laughter as a comic hiccup that allows us to stare into the abyss what we straddled the grave it makes a bad day bearable it gives us the breathing room to deal with life's nonsense and it is the mechanism that allows us to cope with the deepest emotional pains and scars and while sometimes it can be coaxed left or by and large is a completely uncontrollable physical reaction it seems to come out of nowhere so what it comes to is this I think the comedy and religion share a lot of similarities they both help people gather in the space to share a common vision they both give people a tranche of cents they both give people get it right a sense of transcendence they both offer comfort they both are mysteries and they both gather their biggest crowds on weekends but religion never really worked for me prayer wasn't my strong suit I don't really enjoy praying with a lot of people I love laughing with them that's what I have to say I don't know if it's cleared anything up for you but it's been a privilege and a pleasure to speak here in this hallowed space and my lead but my only grads my parents could be here sorry about that I'm dumb I hate when I start getting weepy I just spent the whole speech going it's all about the laugh but my parents would like it and my mother would say went yeah you know you didn't have to talk about my cooking [Applause] but she said she asked me he said we were with we were there we were here when I was very young and so she said is it is it the same as it was and I went yeah um I also regret that somehow we can't spread the intelligence that blankets these grounds to up the rest of the country and I hope the idiots don't find out what you're up to out here or we're screwed thank you stay right there okay so as we enter into our QA portion there may be a few people leaving know that Lois may comments as you're leaving well please do be as respectful as possible to your friends and neighbors here in this space know that you can also ask questions via twitter at hashtag CH q 2017 to begin Louis I remember just reading last week a declaration of how Comedy post-election will you know the questions of his comedy as it exists now over or is comedy changing fundamentally and I think about post 9/11 the questions of his satire dead and my question is from journalists and others who are making those statements how that's received within the world that knows that our forum best and indeed whether that kind of crisis at least that it's being labeled is indeed the case well know the first up realize journalists should want to be something else they'd rather write a novel or get a book done they're just they're just jealous I it's changed I don't think it's changed fundamentally people walk into a room there's still comics working without talking about what's going on out there it's a folks really up for me the difficulty is from the very beginning is the two difficulties one I find it all the people who've ever run for office you know I good and one the office the presidency this is the first time he he gets so much time so much time is the attention is given to him that I as a comedian don't want to give them attention okay - he's writing the material I mean literally when he started running I said how am I supposed to satirize what's already satiric how do you make something funnier that's already funny as I said me the interview Melania Trump to her her pet thing is that she had the things she wants to do you know like is bullying I mean what do you say how do you top that what can you buy what are you going to do we're going to shake that up well scaramouche here I have never also ever seen and this is different than anything else I've ever witnessed except for maybe Vaughan metering when the Kennedy the first family hit and they had one meter nailed his voice and came up with all of that those albums as soon as somebody as soon as she brings out one of these characters to talk to us there's somebody like you know attorney McCarthy you know immediately but within two weeks she's doing Sean Spicer a friend of a good friend of mine Mario Cantone is a very very funny guy I immediately lit two days after scaramouche does that you know happy speech he's you know but Mario's on the air with the little get the pompadour he's doing the whole thing [Applause] two other questions just an announcement from from our from our crew here Karen Karp if you are in the amphitheater would you please contact the usher at gate four coordinate for a message sorry to bring it down no that's great now I'm going to wonder what the hell happened there and from Twitter you talked about the need to teach comedy and and work that muscle of comedy in the schools a question from Twitter what are resources you would recommend to teach young people about comedy as an art form I'm available if the price is right you teach it you know there's no way to teach you but there is a you know there's a variety of both the comics who you know that I came out of Vin's in other fashions Shelley Berman Bob Newhart there are a ton of comics working now that are better that you can you just buy form nitin sitting men to talk about what made you laugh why'd you think that was funny that's the way I teach it I mean the great thing about teaching stand-up is is I have the kids who are in the class and I had they they basically do the critiquing that's how you teach comedy and by by having the class critique and you keep your mouth shut except for like guidance those kids then begin to develop a critical eye about it then there's booked I mean Vonnegut is the perfect book for you know but you know there's Julius Caesar but is also can you know cat's cradle slaughterhouse-five if it's not banned in your County is a good one and so those are the you know you know the books you know you don't don't you know MIT's you know did as you like it is funny but it's you know skip it get to the get to the stuff they get comic books cartoons rocky and bullwinkle there's a ton of stuff out there turn line Adult Swim they're already watching it some of it will offend the hell out of you person rights everyone talks about the civil rights issues raised by Lenny Bruce's stand-up why do we avoid talking about the still relevant content of his act which is his critique of religion no I did that already I wrote a whole book on it what else do you want from me I get it run a whole book on my feelings about religion and what I think of it and you know I mean in their comics who is still doing it you know you just get you know it's we're just you know I the thing that made what Lenny did stand out was his I mean he threw the gauntlet down it's just not as offensive anymore you know so people don't you know it's like so people it seems not as offensive to talk about it it doesn't have that kind of attention that's no that's really what I believe and by the bull hooks really good you had mentioned you know two people who naturally were gifted as comedians this person is asking who were those two net naturals well the two Naturals one is Kathleen Madigan if you don't she's right up your alley and I'm serious she's right up everyone in this room Sally's you can see her on YouTube and oh she's terrific she was an absolute natural it just I started I was working the road when I ran into her who liked up and she'd been working for eight months and she was like it just pissed me off to watch her she she's already she has that natural gift and the other is a guy named TP Mulrooney who who kind of really never pursued it on that level he does a lot of golf outings now but by god he walked on stage the first time and had a whole set and was brilliant not a question from Twitter how did comedians become better at disseminating information than journalists how did you know what I heard because they what was great was before I came and hear the sound person said there's a there's a lot of um loss of hearing out there and I'm part of the problem I thought you said why your began's let's uh bow what a spectacular question they're they you know the carrots they can see further I why you're comedians better at it than journalists well because we keep our eye on the ball in Park and because the natural set up and what what the Daily Show discovered was is that these people were saying this stuff and then denying they were saying it then you just put it on again the great thing about Trump is is he really doesn't care he said it and goes oh I didn't say it I never said it and then he'll say what he thinks he said again I mean it's just spectacular I think that I think where journalism is the point is is that they keep focusing on the pathology of Donald Trump and the psychology of Donald Trump instead of going instead of this discussion or the discussion of the pathology of the of the Congress unable to pass a health care bill a folk you know go out and find out the information necessary so that we the public can figure out what do we really want to do as regards health care we need information that's part of what a journalist is supposed to do and it's one of the things that makes John Oliver's show so extraordinary because he actually goes up gets it right why are we so uncomfortable with body female comics and who are your favorites I own a body female comics who's uncomfortable which is like sexy yeah I like the first of I don't even observer the word body is like 1956 they do not boy did you ever feel like leaving comedy and why other than this one right now no other than this morning no I haven't I've always once I found it in the diplom because it was really I went to school to be a playwright and that really has worked out but what he did to allow me to do was real the right and get my writing out there and the setting but really crisis I don't write I mean I wrote it but I don't write when I do my act on stage I just think about it and then I write in front of people that's what i doing on stage so and that's always in that the found an audience that allows me to do that and enjoy ways that has made it easier and as long as i continue to you know and I was always learning something every night so it was you know why I want to continue to do it but I'll tell you the next time if I come up with an acting to be yelling and screaming I'm coming out on a gurney with an IV drip lie there in front it's going to be lie down comedy is there anything you find less funny now that you've been doing comedy for several years do you say that's funny instead of laughing sometimes oh yeah a lot of stuff but that's just because I'm the jaded prick I mean if you're watching from comics at the back of a room most of the time they're sitting there move it's just because we know it because you know a part of it what makes comedy work I think is because it's in its own way and I hate to compare it to this but it's like a magic trick it's like oh you know we just kind of are doing something over here and then and you're kind of distracted and then we nail you and so I think that so for part of us you know it's and it really has to be you know funny there's so it's that's and then somebody every so often will stumble on something then you go wow you know like I'll see inevitably well see Jim Gaffigan if you've never seen gapping in on he's on Thursday I guess he's Thursday night and he always does something that really makes me laugh hard that he's stumbled on something and it just once again irritates me I go I should have thought of that person asks what do you think of Stephen Colbert does he go too far did you listen to the speech now I think Stephen is a bona fide genius and I think that and I keep believing of them you know yeah he's the toughest thing for Stephens making a transition from that character which is truly the character that he did there's been nothing like that comically in the history in the history of at least of American comedy where there were people like Professor Irwin Corey who would come on and act like a professor literally be silent for two minutes and be wandering around there dressed like a professor and he would not say anything he started to say something isn't it and then he after two minutes would say however so the few guys who came up his character that he came up with he became up with the character that was a satire but I mean it was I just had never seen anything like that that he just portrayed as it was you know created a satiric character and created the satire from that character and for years and so the transition from that to doing what is essentially that late-night slot which has a whole ton of baggage on it including we're not gonna hire females you know boy you know what this is what like night television is I stood behind a desk but don't you forget it so so he's he's strung up with that but it you know that transition I think that Trump was a blessing I mean many others have written about it it was because he could then not be that character then he could just be Steven talking about it and I think he know he hasn't gone too far who hasn't gone far is the Congress of the United States which leads me to my next question you said that comedy insulates us from insanity what would happen if we taught stand up to elected officials get you know the whole idea of that makes me want to just take a nap what's amazing is they don't even what's incredible is how many of those guys in the wig they're not what is that that's the kind of Eirik these bugs got some problem here too there's a lot of creepy crawly things around here and if I get bit I'll be filing suit there's a little you know teaching stand-up comedy they can't even they don't they do they didn't need like a charisma class a lot of them a lot of them don't even know how to public speak I mean what what you have talked about astonishing you know I mean you know Hillary Clinton's problem was one of them was that she was not comfortable standing up in front of people and talking how many years was she doing it even comics comics who dis repelled it night after night you know eventually you know create the armor and get it how how thousands of speeches and not one did never click in for I don't believe it I really doubt and get all of the people that I know who've been in the room others are oh boy if you're in a room with her blah well pray hard stage but I saw Robert dole I had an interview with Robert dole who remember Robert oh really ran for office and if it's Rob Robert oh then he did the by a grad never he's like wow where was that guy so I interviewed him and this is the problem we have with politicians in a really good example he he was chatting with me was great it was to buy a vertebrate though great guy somebody you think okay that this is how people this is how Congress was working you know that you can see Robert Cole sitting with Teddy Kennedy and enjoying each other's company and and then he said he was talking about something a bill that Ted Kennedy had brought up and he was about because I was talking about taxes and he does and then he does a perfect Ted Kennedy and it was funny and then he said and then I responded and then he started talking like Robert dole who ran for the presidency he became that Robert dole you see a lot of these people think that they you know they did they talk like they're lead you know there's some sort of a oh if I talk like this I'm a leader no you jackass so it was extraordinary I mean it was like watching a schizophrenic you're seeing it that close together is like holy he doesn't even hear himself so no I don't want to teach these pricks stand up last question wasn't a joke it was just the safe in this world where almost everything is funny do you think we will eventually become desensitized to comedy that's it's not going to be good for business [Applause] no I don't think we do you know because you know you the first time you hear knock-knock joke Wow I believe it knock knock who's there better head you're screaming you three years old it's the funniest thing you ever heard and then you hear about 20 more you go got to come up with something new and that's what happens they'll always come up with something new because comedy evolves but it's basically the same it's tension release tension rises in the room and then all of a sudden it needs a place to go it goes in the laughter have a good day ladies and gentlemen Louis black you

Channel: Chautauqua Institution

Views: 420,422

Keywords: Chautauqua Institution, CHQ

Id: cBBcha8Gwc0

Length: 70min 21sec (4221 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2017