'Hopscotch to oblivion', Barcelona, Spain

A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor.^[1] The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

History and etymology[link]

Coinage in France by André Breton[link]

The term black humor (from the French humour noir) was coined by the Surrealist theoretician André Breton in 1935,^[7][8] to designate a sub-genre of comedy and satire^[9][10] in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism,^[7][11] often relying on topics such as death.^[12][13]

Breton coined the term for his book Anthology of Black Humor (Anthologie de l'humour noir), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, and included excerpts from 45 other writers. Breton included both examples in which the wit arises from a victim, with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which the comedy is used to mock the victim, whose suffering is trivialized, and leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as is the case with Sade. Black humor is related to that of the grotesque genre.^[14]

Breton identified Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick (1710), and a few aphorisms.^[8][11]

The terms black comedy or dark comedy have been later derived as alternatives to Breton's term. In black humor, topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo, specifically those related to death, are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness; the intent of black comedy, therefore, is often for the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes simultaneously.^{[citation needed]}

Adoption in literary criticism[link]

Bruce Jay Friedman, in his anthology entitled Black Humor, imported the concept to the United States, labeling with it very different authors and works, arguing that they shared the same literary genre. The Friedman label came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. Early American writers who employed black humor were Nathanael West ^[1] and Vladimir Nabokov.^[1] In 1965 a mass-market paperback, titled Black Humor, was released. Containing work by a myriad of authors, which included J.P. Donleavy,^[5][6] Edward Albee,^[5][6] Joseph Heller,^[5][6] Thomas Pynchon,^[5][6] John Barth,^[5][6] Vladimir Nabokov,^[5][6] Bruce Jay Friedman,^[5][6] himself, and Louis-Ferdinand Celine,^[5][6] this was one of the first American anthologies devoted to the conception of black humor as a literary genre; the publication also sparked nation wide interest in black humor.^[6][15] Among the writers labeled as black humorists by journalists and literary critics are Roald Dahl,^[16] Thomas Pynchon,^[9] Kurt Vonnegut,^[9] Warren Zevon, John Barth,^[9] Joseph Heller,^[9] and Philip Roth.^[9] The motive for applying the label black humorist to all the writers cited above is that they have written novels, poems, stories, plays and songs in which profound or horrific events were portrayed in a comic manner.

The purpose of black comedy is to make light of serious and often taboo subject matter, and some comedians use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought as well as amusement in their audience. Popular themes of the genre include murder, suicide, depression, abuse, mutilation, war, barbarism, drug abuse, terminal illness, domestic violence, sexual violence, paedophilia, insanity, nightmare, disease, racism, homophobia, sexism, disability (both physical and mental), chauvinism, corruption, and crime.

Comedians, like Lenny Bruce,^[10] that since the late 1950s have been labeled "sick comedy" by mainstream journalists, have also been labeled with "black comedy." After Lenny Bruce,^[10] others have been Sam Kinison, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Jimmy Carr, Daniel Tosh, Frankie Boyle, Chris Morris and the Monty Python team.

By contrast, blue comedy focuses more on crude topics, such as nudity, sex and bodily fluids. Although the two are interrelated, black comedy is different from straightforward obscenity in that it is more subtle and does not necessarily have the explicit intention of offending people. In obscene humor, much of the humorous element comes from shock and revulsion, while black comedy might include an element of irony, or even fatalism. For example, the archetypal black-comedy self-mutilation appears in the English novel Tristram Shandy. Tristram, five years old at the time, starts to urinate out of an open window for lack of a chamber pot. The sash falls and circumcises him; his family reacts with both chaotic action and philosophic digression.

Visual media[link]

Motion pictures[link]

Black comedy is commonly used in dramatic or satirical films, retaining its serious tone, working as a tool of many films, television shows and video games. Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove presents one of the best-known mainstream examples of black comedy.^[9] The subject of the film is nuclear warfare and the possible annihilation of life on Earth. Normally, dramas about nuclear war treat the subject with gravity and seriousness, creating suspense over the efforts to avoid a nuclear war, but Dr. Strangelove instead plays the subject for laughs. For example, in the film, the fail-safe procedures designed to prevent a nuclear war are precisely the systems that ensure that it will happen. Plotwise, Group Captain Mandrake serves as the only sane character in the film, while Major Kong fills the role of the hero striving for a harmful goal.

Television[link]

The most successful television situation comedy also to be a black comedy is M*A*S*H, which, like the film version of M*A*S*H that had inspired it, treated the Korean War as a subject of black comedy; it deliberately kept recorded laughter out of the operating room sequences, and many of the episodes described the absurdity of many combat situations, even in sequences where the characters were weathering hostile fire.

See also[link]

• Comedy horror
• Cringe humor
• Crude humor
• Gallows humor
• Macabre
• Problem plays
• Schadenfreude
• Shock value

Notes[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Merriam-Webster, Inc (1995) Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature, entry black humor, p.144
2. ^ Garrick, Jacqueline and Williams, Mary Beth (2006) Trauma treatment techniques: innovative trends pp.175-6
3. ^ Lipman, Steve (1991) Laughter in hell: the use of humor during the Holocaust, Northvale, N.J:J Aronson Inc.
4. ^ Kurt Vonnegut (1971) Running Experiments Off: An Interview, interview by Laurie Clancy, published in Meanjin Quarterly, 30 (Autumn, 1971), pp.46-54, and in Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut, quote:

   The term [Black Humor] was part of the language before Freud wrote an essay on it -- 'gallows humor.' This is middle European humor, a response to hopeless situations. It's what a man says faced with a perfectly hopeless situation and he still manages to say something funny. Freud gives examples: A man being led out to be hanged at dawn says, 'Well, the day is certainly starting well.' It's generally called Jewish humor in this country. Actually it's humor from the peasants' revolt, the thirty years' war, and from the Napoleonic wars. It's small people being pushed this way and that way, enormous armies and plagues and so forth, and still hanging on in the face of hopelessness. Jewish jokes are middle European jokes. And the black humorists are gallows humorists, as they try to be funny in the face of situations which they see as just horrible.

5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Bloom, Harold (2010) Dark Humor, ch. On dark humor in literature, pp.80-88
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Freud (1927) Humor
7. ^ ^{a b} Real, Hermann Josef (2005) The reception of Jonathan Swift in Europe, p.90 quote:

   At least, Swift's text is preserved, and so is a prefactory note by the French writer André Breton, which emphasizes Swift's importance as the originator of black humor, of laughter that arises from cynicism and scepticism.

8. ^ ^{a b} Lezard, Nicholas (2009-02-21). "From the sublime to the surreal". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/feb/21/anthology-of-black-humour. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-blackhum.html
10. ^ ^{a b c} "black humor - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about black humor". Encyclopedia.farlex.com. http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/black+humor. Retrieved 2010-06-24. 
11. ^ ^{a b} André Breton introduction to Swift in Anthology of Black Humor, quote:

    When it comes to black humor, everything designates him as the true initiator. In fact, it is impossible to coordinate the fugitive traces of this kind of humor before him, not even in Heraclitus and the Cynics or in the works of Elizabethan dramatic poets. [...] historically justify his being presented as the first black humorist. Contrary to what Voltaire might have said, Swift was in no sense a "perfected Rabelais." He shared to the smallest possible degree Rabelais's taste for innocent, heavy-handed jokes and his constant drunken good humor. [...] a man who grasped things by reason and never by feeling, and who enclosed himself in skepticism; [...] Swift can rightfully be considered the inventor of "savage" or "gallows" humor.

12. ^ Thomas Leclair (1975) Death and Black Humor in Critique, Vol. 17, 1975
13. ^ . JSTOR 306869. 
14. ^ Merhi, Vanessa M. (2006) Distortion as identity from the grotesque to l'humour noir
15. ^ Bloom, Harold (2010) Dark Humor, ch. On dark humor in literature, pp.82
16. ^ James Carter Talking Books: Children's Authors Talk About the Craft, Creativity and Process of Writing, Volume 2 p.97 Routledge, 2002

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Micah S. Katt Williams^[1] (born September 2, 1973)^[2] is a U.S. comedian, rapper, and actor. He is best known for his role as Money Mike in Friday After Next. He is also known for his stint on Nick Cannon’s MTV improv show, Wild 'n Out, for playing the fictional character Bobby Shaw on the program My Wife and Kids, as well as providing the voice for the character "A Pimp Named Slickback" in The Boondocks.

Career[link]

Williams started being a comedian in his neighborhood, Avondale, most notably appearing on BET's Comic View. He has also played supporting characters in movies such as First Sunday and Norbit, but is probably more widely recognized for his character Money Mike in the movie Friday After Next. He has also used the Money Mike stage name when rapping for songs by such artists as Baby Bash, The Game, and Suga Free.

Williams has provided numerous skits and video appearances for artists such as Nick Cannon, DJ Drama, E-40, The Game, Lyfe Jennings, Lil Jon, Lil’ Kim, Lil' Scrappy, Ludacris, Outkast, T.I., Cyrano Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Machine Gun Kelly, and others. He was a cast member on Wild 'n Out for several seasons; he voices "A Pimp Named Slickback" on the Adult Swim's The Boondocks; he plays himself as an onstage comedian in Grand Theft Auto IV; and Williams has appeared in several episodes of My Wife and Kids as character Bobby Shaw. He was also on Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav.

Anti-Mexican rant[link]

On August 27, 2011, at a standup performance in Phoenix, Arizona, Katt Williams got into an argument with a heckler in the studio audience. Once the offending audience member of Mexican descent claimed that Arizona was Mexican territory, Williams started arguing that the country should have fought to maintain California and that U.S. citizens of Mexican descent should "get back over there" if they are more patriotic to Mexico than the USA, and then chanted "USA." He then went on to say, that he has love for his Mexican American homies and seemed to win the crowd over. The member of the studio audience was later ejected from the venue by security staff. ^[3]

Legal problems[link]

A mugshot of Williams in 2011.

On November 13, 2006, Williams was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after a stolen gun was found in his briefcase.^[4] On December 14, 2006, Williams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed firearm and was sentenced to three years probation, ordered to pay restitution, and was given credit for the three days he spent in jail.^[1]

In November 2010, Williams was arrested by police while working on a film in Coweta County, Georgia. He was accused of stealing $3,500 worth of coins and jewelry. He was released the following day on a $40,000 bond.^[5] Police later charged Williams with burglary and criminal trespass.^[6]

On June 11, 2011, Williams was arrested in connection of an alleged assault on a tractor driver. The alleged victim said three women approached his tractor at around 4:30pm local time and attacked him with rocks and dirt clods, causing him facial injuries.^[7] Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers arrived on the scene and arrested the three women for assault with a deadly weapon and Williams for felony intimidation of a witness. ^[8] Williams was booked into jail and released that same night on $50,000 bail. ^[9]

Personal life[link]

Williams currently lives in Los Angeles and is a father of eight including one biological son, Micah, from his former marriage, and seven adopted children. He moved to the east-coast with his eight children in 2008 and set-up a temporary residence at Eaton House, Watchung, NJ, which he later attempted to purchase as a permanent residence for him and his family. He recently won back custody of one of his adopted children after a former nanny who claimed an eight-year-old girl was her biological child and had won custody after Williams had failed to make a court appearance; after Williams filed a claim the following month that the nanny was a "shameless fraud", Williams won back custody of the child.^[10]

Filmography[link]

• Friday After Next (2002)-Money Mike
• Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003) -Neighbor(Uncredited)
• Repos (2006) (V)
• Katt Williams: Live: Let a Playa Play (2006)-Himself
• Pimp Chronicles, Pt. 1 (2006)-Himself
• Norbit (2007)-Lord Have Mercy
• The Perfect Holiday (2007)-Delicious
• American Hustle: The Movie (2007)-Himself
• Epic Movie (2007)-Harry Beaver
• Internet Dating (2008)
• First Sunday (2008)-Rickey
• It's Pimpin' Pimpin' (2008)-Himself
• Lonely Street (2009)-Rodent
• Katt Williams Presents: Katthouse (2009)-Himself
• Katt Williams: Pimpadelic (2009)-Himself
• Katt Williams: 9 Lives (2010)-Himself
• Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)-Seamus

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Katt Williams

• Official website
• Katt Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• VIBE Profile
• Katt Williams as Host of Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav

Russell Peters
Russell Peters in 2009
Birth name	Russell Dominic Peters
Born	(1970-09-29) September 29, 1970 (age 41) Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Medium	Stand-up, Television, Film, Radio
Nationality	Canadian
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Satire, Improvisational comedy, Black comedy
Subject(s)	Racism, Race relations, Stereotypes, Multiculturalism, Indian culture
Influences	George Carlin,[1] Steve Martin, Cheech and Chong,[2] Don Rickles,[3] Eddie Murphy
Spouse	Monica Diaz (2010–2012) 1 child
Website	RussellPeters.com

Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970)^[4] is a Canadian comedian, actor and disc jockey. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and has been nominated for four Gemini Awards.

Early life[link]

Russell Peters was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada to Eric and Maureen Peters. His family is of Anglo-Indian ancestry and is Catholic.^[4] His father was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, and worked as a federal meat inspector; he is regularly mentioned and featured in his comedy work.^[5] His mother was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. He has an older brother named Clayton who was born in Calcutta.^[6] Russell attended Chinguacousy Secondary School for grades 9–10, and North Peel Secondary School for grades 11–12 in Brampton.^[7][8][9]

Career[link]

Peters began performing in Toronto in 1989. Peters' popularity extends to several countries. He has since also performed in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Afghanistan, Sweden, South Africa, India, the Caribbean, Philippines, Vietnam, mainland China, Canada, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Norway, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Trinidad among other places.

Peters attribute performance he did on the Canadian TV comedy series Comedy Now! that was uploaded onto YouTube and became viral.^[10] While the initial video upload featured his performance in its 45 minute entirety, subsequent videos uploaded by other YouTube users were snippets of that performance, chopped into each of the cultural groups he targeted. According to Peters, those snippets made their way to those specified cultural groups, and were well received by them.^[11]

Notable performances[link]

In Canada, Peters became the first comedian to sell out Toronto's Air Canada Centre,^[12] with more than 16,000 tickets in two days for the single show. He ended up selling over 30,000 tickets nationally over the two-day sales period. A total of over 60,000 tickets were sold across six cities.^{[citation needed]} His show in Sydney, Australia on 15 May 2010 had an audience of 13,880, making it the largest stand-up comedy show in Australian history.^[13] He broke a UK comedy sales record at London's O2 Arena when he sold over 16,000 tickets to his show on 2009.^[14]

He hosted the Canada Day Comedy Festival 2006. Peters participated in a USO tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Africa and Greenland in November 2007 with Wilmer Valderrama and Mayra Veronica.^[15]. Peters also currently produces and stars on the radio situation comedy series, Monsoon House, on CBC Radio One.

Peters was the host of the 2008 Juno Awards televised ceremonies in Calgary on April 6, 2008,^[16] for which he won a Gemini Award for "Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series". The 2008 awards broadcast received the second-highest ratings ever for the program. He was asked to host the Juno Awards for a second year in a row. The 2009 Juno Awards took place in Vancouver on March 29, 2009.

Publications[link]

His comedy special Russell Peters: Outsourced, aired on Comedy Central on August 16, 2006. The DVD version features his uncensored performance. The DVD has been popular, especially in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies. Outsourced remained on the National DVD Chart over one and a half years after release. Peters released a second DVD/CD combo Russell Peters: Red, White, and Brown in Canada in September 2008 and in the US on January 27, 2009. The DVD/CD was recorded on February 2, 2008, at The WAMU Theatre at Madison Square Garden. Peters and his brother, Clayton Peters, who is also his manager, self-produced and financed Red, White and Brown. In May 2011, Peters released Russell Peters: The Green Card Tour a live performance recorded in front of a total audience of 30,000 over a two-night performance at O2 Arena in London, England.^[17]

On October 26, 2010, Peters released his autobiography, Call me Russell, co - written with his brother Clayton and Dannis Koromilas.

Earnings[link]

According to Forbes.com, Peters earned an estimated $15 million between June 2009 and June 2010, continuing his run as one of the highest-paid comedians after earning an estimated $5 million in the prior year's report. He was ranked as the 7th highest paid comedian by Forbes.^[18][19]

Comedic style[link]

Russell Peters' stand-up performances are mostly made up of observational comedy where he uses humour to highlight racial, ethnic, class and cultural stereotypes. He often refers his own life experiences growing up in an Indian family and impersonates various English accents of different groups in his act to poke fun at each group. As Peters told an audience in San Francisco, "I don't make the stereotypes, I just see them."^[20] Russell Peters uses his minority status to allow him to poke fun at different races in his performance, but according to an interview done for The National, he does not intend to put down or offend different races and cultures, but instead tries to raise them up through humour.^[21]

Peters' is widely known for his comedy punchlines "Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad" in which he tells a joke about his childhood with a traditional Indian father who would use corporal punishment and “Be a man!" while imitating an Asian trying to get him to pay more for an item at a shop.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Peters proposed to girlfriend Monica Diaz on July 10, 2010, at the Los Angeles International Airport. He announced the engagement via Twitter.^[23][24] The couple married on August 20, 2010 at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The wedding was attended by about 20 guests, including an Elvis impersonator. Peters and Diaz had their first child, a girl, who was due to be born on February 23, 2011. When announcing the pregnancy, Peters told The Canadian Press, "Did I get married because she was knocked up? I would say that expedited it." His daughter was born two and a half months early (on December 14, 2010), but was healthy as Peters stated on his Twitter. She was given the name Crystianna Marie Peters.

Peters lives in Los Angeles and owns two homes there. He also owns homes in Las Vegas and Vaughan, Ontario.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Television and film appearances[link]

Peters has appeared in a few films, most recently in the 2011 Canadian-Punjabi movie titled Speedy Singhs alongside Camilla Belle, Anupham Kher, and Vinay Virmani. He has also appeared in Senior Skip Day starring Larry Miller, Tara Reid, and Gary Lundy. Besides this, he has also had short appearances in the 1994 film Boozecan as Snake's Friend, the 1999 film Tiger Claws III as Detective Elliott, the 2004 film My Baby's Daddy as the obstetrician, the 2006 film Quarter Life Crisis as Dilip Kumar, the 2007 film The Take as Dr. Sharma, and the 2008 film Senior Skip Day as Uncle Todd.

Peters starred in a Christmas special,A Russell Peters Christmas aired in Canada on 1 December, 2011. Guests included Michael Bublé, Pamela Anderson, Jon Lovitz among others.^[27]

He also acted in Duncan Jones's movie Source Code as Max, an amateur comedian with a bad attitude, and is scheduled to star as "Pervius" in National Lampoon's The Legend of Awesomest Maximus.^[28]

Acting roles – television

• "Comics Without Borders" (2008)
• Russell Peters: Red, White and Brown (2008)
• Senior Skip Day/High School's Day Off (Australia title) (2008)- Uncle Todd
• Bob's Burgers - "Moody Foodie" (Season 2, Episode 7) - Tran

Appearances on television

• "A Russell Peters Christmas" - Himself (1 December 2011)
• "Lopez Tonight" - Himself (2010)
• "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" – Himself (2009)
• "The 9th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards" (2008)- Himself (Winner – Best Large Venue Stand-up)
• "CBC News: The Hour" .... Himself – Episode dated 18 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
• "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" – Himself – Episode dated 15 February 2008 (2008)
• "Def Comedy Jam" – Episode #8.4 (2008) TV episode – Himself/Comedian
• "Pulse: The Desi Beat" – Episode #1.9 (2007) TV episode – Himself
• "Video on Trial" – Episode #3.3 (2007) TV episode – Himself
• "Comics Unleashed" – Episode #1.6 (2009) TV episode- Himself
• The 4th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards (2039) – Himself
• The 5th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards (2004) – Nominee (Male Stand-up)
• MTV Cribs (Where he featured on two different episodes)
• "8 out of 10 Cats" (Season 12, Episode 9)

Self

• Heckler (2007)
• Let's All Hate Toronto (2007)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Russell Peters (26 July 2011). Call Me Russell. Random House Digital, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-385-66965-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=Man0-BpnFjkC&pg=PP1. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Russell Peters

• Russell named first Toronto ambassador

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

Romany Malco
Malco at the premiere of Baby Mama at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born	Romany Romanic Malco, Jr. (1968-11-18) November 18, 1968 (age 43) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1991–present

Romany Romanic Malco, Jr.^[1] (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and music producer. He has been nominated for several awards, including an NAACP Image Award, MTV Movie Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Malco portrayed Conrad Shepard on the Showtime series Weeds. He most recently played George St. Cloud on the ABC primetime one-hour drama No Ordinary Family.

He also did the raps for MC Skat Kat, mostly known for the Grammy award-winning "Opposites Attract", a duet with Paula Abdul.

Early life[link]

Malco was born in Brooklyn, New York.^[2] His family is from Trinidad, with extended relatives in Venezuela.^[1] As a teen, he moved to Texas and attended Ross S Sterling High School. After graduation, he formed the rap group, R.M.G., and upon relocating to Los Angeles, the crew signed a deal with Virgin Records. The group's name was changed to College Boyz and "Victim of the Ghetto” off their album Radio Fusion Radio went to #2 on the rap charts.

Acting career[link]

Malco was working as a music producer on The Pest when John Leguizamo, impressed by his dynamic personality, encouraged Romany to pursue acting. He went on to perform in roles as Jay in Judd Apatow’s 2005 film The 40 Year Old Virgin and as Conrad Shepard in the Showtime television series Weeds. Malco has also played supporting roles in films such as Blades of Glory, The Love Guru, and Baby Mama. Malco's other work includes The Château, The Tuxedo, The Prime Gig, and Saint John of Las Vegas. He was also in the music video for DeStorm Power's "Her POV".

Malco is slated to appear in 2011's A Little Bit Of Heaven and the upcoming Gulliver's Travels adaptation. In the fall of 2010, Malco appears as a member of the ABC primetime one-hour drama No Ordinary Family.

Malco's Tijuana Jackson, a series about an ex-convict turned motivational speaker, is set to air in early 2011 on HBO's Funny or Die Presents.^[3]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Podcasts[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Nominations[link]

Image Awards

• 2008 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
• 2007 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)

MTV Movie Awards

• 2006 - Best Breakthrough Performance (The 40-Year-Old Virgin)
• 2006 - Best On-Screen Team (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Shared with Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen]

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 2007 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Weeds)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Romany Malco at the Internet Movie Database

Lewis Black
Black, December 2007
Birth name	Lewis Niles Black
Born	(1948-08-30) August 30, 1948 (age 63) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, theatre
Nationality	American
Years active	1981 – present
Genres	Satire, news satire, political satire, observational comedy, black comedy, rant
Subject(s)	American politics, American culture, current events, pop culture
Influences	George Carlin,[1] Lenny Bruce,[1] Richard Pryor,[1] Lily Tomlin, Bill Hicks, Bob Newhart,[1] Shelley Berman[1]
Influenced	Dara Ó Briain[2]
Notable works and roles	Back in Black on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Carnegie Hall Performance Lewis Black's Root of All Evil Stark Raving Black
Website	lewisblack.com
Grammy Awards
Best Comedy Album 2007 The Carnegie Hall Performance 2011 Stark Raving Black
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic 2001

Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena. He hosted the Comedy Central series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and makes regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivering his “Back in Black” commentary segment. When not on the road performing, he resides in Manhattan. He also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N.C. He is currently the spokesman for Aruba Tourism, appearing in television ads that aired in late 2009 and 2010. He was voted 51st of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time by Comedy Central in 2004; and was voted 5th in Comedy Central's Stand`Up Showdown in 2008 and 11th in 2010.

Early life[link]

Black is the son of Jeannette, a teacher, and Sam Black, an artist and mechanical engineer.^[3] He was born and raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Silver Spring, Maryland,^[4] graduating from Springbrook High School in 1966, summa cum laude.

Black recounts in his book Nothing's Sacred that he scored highly on the math section of his SAT exam and later applied to Yale, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, Williams, and Georgetown. Every college he applied to except Georgetown rejected him, and by that point he had decided he didn't want to go there, so he spent a year at University of Maryland before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he studied playwriting and was a brother of Pi Lambda Phi International fraternity and a member of Student Congress.^[5] He earned an MFA degree at the Yale School of Drama in 1977, and was once married for less than a year.^[6]

Black's career began in theater as a playwright. He served as the playwright in residence and associate artistic director of Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, where he collaborated with composer and lyricist Rusty Magee and artistic director Rand Foerster on hundreds of one-act plays from 1981 to 1989. Also with Rusty Magee, Black wrote the musical The Czar of Rock and Roll, which premiered at Houston's Alley Theatre in 1990.

Black's stand-up comedy began as an opening act for the plays; he was also the master of ceremonies. After a management change at the theater, Black left and began working as a comedian, as well as finding bit parts in television and films.

Comedic style[link]

Black's style of comedy is that of a man who, in dealing with the absurdities of life and contemporary politics, is approaching his personal limits of sanity. Sarcasm, hyperbole, profanity, shouting and trademark angry finger-shaking bring emphasis to his topics of discussion. He once described his humor as "being on the Titanic every single day and being the only person who knows what is going to happen." He claims that he doesn't write his jokes down, he merely starts talking about something that makes him angry until he has to move on before he has a stroke.^{[citation needed]}

Black has described his political affiliation as: "I'm a socialist, so that puts me totally outside any concept...the Canadians get it. But seriously, most people don't get it. The idea of capping people's income just scares people. 'Oh, you're taking money from the rich.' Ooh, what a horrifying thing. These people really need $200 million".^[7]

Black lists his comedic influences as George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, Bill Hicks, Bob Newhart and Shelley Berman.^[1]

Career[link]

Comedy Central Presents[link]

In 1998, Black starred in his first comedy special on the series Comedy Central Presents. He starred in two additional episodes of the series in 2000 and 2002. He starred in another special for the network in 2002, titled Taxed Beyond Belief.

Hosting[link]

Since 2003, Black has hosted the World Stupidity Awards ceremony at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival for the three years the awards were presented.

Black hosted the Comedy Central television series The Root of All Evil in 2008. The show pitted two people or pop-culture topics against each other as a panel of comedians argued, in the style of a court trial, which is more evil, e.g., "Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney" and "Internet Porn vs. YouTube". After hearing arguments from both sides, Black, acting as judge, made the final decision as to which is more evil.^[8]

Black hosted Comedy Central's Last Laugh '07, which aired on December 2, 2007 along with Dave Attell and D.L. Hughley.

On February 18, 2008, Black hosted History of the Joke with Lewis Black,^[9] a 2-hour comedy-documentary on The History Channel.

At the end of 2009, Black returned to the History Channel to host Surviving the Holidays with Lewis Black, in which he discussed the year-end pressures of Thanksgiving, Channukah, Christmas, and New Year's.

Stand-up shows[link]

In 2004, he had an HBO stand-up special titled Black on Broadway.

On April 21, 2006, Black performed at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC for an HBO special, Red, White, and Screwed. It aired on June 10, 2006, and a DVD was released October 3, 2006. When explaining his choice of venue, Black said that "some asshole" was paid to count the number of times the word "fuck" was said from his previous HBO special, Black On Broadway, and that the original location, the Kennedy Center, wanted him to cut back on its use. Black was told the number was 42, when actually it was approximately 78.^{[citation needed]}

On February 11, 2007, Black received a Grammy award for "Best Comedy Album" for his album The Carnegie Hall Performance.^[10]

Comedy Central's "Stand-Up Month" in January 2008 features specials originally presented on HBO by Black, along with programs featuring Dane Cook and Chris Rock.

In January 2008, as part of Comedy Central's "Stand-Up Month", Black's routine finished at #5 on "Stand-Up Showdown 2008", a viewer-based countdown of the top "Comedy Central Presents" routine. Black. also was voted 11th in 2010.

On August 2, 2009, Black filmed two shows at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit, MI. These shows were the basis for a concert film called Stark Raving Black, which appeared in theaters for a limited time in October. It was released on June 15, 2010 .^[11]

Film and television career[link]

Black appeared in episode 25 "Aria" (1991) of Law and Order as porn director Franklin Frome, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Obscene" (2004) as a shock jock, and in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Jiminy Conjecture" (2009) as an entomologist. He also released his autobiography, Nothing's Sacred, in 2005. Since November 9, 2005, Black has been making appearances in small segments on The Weather Channel. In December 2005, he appeared in an animated holiday special The Happy Elf, as the voice of the extremely tightly wound elf, Norbert.

In the film Accepted, a film about high school graduates who create a college when they fail to get accepted into any, he played Dean Ben Lewis of the school "South Harmon Institute of Technology". He also appeared in the 2006 films Man of the Year and Unaccompanied Minors. Black hosted Comedy Central's Last Laugh '06, which aired on December 10, 2006.

Voice acting[link]

Black was the voice of "Manobrain" during the third season of the Cartoon Network series "Duck Dodgers". He was the inventor of a diet pill which was stolen while he was in college. He blamed the theft on his college friend Dr. I. Q. High, not realizing that the actual thief was Duck Dodgers. The theft set Manobrain on the path of evil.

Black provided the voice of the Deadly Duplicator in four episodes of the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and in the video game based on the show.

Black did the voice-over for an oxpecker named Ted in Cartoon Network series My Gym Partner's a Monkey, appearing in "Hornbill and Ted's Bogus Journey." The character is portrayed in the same fashion as his comedy shows, though without the profanity. In addition, the bird's clothes, looks, and mannerisms match those of Black himself. Black currently voices Mr. E/Ricky Owens in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Tours[link]

On June 18, 2007 he sat in with Southern rock/Jam band Gov't Mule at the 6th annual Bonnaroo music festival, where he had performed earlier that weekend, for what was to be a quick joke. A member of the audience threw a bottle at Black, which struck him. Black was upset and he encouraged the audience to boo the heckler before leaving the stage in disgust, while shouting obscenities at the heckler. This act was seen in an episode of "Lewis Black's Root of All Evil" titled "YouTube vs. Porn".

On June 29, 2007, Black gave a benefit show at Springbrook High School, his alma mater, in the school's auditorium for 1,100 alumni, faculty, and students. He performed in his usual style, stopping at points to remark how good it felt to use that language on that particular stage. At the end of the show he was given a Springbrook football jersey, and cursed at one teacher for giving him a B and causing him not to graduate first in his class.

In mid December 2007, Black went with Robin Williams, Kid Rock, Lance Armstrong and Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007, on a USO trip to support the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. They then wrapped it up on Dec 22nd at the U.S Naval Station in Rota, Spain.

Black helped create the annual Carolina Comedy Festival at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[12]

In 2008 Black went on tour touting his book Me of Little Faith.^[13] He is also currently doing a stand-up tour called "Let Them Eat Cake".

Beginning in January 2010, Black embarked on a new tour called "In God We Rust".

Legal troubles[link]

In 2000, Black and fellow comedian Jim Norton were arrested for their involvement with "The Naked Teen Voyeur Bus",^[14] a specially designed bus with acrylic glass walls containing numerous 18 and 19 year old topless women. This bus rode around Manhattan while being broadcast on the Opie and Anthony radio show. Unfortunately, radio station management did not inform the O&A show that the bus's route was also the route that President Clinton was taking that same day. Twenty-eight hours after the arrest, Black and Norton were released. Black appeared on The Daily Show the following night where he stated he was exercising his constitutional rights. He then joked that the location of this particular right was unclear, but that it was "between 'all men are created equal' and 'don't shit where you eat.'"^[15] Additionally, at a fundraising event for New York Attorney General candidate Mark Green on June 28, 2006, Black talked about how he was unable to attend a previous fundraising event for Green because the arrest occurred shortly before.

Lewis Black after being released

Published works[link]

• Nothing's Sacred (2005)
• Nothing's Sacred (audio book) (2006)
• Nothing's Sacred (softcover version) (2007)
• Me of Little Faith (2008) (New York: Riverhead Books -- Penguin Group) 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-59449-994-5.
• Me of Little Faith (paperback version with added content) (2009)
• I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas (2010)

Media releases[link]

CDs[link]

• The White Album (2000)
• Revolver (EP) (2002)
• The End of the Universe (2002)
• Rules of Enragement (2003)
• Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues (2005)
• The Carnegie Hall Performance (2006)
• Anticipation (2008)
• Stark Raving Black (2010)
• The Prophet (2011)

DVDs[link]

• Unleashed (compilation of his four Comedy Central specials plus his appearances on The Daily Show: Indecision 2000) (2002)
• Black on Broadway (2003 HBO Special) (2004)
• A Pair of Lewis Black Shorts (Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick Story and The Gynecologists) (2006)
• Red, White, and Screwed (2006 HBO Special)
• History of the Joke with Lewis Black (2008 History Channel special)
• Surviving the Holidays with Lewis Black (2009 History Channel special)
• Stark Raving Black (2010)
• In God We Rust (2012 Epix Special)

Filmography[link]

• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Jacob's Ladder (1990)
• The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1990–1991) (TV series)
• Law & Order, "Aria" (1991)
• The Hard Way (1991)
• Homicide: Life on the Street, "Deception" (1997)
• Mad About You (Season 6, Episode 7: Played "The Pizza Slice") (1997) (TV series)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, "Obscene" (2004)
• The Happy Elf (2005)
• Accepted (2006)
• Man of the Year (2006)
• Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
• Farce of the Penguins (2007)
• Falling for Grace (2007)
• History of the Joke (2008) (Documentary) History Channel
• Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (2008) (TV series) Comedy Central
• The Big Bang Theory, "The Jiminy Conjecture" (2009) (TV series) CBS
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010) (TV series) Cartoon Network
• The Penguins of Madagascar, "Arch-Enemy" (2011) (TV series) Nickelodeon

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lewis Black

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lewis Black

• Lewis Black's lewisblack.com
• Lewis Black on Twitter
• Lewis Black on MySpace
• Lewis Black at the Internet Movie Database
• Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Lewis Black (TV Interview)
• Lewis Black Interview on NPR's Fresh Air (April 7, 2005)
• Lewis Black Interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation (January 29, 2003)
• Lewis Black Interview with the Village Voice (September 23, 2008)
• Onion A.V. Club Interview
• Lewis Black Interview by Maurie Sherman
• Stand Up! Records
• Lewis Black Interview, Real Detroit Weekly (November 13, 2007)
• "Straight Talk" Interview in Submerge Magazine, (Sept. 2008)
• Lewis Black rants about Michele Bachmann, Farmville, Twitter - Citypages.com 5/4/2011