WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1166 - Lewis Black

Episode Date: October 15, 2020

Everyone needs to let off some steam these days and there are few people better who do it better than Lewis Black. Marc welcomes his old friend back to the show for a talk about pandemic comedy, going stir crazy during quarantine, avoiding cults and pulling for democracy to make it through these times. They also talk about Lewis's new standup special, Thanks for Risking Your Life, which was filmed the day before the country shut down.  Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated

category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die we control nothing beyond that

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Lock the gates! All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fuck nicks? What's happening? I feel like I haven't checked in with you guys in a while. But I don't know.

How are you guys holding up? What's going on with the thing? How are the kids? How's the family? You feeling pretty tight? How's the tight-knit family going? I can't imagine. I'm sorry, man.

I am so sorry that you have to go through this. I'm so sorry that, you know, you have to go through this i'm so sorry that you know you have to spend this much i don't even i when did it stop being quality time for you people with families when did it turn into like oh my god when is this gonna fucking end time but well this is the end times but you know what i'm saying i imagine that you've all gotten to know each other pretty fucking well did you ever think you would get to know yourself or the people that you live with or your children as well as you do now? You're all growing in strange ways because of this isolation.

Look at it that way. That's a positive. Hey, we're weathering the storm together. And man, what a fucking nightmare. Not really. It's good. I try to keep up with my buddies who have families and whatnot. And it seems like there's good and bad to it. But I do feel bad for kids. I mean, I'm an old man, kind of, 57.

And I've basically lost a year to some degree. I don't know what I'd be doing that much differently other than knowing I could do things if I wanted to. That's the primary difference for me is that I spend a lot of time alone. I do the podcast. I miss doing comedy now, but I had a dream about the comedy. But I like knowing I had options to go out and eat, to stop and have a coffee, to say hi to a friend, to go do a set, to do just options now it's like you know i don't mind hanging out by myself and doing the work but no fucking options not many options you want to take a drive i don't know man i just uh i can't take it i can barely breathe because uh the reality of the world is gripping my entire body and squeezing the breath out of me on a

daily basis. I'm just going to have to meditate just to expand the grip that reality has on me to get me a little room so I can fucking breathe again. And terrified. Election day is fast approaching and nobody knows what the fuck is going to happen but i'll tell you this honestly and this is non-partisan uh if trump holds on to power it will be the end of america as we know it in terms of tolerance democracy, majority rule, the judicial system. Yeah. So good times. It's happened in many countries before and it will in many countries again.

But we didn't think it would happen here. But we are on the precipice of real authoritarianism. And that's exciting, right? How are the kids? How's everything? You still holding up as a family? Real authoritarianism right around the corner. And I guess we'll know by the end of the year where we stand, right?

And just remember, it only takes a couple of reinforced suggestions by an occupying power for your neighbors to kill you for having different views. Good morning. Everything okay? It's happened in other countries. What makes us special? Louis Black is on the show today. He's been on in the past. You'll notice that this week I've had,

I've actually had a couple guests that I've had on before because we realized, like Louis was back, he was on episode like 485 in 2014. He also did some call-ins on the really old episodes of WTF. And I used to talk to Louis a lot on my old Air America show back in the day. He's got a new stand-up special. It's called Thanks for Risking Your Life. It's out now. So I thought it'd be a good time for a chat, good time to catch up. But also there are people in my life who i consider friends who i

consider uh you know people i can have a nice conversation with about anything and that seems to be happening a bit and lewis is definitely one of those so look forward to that coming up i am sore as fuck i am uh i've actually gotten into a like not a predicament but i'm constantly sore because i guess who was i just talking to a friend of mine oh i was talking to zach braff i don't know if he's a friend of mine but he's a guy i met by uh by the from the show i met him from this show i met him because i talked to him i interviewed him but he brought up this idea about well i knew it dopamine and serotonin management through exercise like i don't know that i've ever exercised this hard or this much in my life and i think the quarantine is is forcing me to do it because that way i know i do something but my joints are a

little fucking hurdy i hike two or three times a week. I do circuit training three times a week. And I wonder, like the other day, I thought, like, do I have cancer? Why can't I get off the couch? And I don't think I really took it under consideration just how much those workouts fucking drain me. I mean, they're good. But Jesus, man, I'm 57. And granted, like, I'm not wearing a superhero suit on a mountain bike, but I'm definitely working out.

And like, I don't think I have some sort of terminal illness. I think I'm just fucking sore from beating the shit out of myself. Maybe this is it. The first turn of the screw of the aging thing. I got to accept it. I got to temper my exercise. I can't expect, all right, look, I'm 57. Maybe that six pack is never going to happen. Not that I'm trying, but I'm just trying to stay sane and stay healthy. I got to get the fuck out of here, you guys. Seriously. Here's my plan now. I bailed. I bailed on the two week trip by myself because of the erratic nature of my emotional disposition at this particular juncture.

But I think I'm going to try to get away and just hide from the news on the day before Election Day and Election Day and then resurfaced the day after just to see what havoc has ensued. What has happened? Wouldn't that be exciting if I could do that? If you just remain completely detached till November 4th, just to see like where we're at. Just like after two days, which will seem like a month, just check back in. I think I might do that. Maybe I'll go up north northern california someplace where it hasn't burned god damn man i don't know i don't know what's gonna happen and you know what the worst thing

about everything that's going on right now and i I've said this before, is like, no one can tell you it's going to be okay. Nobody, nobody, even that is like, it's always kind of tempered a bit. It's always, you know, potentially bullshit, but sometimes it's okay. It's enough. There's if, you know, the odds are pretty good that it might be okay. Don't know about those odds anymore. I do not know, but I do know that, uh, Louis Black, who I consider a friend, I consider a funny guy, and he's one of the sweetest guys I know. And I'll tell you honestly, this show, as it did before, it is doing again. It's saving my fucking sanity. It's saving my fucking life. it's saving my fucking sanity.

It's saving my fucking life. When I talk to people on this show, when I talk to these interviews, I'm able to engage with somebody else, get out of myself, listen to someone else's story, be moved by someone else's story, be moved through someone else's story,

connect on a human level. And during that time, it's a beautiful thing because that's what humans do and so many of us during this time are denied that especially with family with friends it's challenging and it's sad it's very sad not to be able to connect on the human level and i think it's fucking with all our heads on top of everything else obviously so i guess the one thing I hope that some of you get out of this is that by proximity you get to connect because it's literally saving my sanity and my life

because I wander around my house a lot alone. I talk to my cat and sometimes I get way out of my skull because I'm too far in it sometimes the inner monologues the thoughts like i realize i'm having a complete relationship with some sort of fiction that my brain is generating that's why i've taken to doing these instagram lives some mornings and having coffee with all the strangers even the fucking trolls that love me i've decided that if you have a troll that is a repeat customer, they're in love with you and they're just dying for you to get mad at them because that's how they experience love.

I think many of them may be masturbating while they're attacking you on Twitter or on Instagram or wherever you roll comments. A lot of them are just, it's deep down, it's just a frustrated love and they just want daddy to yell at them they want to make daddy mad so they know daddy cares fuck trolls anyways what i'm saying is see where my brain just went is that uh i need to get out of my head and it's very hard now and i hope i'm providing that for you and i i just wanted i'm prefacing this conversation with lewis because uh we had some laughs he got me out of my head we talked about his new special we talked about life and uh it's not there's nothing better than making lewis black laugh i like making people laugh in general but le but Lewis has got one of those, you know, deep, almost emphysemic

laughs. But as I said earlier, Lewis has a special out. It's called Thanks for Risking Your Life. It's available on all video on demand platforms and streaming audio platforms. He also has a podcast called Lewis Black's Rantcast, which we talk about a bit so you can get a sense of what it is and how you can participate. And you can get that wherever you get podcasts. This is me talking to my old friend, Lewis Black. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization,

it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know, we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under

the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance

will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at torontorock.com Hi. Hi, Lewis. I hear you. Okay. I don't know. It's been a while. I don't know where you...

No, no, but I mean, I'm shocked that I usually this takes 20 minutes. I was I was hoping for that. I was looking for some unintentional slapstick to unfold with the old. Usually that's that's usually the case. Usually it's been brutal, technically. Yeah. So where are you, man? I'm in my home in New York.

Oh, you're in New York. I thought you were in North Carolina. I was until the other day and then I left. I wanted to talk to you from New York. Oh, okay. Well, I appreciate you traveling for me. Did you fly? No, no, I won't fly. I won't get in a plane. No.

What is that noise now? That's the landline I have so I can speak to my mother oh so all right so it's like what are you getting a fax what the fuck is happening over there no that's my landline that my somebody is calling me to tell me probably that something has occurred in china usually it's a chinese person oh so it's like a red phone it's like an emergency phone call the comedian in new york we've got problems so you would you drive from north carolina you drove home i have that tour bus i have a tour bus

and i i took it out of mothballs and said this is this it makes no sense you know it's kind of like traveling in a pod you own a tour bus you own it no i don't i i lease it oh and but uh so you've just had that you've just been leasing it in case you need to drive back and forth you know you could rent a car no no i can't i don't drive anymore because it's really it's not fair to people on the road. Really? That's so responsible. Jesus Christ. I reached a level of anger in Los Angeles about 10 years ago driving in the backseat of a car

that I thought, wow, if this is my road rage in the backseat and I'm not driving, I shouldn't be doing this. Oh, so it's not because you're old and cannot navigate the road. It's because. Well, there's also, it's not being old.

It's just that I have no attention span. I don't have any interest in what's in front of me. Really? You can't maintain continuity enough to drive when you're driving a car. No. Yeah. It's like, what is this sign? Oh, fuck.

I don't mean to say you're old you're not old you're you're a spry whatever you are yeah i'm old yeah it's it's old 72 yeah what's going on in new york how's it feel there i have no sense of it of it i i wish i was there because it's fall but it seems like it's sad there is it sad there what are you feeling well it was sad i think it's it's it's perked up a little you know it's uh you know people are you know people are eating outside so there's a sense of life out there it's kind of nice uh they're wearing their masks there is kind of movement um it kind of calmed down there's a slight sense of that that we're we're two seconds away from like the early the late 70s in new york yes it was really you know holy god yeah but it there there's it's less of that it's more of a there's

there seems to be kind of a a sense that it's kind of finding a balance. Yeah. Well, that's interesting to me because, like, in thinking about talking to you, and I watched part of this special, and I understand. It's interesting that enough of the material was sort of evergreen-ish enough for you to just frame it around. Because, you know, we've all had that night where, you know, something horrible has happened that day, and you've got to reckon frame it around because you know we've all had that night where you know something horrible has happened that day and you've got to reckon with it you know if you're that kind of comedian so here you are on the eve of of the lockdown and it's still relatively cute to reference it

you know and you're able to reference it and riff on it for five minutes and then go into your act that is still relevant you know and and and funny enough to where it's not dated yet because all we've been doing you know after the night that you did that special everyone has had the same life and it's not that expensive it's it's just relative to dread terror and wondering if we're ever going to be able to go outside again there's's no big movement, right? No, it's the same day. It is Groundhog Day. And I have this feeling that between one and four, time just stops.

You look and you go, wow, it's one. I can get a few things done. Then it's four and you can't remember what it was that you didn't do. No, no shit. And then from five to like 11, you're like, I don't even know what's happening anymore. And then it's like, when did I go to sleep?

Am I asleep? Is this a dream? And then you wake up again and start over. Yeah, exactly. No, it's really it. But in terms of how are you, how are you, how are you dealing with this? Because I started to realize in terms of creative people that we're, we're literally in the cauldron of trauma here so there's no one's going to create some art that is relative to

what's going on because what is going on we're all in this fucking holding pattern you know be wary of authoritarianism and economic collapse and you know what can we really create right now to a romantic comedy where people wear masks? How are you dealing with this intellectually? It took a while because there was it's just as of late that I've started to kind of go, I'm going to do this, this and this where I've really kind of I was in lockdown for 10, 10 weeks here in New York in this apartment by by myself. I call it solitary confinement. I saw no one. Yeah.

I'm lucky because I have kind of a nice terrace where I can walk around. Right. So it was solitary confinement and a little place where the prisoner could walk. Right, right. And it really... The yard, so to speak. Yeah. And it did damage. I mean, it did real damage. Ten weeks like that. There's a reason they put people in the hole. Yeah. And it did damage. I mean, it did real damage 10 weeks like that.

There's a reason they put people in the hole. Yeah. And what, what'd you find about yourself? What did you learn about Lewis with the time? I learned that I'm not, I'm not, I really,

I learned that my mind given, given you, you take away all the targets that I've had in my life. It goes right after me. You know, it's all of a sudden. Finally. All the things that, you know, well, you know the deal. All the things that you'd set up out there, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And then it was like. Yeah, yeah. I couldn't get, I could not go after myself fast enough. I finally got me cornered. I did. It was literally like a rat with a, my brain saw my body as a piece of cheese. But you came out the other side.

What did you, did you, how, how deep in the darkness did you get? Did you have to, was that the reason you got out? Well, yeah,

I kind of, I realized if eventually I kind of realized that there were things you know partly partly that came out of that that first uh when it was like you're in the highest risk category lewis yeah so that was big right so it was kind of like you could die if you go outside yeah you're good you know that was it every day and so uh it took a while to kind of come through that and then and then and i had been tracking this son of a bitch stuff for a while and uh what do you mean before the lockdown oh way before the lockdown you know uh italy china all of that when it was coming it was soon as it hit china i was like okay you fuckers how are they gonna

fuck us somebody ate ate what? God damn it. Because I used to have that joke. Somebody gets off a ship and coughs in their hand and shakes yours and it's all over. Yeah, the world ends. Yeah. So I Somebody

ate what? So I kind of kept trying to find the information. I had friends who kind of knew stuff. Yeah. You know, people who were working, you know, kind of in, I don't even know what their gigs were, but in the sense of they were dealing in bringing PPE to people, epidemiologists.

You know, I was starting to get information and realizing, okay, if I do this and do that that i don't need to uh soak my food and clorox that you know i was washing everything it was everything yeah we all yeah we did that yeah yeah you can get it from every surface and now it's like hey there's no need to worry about that stuff it's in the air yeah so so i kind of went through that and then uh i was in touch with friends who were also doing it and then kind of realized. And they and they invited me. It was my friend Kathleen Madigan, who, you know. Sure.

And her and a friend of hers were hanging down in in Nashville and said, you know, you can come down here. Yeah. And they had been in their own pod and not seeing anyone right i had not seen anyone i got you know and i went down there and that was when it started when i started to see people i started to come back and it took a while so you took the bus down i took that i took that down and uh that that one i and then i went from there to see a friend of mine. One of my oldest high school friends lives in Durham, North Carolina. It was near Chapel Hill where I went to school.

So I went there. He also, he and his wife had been also in lockdown. And they were also both kind of in isolation in places that were isolated. Yeah. i'd hang out with them and i take walks oh good which is nothing i've ever you know i'm not i'm not mr fuck hike yeah okay yeah but now it was like give me a hike let me look at birds yeah let me let me let me be out with my friends and and that kind of and all of that and then i went and saw my mother and then I traveled around a bit. Where's your mother? She's in an assisted

living situation outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Wow, so you really got it. She's 102. You kind of got caught up with everybody. Hello? Hello? Okay. Did I lose you?

I think so. Hold on. Okay, cool. Well, that's because you're talking about my mother. That's the way she deals. Even if she can't deal with me psychically, she'll go after the technology. Yeah, no, I know. They're always in you.

They live in your brain. They do. And my mother, but just to take it from where we were, mom's 102. 102? Yeah. Did she smoke? Yeah. She was 62 or something. That's some tough genetics.

Which Eastern European country does that come from? That's Russia. some tough genetics which which eastern european country does that come from that's russia my my grandfather smoked cigars and inhaled them and he died at 86 and not from the cigars right he just hated you know he just he stopped working and it kind of he just was done do you still smoke eating he just stopped eating yeah he'd had enough well because he's the cigar thing he quit it he quit smoking cigars at 82 i said what why he said i didn't like the taste anymore yeah yeah and that's probably why he quit eating it was the only thing he enjoyed yeah with the cigars but like in and so that was it does make you appreciate i'll tell you one thing

this time that i've spent by myself and whatever the hell I'm going through. You do really start to appreciate your friends and start to appreciate. You know, you get it's an interesting thing to not to know that there's nothing you can do to work in what we usually work in. And no one else can either. And so so there's a certain amount of pressure that's taken off you you can stop for a minute because there's no options and there's something uh aggravating about that but i found i found that given the time i'm okay doing nothing and uh i might know but it takes time to get to that you know how long it takes to get to that point?

Which is unbelievable. It took a long time to get there, didn't it? Yeah. Like, are you going to go do these drive-in shows? You look like they're coming. No! Fuck you, no! Fuck them!

Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. Are you going to do these shows where everybody wears earmuffs? Fuck you! Yeah. But you've been offered, right? Did you get that call from your manager look they're they're they're doing this now i got a uh in there's a there's a theater i like over in uh you know in uh new jersey one of the performing arts center they called in with an

offer to play outside that's the other thing you know don't you take one of your great joys isn't it of being a comic is boy i can't wait to play outside again oh no i'd like to do it again again see that's the thing it's like you you spend your life trying to get away from shit gigs and now they're being this is like isn't this great we're doing it again and it's a shitty gig no no i'm not doing it they offered me me a thing, and they said, you know, everybody be socially distanced. It wasn't, they'd be outside. They wouldn't be in cars, but it was going to be kind of in a drive-in.

Yeah. It wouldn't be sitting in cars. It would be sitting, you know, they'd have chairs and stuff. On the roofs, on the hoods or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, and then they said, and then like as a bonus, they said, and there'll be food carts, you know, food trucks. Well, are you, what?

That's the bonus. So there's another way. So can they put lights, heavy lights on the food trucks so that I really, so I can have the same sense that I have inside when I'm at certain places and they have those snack bars. Exactly. Make sure the audience is lit so i can see the movement towards the trucks and the lines that the trucks and as a friend said uh when you see that kind of thing if i'm out there and and there the audience is there and i can see those food trucks all i'm going to think about is you know i hope what is in that food truck and what am i missing

yeah can you get me some before they run out of whatever the fuck it is that's distracting people from my show so here's the other question i have is what about wait i've got a question yeah you haven't if you zoom you don't do that zoom comedy do you we're on zoom right now no no the comedy where you've got oh dude i can't do that shit. Are you kidding me? It's like I talked to someone the other night at comics, and she said, yeah, it's okay if you can work without laughter. And I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about?

This is what we've come to? It's a good gig, but you can't hear any laughter. Oh, well, that sounds great. But you know how to pace yourself. I don't want- There's no fucking way, dude. I can't't i don't even go to zoom aa meetings i'm out of my mind a fucking but but here's i guess the like most days i'm managing and i'm taking in the news but you're a guy like yeah so you were in new york

you remember the fucking 70s right you've got a few years on me yeah right so is there a way are you able in any way to contextualize you know mentally what is going on now with with some precedent that gives you any comfort at all? No. Great. Not a thing. Not a thing. There's nothing. Like you can't go back to Nixon.

You can't go back to the 60s. You can't go back anywhere. No. No, because we're also, because even with Nixon, even at that point, there was a sense that he had some sense of what government was about. He'd kind of gone to like student council camps. Right, right. The system still held. This guy is dismantling the system. Yeah. And that makes it hard. And he's coming on every day and rattling the cage. And then they're allowing him to rattle the cage. Not only the, you know,

the, the whole Congress is allowing you to be rattled cage. And then, and then the fucking news, you know, the news can't keep their eyes off him. And it's like, no,

you have to stop it. You have to basically stop it and go get us information that will help us stop. You know, it's stop worrying about fucking him and start worrying about us so where are you on a day-to-day basis with this i mean how much aggravation does it cause you um i've gotten down to um i do uh about 40 minutes in the morning until they start repeating the news which they do now yeah like minutes into it, they start over again with the same bullshit

and different people talking about the same bullshit. There's no, nobody's going to. Yeah, it's all speculative. You get four facts and then, you know, 72 hours of speculation. So there's that. And then what I've done is, and it's not because of an age thing, but just because to get a wrap up each day. I watch the, you know, the news that comes on NBC, the, you know, the 630 news out there.

I don't know, you know, the news that comes on like NBC, the late night, you know, local news. And no, I watch a little of the local news to see just NBC news. Yeah. Like NBC. Yeah. As if you're living in the 70s yeah it's like which of the three channels am i going to watch this guy is i like this guy and it's 20 minutes and then generally i watch about 20 minutes and that's and that's it and that's all i do and then i try to avoid it unless something seems to be like oh oh, you know, maybe they got him. Maybe they caught him now.

You know, like he walked in that house. I thought you got him. He just did something. He's walking around spreading a fucking major virus in the White House. And you got him. Yeah. Nothing. Nothing.

It's OK. Sure. Let him wander around. Can you imagine working there? No. I can't imagine i mean you sit there and go see my day was shitty but i'm not in the white house i can't quite understand the the sycophancy and the loyalty i i don't know what kind of strange satanic magic he has over people other than the ability to destroy them, which I guess is pretty powerful. But he doesn't really have that power.

I mean, he kind of does in the sense that he could futz with people. But if enough people stood up, I mean, they're all standing up at the end. It's like, where were you fucking two years ago, three years ago? But do you think, like, I was talking to my friend, who did I talk to last night? Maybe Sam Whipside or somebody. I think, like, you know, what probably will happen if we make it through this and if he doesn't get reelected is that all these fucking guys, you know, given six months to a year are going to be like, yeah, that was crazy. That was a crazy time.

I don't know what the hell happened to everybody. But we're okay now. Yeah, we're good. You know, like, they're just going to, like, scramble to save their own asses right i mean that's all it's yeah oh my god so what so what are you doing otherwise are you writing a goddamn play or something uh i am uh what i'm doing at this point is i've started to uh uh i did i've got a uh a rant cast I do, which is this. I put together the – I do these live rants after each show that were written by people in the audience, people within the city that I'm performing in or the state.

And it's a live – it's done in front of the audience, and it's sent throughout the world. I've been doing this for like five to six years. And it evolved really into the, it was like, you're not going to give me a TV show. So fuck you. This is my TV show. It was really like, and it was me standing in front of a mic and reading what these people were writing and it got better and better and better.

And it evolved into what it evolved into, which was like in like, you know, let's say Charleston, South Carolina. And the show is the, it's the Charleston, South Carolina, and the show is the Charleston, South Carolina show. Yeah. And it's written by these folks in Charleston or around, you know, or Columbia or wherever, Greenville. And so we started to put those together in what is essentially, you know, like a podcast, but it's the rants. It's the rants that were done after

the shows and taken from the tour and so i'm doing the uh openings for those how many you got we're at uh this is the 14th one we did uh okay 14th podcast and then uh we've got a few more and then i've started to do the i call them virtual ones right now i have folks writing in and they can write in now to you know to uh to my to my website they can find out how to do it and i've been i've been collecting new rants and then i stand in front of a camera i'll be doing it from here yeah and uh i'll start and i'll read their rants i'll read the ones that i like and they're great i mean what's amazing, is the level of the writing. It's spectacular. Well, it's like, well, they probably know you.

They probably know your comedy. You know, they can write to your voice. Yeah. Right? Yeah. But what's intriguing is, I mean, is how many people kind of write now on a regular basis? And not whether I do it or not, they don't seem to give a shit. Yeah.

They just, you know, it's given them a way in which to, you know, get stuff off their chest. Right. But it's been about stuff that's just, some of it is just spectacular when you, you know, you know, that thing about comedy and you kind of mind an idea and you start minding it. And sometimes you go, even I'm sitting there going, holy fuck, if this was my assignment, I couldn't have written what this guy wrote. I had a guy write a thing. One of the great ones was a guy opens up a jar of peanut butter and expects it to be smooth. It's chunky.

Yeah. And he does seven minutes on it. It's a seven-minute diatribe about his hate for chunky, chunky fucking and why it's disgusting and all of the things. But one thing after another, but like meticulously written. Yeah. I mean, it's the kind of thing that if I handed it to you, you'd go after three things,

how much can you hate peanut butter? Yeah. It was like in pickles. Pickles, some people, I've had like people lining up like it's a two-party system over pickles. You don't put that thing squirting its shit on, like it's a cum shot, somebody wrote. Like I don't need the like it's a cum shot somebody wrote like i don't need the

goddamn pickle shooting a cum shot on my burger you fucks i mean it's like wow you gotta love it and it reminds people of the time in a nostalgic way that we will return to when that was the height of our pain i i think those things getting hung up on those things is always a way, it's a sort of controlled and seemingly less offensive way to express our anger and fear, right? So I would assume that now where people feel so out of control and, you know, if not hopeless about the situation, that getting angry about mundane things, you know, that could go on for a few days, you know, like, and it's a way of controlling your environment, I would think. Yeah. I mean, for me, it's like, it's just like the amount of dread and anxiety. It's like, I can't even get

to anger like I used to. Like, I go right to like, oh my God, I want to be dead. You know, you missed the anger exit you tried by the anger exit i know i keep missing it i gotta loop back around you know i gotta loop back around it usually what happens is i miss the anger exit and i find myself and i want to be dead road and then i loop back around and the only available exit is sadness so like i i keep I keep missing anger. I have to say, you know, it's something I talked about early on when I when I was first in the lockdown was was I'd never. And it was and probably and maybe in the end it will, you know, what good might come out of it is is folks might have an understanding when all is said and done. When somebody, like, I've known people who are anxious, and I have a sympathy for that anxiety.

I mean, I have a certain amount of empathy. Anyone who's kind of like tries to kind of listen, listen, you know, but now I've experienced it. Anxiety. Anxiety and dread. Yeah. And depression on levels that I'd never experienced before. And so I feel more attuned to that. And I'm hoping that others who've now kind of gone through it, you know, kind of get it now and don't turn to their friend and go, come on,

step out of it. Right, right, right, right. But what was your primary emotion? Just anger before? Like you never had anxiety or dread? I just never had anxiety. I just, you know, because I was kind of just kind of had like, I kind of was focused on what I was doing.

You know, let's do this. Then we'll do that. Then we'll do this. I kind of filled my on what I was doing. Let's do this, then we'll do that, then we'll do this. I kind of filled my day, and I liked writing. So you never wallowed in, what the fuck am I going to do? That's the difference. I know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah, and I could see friends, and I lived in New York, and it was always kind of a pulse of life.

Yeah. I could see friends and I lived in New York and it was always kind of a pulse of life. And yeah, but you seem a little like I mean, in the midst of all of the the crankiness and whatever is funny. I mean, you always seem to kind of have a fairly at the core of it. And I think why the humor continues is that, you know, there is some there's some there's some tone of hope uh at the core of uh most of your ranting and raving like you know i i do when i listen to you do comedy i'm like i i think it's going to be okay because i understand you're angry but you don't seem terrified no i you know i don't i do the only thing now that gets me is that the thing that undermined it was, is I had this firm belief in the American people, which I still do, because that but but, you know, that that you could always, you know, you can fuck the politicians. You could rely on the American people that they would come.

They would they got it. And I think that it's true. And that what's occurred now is that, you know, one of the things that's happened is that, you know, the people who should have basically said to the 30% who think they own the world now in this country, this is, it may be a democracy, but you're really not in charge, okay you're not you know you're 30 you don't get to wander around and yell and scream your bullshit right hey that's it's written here okay well i mean the thing that i'm starting to realize about people in general is that you know they they're easily manipulated they they don't do a lot of their own thinking. Many are shallow, and they've got a lot of anger

that is easily misdirected into possibly killing Jews. So... And that scares me a little i i have to be honest oh my god oh oh boy oh man right i did talk i hadn't heard it from someone. I mean, you know, we laugh at it. But I was interviewed by like a 14-year-old girl for the –

I work for the – I do some stuff for the Vonnegut Museum out in Indiana. And they had this young girl who's fucking smart as fuck. Yeah. Kind, brilliant. And she was interviewing me and asked, have you ever experienced anti-Semitism? And I kind of there was a couple of things I talked about. And you said, yeah, but only from me. Pretty close to true. But she I said, I said, said you know i kind of explained it but it

wasn't you know in at the times in which i've experienced that there's always been other people around who weren't jewish and were more offended you know kept yelling you know fuck you fucking they're the ones yelling back so i never felt that sense of dread from that. And I said, why have you experienced it? And she said, oh, yeah, you know, they they have experienced it a lot. I mean, she lives in Indiana. So Indianapolis, you know, so that's that could be part. But I was like I was stunned because, you know, we hear it.

But I had not heard it directly from someone. You know, you see somebody on TV and da-da-da-da, but this is a show. Even now, do you have a Twitter? Are you on Twitter? Yeah, but I don't pay much attention. I don't dive into Twitter because it makes me psychotic. That really is the rabbit hole because if I start looking at it, I get deranged. All of this stuff is making everybody crazy you know my big fear and i don't know like because generally generationally you and i are maybe just a little different like

i just turned 57 67 so you are like a like an earlier boomer then i'm in the end of the boomer you're like the beginning right yeah but uh but there is this sort of this there's a problem with uh barometers of truth that there's this idea that that that all truth has gotten sort of shaky on both sides every you know the left was always real good i think we we really you know i think the anti-semites early on the christians invented uh conspiracy theories uh you know with uh with the new testament and then with the illuminati but it seems like the left perfected it in the 60s and now they and now it's been hijacked but both sides are fairly proficient at believing bullshit and and questioning the integrity of any sort of fact and i think that the fact that both sides are doing that that it's

become quite nebulous you know what we base our reality on and what is true and what isn't. And when you get a whole population or even two thirds of a population that is in that zone, they're very easily manipulated and eventually can be driven into a type of apathy that would make it very easy for authoritarianism to take hold. But part of that came from, it's exacerbated by, a word I rarely get to use, was exacerbated by the state that we're in, in terms of like, you said, look at Twitter. Yeah. You know, it's exacerbated by the fact that we're looking at screens the whole time.

No, absolutely, absolutely. We we're looking at screens the whole time. No, absolutely. Absolutely. We're not looking at people anymore. And we're being undermined by not being in the public square. So that the guy who you might not like, who is a schmuck, whatever side you want to pick. Yeah. You still were, you know, you saw him every day and you went, well, he's a schmuck. But, you know, he's my schmuck. Right.

You kind of. Yeah, but he's a schmuck, but we eat lunch sometimes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know, and you kind of felt, OK, I feel a little bad for him. Yeah. Because of A, B and C. You know, there was an empathy.

But if you got this fucking piece of shit in front of you you know and you're looking at this you don't have any empathy for that because i every so if somebody will write something fucking you fucking i just sit there and i'm like fucking fucking yeah it's not even their real name you don't even know who you're yelling at it could be a you know a 14 year old who just and it could be i'm yelling at a bot yeah it just it's a guy whose hobby it is to make old jews snap like we got look we made another one nuts it's hilarious no i agree i think that's true i think that you know that this there is an isolation to technology and certainly that's exacerbated now because of the plague and that people are sitting there, you know, engaging with the screen, engaging with selective information.

But it's like, really, there are some people, Lewis, I think that are so brain fucked by bullshit that they're not coming back. I mean, you know, the way you're talking, it used to be that you knew Republicans that you could sit with. Right. Yeah. Were those days, you know, any of them anymore? Well, you know, the Lincoln Republicans. Yeah. But those guys are monsters. You know, I know they you know, it seems like they're like they're they're doing a good thing, but they're just triangulating. You know, as soon as they get rid of this guy, they're just jockeying for their position to be cunts again but i did i mean i was i and i i think i think it's all very simple in terms of politics that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction so we go here here here here and what will happen happen in my lifetime you know, because early on it had been bum, bum, bum, bum, bum in the, you know, in the 1900s and the early 1900s into the 20s. You know, that people will, you will end up with a Congress in which there are going to be Republicans who seem like Democrats and Democrats who seem like Republicans.

And we'll get back to that. When I was a kid, my mother, nothing irritated my mother more than when I voted for, we had a senator from Maryland. One of the first times I voted was for that senator. He was a Republican. He was great. My mother would go, I can't believe you voted for him. Well, because 90% of what he does, I completely think is great. I don't know what the other schmuck's going to do, but I know that this guy, nine times out of 10, he's going gonna do what i want him to do and you think you think that there will come a time where we're not going to be as divided and tribalistic and that i think this is i think this is this is truly a uh this is like you could go a a happen b happen c happen d happen e happen f this is a perfect storm we're in the midst of that perfect storm and out of it i'm not saying there's going to be

some fucking sunlight and bullshit and we come out of the storm yeah you know no but it'll take time but yeah we will return yeah okay so you don't think that, you know, that we're going to break up the Republic or that the militias are going to succeed? No, no, because once you get people back who like went to student council camp, they go, no. All right. Well, you know, the Republicans, they fucking went home and hid. They don't even know what's going on. They go, please vote for me. I didn't really like him.

OK, just vote for me. I like I'm different. You know, know they're back there they're ready to fucking you know i like that you have some uh some faith in that there's still an active student council camp uh culture i like that i do i believe there is i mean that's what drives them nuts about biden that's what drives them nuts he's a part of this you know they fucking come up they can fuck you with these conspiracies you didn't like the son of a bitch when he won the election in high school you still don't like him fuck you but aren't you astounded at the the the the intensity of the shit magnet power of this particular administration have you ever seen more

cheap ass grifters and con men and bullshit artists and religious fanatics i mean it's fucking astounding it's like he drew them out of their holes like some sort of fucking snake charmer and he hired every one of them everyone it's fucking mind-blowing well this is when you really you'll appreciate this and um and those listening will have no idea we'll have to look it up but uh because you knew and you you know him is but i'm sure you've been in touch was when you when what's his name they they i can see the guy the one that he part one of the 60 that he pardoned that randy credico showed up credico yeah yeah

yeah yeah then he showed up i don't know how you know credico yeah yeah in the roger stone situation credit yeah i mean really of all the people that i thought wow wow he's out because i mean i've worked with credico and a couple of things and i did stuff with randy and you know yeah well credico was like the leftist right he was the guy that went down to nicaragua to uh to work with uh what's his ortega to help the sandinistas right he's a he's a the big he brought crimons down there and they were yeah they were just shy of being part of the government and then and then he comes back here and he's a political comic and you know uh you know a fairly active participant in the nose candy movement.

And he would get on stage. He'd do one politics joke. And he'd go like, oh, what do you want, impressions? And he'd do Popeye for 10 minutes. Yes. And I don't know. I don't even understand it. And then I knew he was involved with Kunstler somehow for a while.

But I don't know. I don't know his that. And then I knew he was involved with cunts were somehow for a while, but I don't know. I don't know his position. And then he ended up with Roger Stone and then he ended up with the WikiLeaks thing. And it was like, what the fuck? And then he's walking around with a little dog. I thought this is the road to madness, you know, I mean, how did this, but that's when I knew when you're talking about grifters, it was, that was what I knew. Things were totally off the charts to another level.

I mean, you look at Roger Stone and you went, well, how do you look at him? You go, would you hire him? Outside of maybe working in front of, you know, the restaurant 21 here, you might have him stand out front in that outfit. Well, you just realize it make like the corruption is so blatant and so expansive. And you realize that on some level, you know, because of all this bullshit, it's the most transparent administration we've had in years because you knew the possibility of the grift and that these fuckers have been turning out. You have been have been basically gaming the the system all the time you know to to make personal profit i mean that's a whole republican trip break it down use the system as a money laundering operation and then let the fucking thing collapse and see if business can put

it back together and and i we're sort of at the end of that experiment and probably uh the end of the democratic experiment we'll see which one wins right yeah i of the Democratic experiment. We'll see which one wins, right? Yeah, I think the Democratic experiment will win. I'm worried about what they're, you know, how the financial thinkers, they don't seem to give a shit about coming up with a stimulus package. Well, he's panicking now.

Now he's like trying to buy votes. He's like, here's 1.8 trillion, we'll make everybody well. Do it. Watch his name. But meanwhile, McConnell is standing in the way of it. How do you do that? Okay. 8.8 trillion will make everybody well yeah do it what's his name but meanwhile mcconnell yeah he's standing in the way of it how do you do that okay i mean i know too many you know people how do you do that how do you stand in the way of people that you know need that check okay you

fucking dick yeah i i don't i you know he's he's a crafty motherfucker and i and i can't claim to understand all the machinations but what do you like are you what are you doing for uh for fun are you doing anything for fun what's that f-u-n yeah yeah like it usually takes the form in watching movies or yeah i uh i kind i do i uh i play golf which is nuts but but it helps you can do that where you go out with people yeah i mean well you know because you got real because the people i'm playing with they're also nuts, but it helps. You can do that when you go out with people? Yeah. Because the people I'm playing with, they're also people who have been basically isolated.

I don't see anybody. We ride in different carts. It's golf. You're outside. Where do you go? Jersey? No, I was playing down in North Carolina. I was working half the day and half the day I was out there playing golf. And the nice thing about golf is you don't, it's such a stupid game.

And I understand why people don't want to play golf and I get it, but it allows you a complete escape from this. I've never done it. I was talking to some guys about it yesterday. I got a friend that does it. And I've maybe I went to a driving range a couple of times when I was younger. And I can understand the rush of making contact with the ball correctly, that little ping that you feel. Yeah, no, I've never gotten better, which is appalling. But it allows, I used to say, but it allowed me to hate myself more than I normally do in my daily life.

Yeah. But what it does do is it gets you. And you can do it outdoors while you're walking to the next hole or driving yeah exactly i mean it's really yeah so that helps i mean that does help i reading is still elusive i find it hard to focus long enough to read i'm getting better at it i've been listening to a lot of music i've been buying records i buy a lot of records now i'm back back. That's good. Yeah, I enjoy it, man.

You know, I listen to I listen, you know, John Lennon's birthday today. And I put on a plastic ono band and listen to a couple off of there. Did you ever listen to like back in the day? Did you ever listen to the Incredible String Band? Yeah. How fucking good are they, dude? I am actually just for the first time discovering those gaelic hippies and i'm like amazed like i got i got their first four albums and i obsessively and i'm like holy fuck yeah they were really good yeah they were like they kind of disappeared but they were in

that whole movement that it was like everything that was coming out at that time you go fuck and fuck and fuck and fuck that's good too they're just like they were so like i can't believe i'm going to talk about this like this is new but the way they used a sitar you know we integrated into sort of like weird scottish folk melodies without uh you know overdoing it you know like it wasn't like look we're using a sitar but everything was nicely balanced and there was a lot of space and i was like this is magical music that's the great thing about music is what i'm saying uh lewis is that you know it's always there to be discovered for the first time even if you're 50 years too late yeah no it's i it no it's good i mean that's something that helps and i i binge watch a bit of things. What do you watch? What have you been watching?

I watch, do you watch The Vow? No. I like it. It's really sick. Really? It's an interesting analysis of, in part, there's a part, there's a kind of a through line to it that this guy kind of created this.

Oh, the documentary about NXIVM or whatever? Yeah, yeah. It's yeah yeah but it's really like part of it i'm sitting there watching good wow he created this in part to get laid i mean wow yeah wow i mean that's a lot that's exhausting begging is easier do you know how many men have it's that's the driving force of of almost everything for a lot of dudes you can't imagine how many comedians i have talked to their intention by being funny by being a comedian was to get laid yes oh yeah yeah but they didn't make a business out of it you know what i mean but this is really it's well it's it's kind of fascinating it's like one of these things

you go wow it's the paranoia that we live in yeah right you know that you kind of you're looking at you know we you know this thing about um what we what you were talking about in terms of people the left the right whatever you know these and really, and a lot of intelligent people kind of, you know, losing their minds. This is a group of really bright people who end up doing this. And you kind of go, Holy fuck. Well, that's exactly what, that's, what's happening with the, with the fucking QAnon. I mean, that, that people are not, most of these people that, you know,

some people you know your whole life and you think, well, this is a reasonably informed guy, you know, a bright person who can, you know, knows the difference between right and wrong, seems to be able to think. And then one day you're like, they're a fucking moron. How the fuck did that happen? How did you get duped? You know, I don't know what that is. I've been obsessed with that thing for a while now. I don't know what that is. I've been obsessed with that thing for a while now. I think that, look, if you've got enough weird self-hatred, but self-awareness and enough sort of strange anger and ego, you're not going to be in a cult because I don't like leaders. I don't like to lead.

Just go fuck yourself. I'm okay. What do you want from me? I don't know. I don't know what exactly it is that makes me not vulnerable to that. Well, it's called your question authority. That's it for starters. Right, right, right. So that's the initial.

Yeah, I've got an an innate who the fuck is this guy what's this guy want yeah but uh but yeah but but do you ever find yourself like for me like i when i try to really think about it like all right spirituality craving like you know i've experienced some sadness and loss in the last few months and i understand like it'd be nice yeah and i and i'm sorry about that you know i'm sorry yeah i appreciate that stuff i understand that it was terrible but then you're like what is what does it all mean you know what is existence you know why am i here why did that happen to her you know like is there does it all make sense then you start to realize like it's a fundamentally human thing you don't know when the fuck it's going to happen but everybody carries loss everybody deals with it it's part of

the human experience it's horrible but it does make you sort of like you know i never think like is there a god is there in is there like what does god have to do with it but there is that part of you that's sort of like how do i reckon with this and i don't really have an answer, but I rarely go to God. Do you? No, I go to, I have gone to faith, which is not in God, but that it's going to, it's, that it will work. Right, right, right, right, right, right. That I've got, you know, that it's bigger, you know, that I've kind of, my thoughts have always been about it.

The problem with God to me is the concept was it's smaller than what's going on out there. Don't reduce it to this. Right, right, right. It's way bigger. Don't reduce it to an entity or a guy that cares about you. Yeah. And then had a son. Yeah.

You know. Yeah. And then had a son. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But, you know, one of the interesting kind of thoughts about this, about, you know, passage of life, Art Buchwald, who's a really good writer, you know, really funny writer for a long time. Very, very good he he was um he his his kidneys were giving out he was old he kind of he he decided he was going to stop doing dialysis he just went you know fuck it i'm going to go in i'm going to a hospice i'm going to die so he goes in there and and uh and he uh and he doesn't he people come to visit six later, he's still going. He's writing apology letters.

I'm really sorry. He said the one thing that he felt that he learned was, as he said, that he wondered, it wasn't so much where he was going. The big question was, why was he here? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah right which is really an interesting way to look at it as opposed to that as opposed to out there it's what is this about well yeah i mean that that happens in relation to it i i just i guess i'm just talking about like you know there just seems to be much more like, look, I've believed my share of bullshit in my life. But, you know, and I'm not sure that some of the stuff I'm hanging on to right now isn't bullshit.

I'm sure it is. But but I never looked for salvation. Like, you know, I guess there's people that look to be relieved of the burden of their own struggle and the seeming unfairness of life. And there are those of us who just, you know, believe that without that to complain about, what do we have? Yeah, that's really true. And that's the difference between Jews and Christians. Yes, it is. and then the other thing is i thought that i kind of arrived at which is similar to that is you know why do these people

like him the the leader why do they like him so much it's precisely that he feels that he expresses what they feel every day which is put upon right right poor victims yeah yeah yeah the the grievance culture you know like we've been fucked and now like you know who who's who's fucking us you just point a finger like that's those fuckers the libs the dems the jews see third on the list lewis i'm telling you third on the and the other two are kind of the same thing. So where's the special going to be on, buddy? It's on iTunes, Amazon. It'll be on Amazon Prime eventually, Google TV, Farty Bobo, Natty Natty.

There are 147 platforms. Dude, believe me, I did a whole bit on it. Did you do a bit on it? No, no. No, I did a whole bit on it. Did you do a bit on it? No, no, no, no, no, no. Not after hearing your bit. I'm not stealing. I love talking to you, man. It's good seeing you.

I'm glad you're holding up. It was really a pleasure, you know, and I did want to tell you, you know, I like GLOW a lot. I thought you were terrific. I mean, I'm not, I really liked it. I liked the work you did in it too. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, you know, it's like, it's sad, but like when it comes down to it, I think it was really, honestly, it was about money,

but it was also about safety. I mean, we don't, you know, we were going to probably be shooting in May. Oh, we're right on time finishing this thing. My gardeners just got here. And, you know, who knows if it would have been safe. I tell you, it does not look fun to work on a set right now. You know, I'm glad that they're making it. No, and I have friends who are doing it.

I have some friends who are doing it, and it has not, and they've had to fight about it. Yeah, no, it looks just miserable. But stay healthy, buddy. I love you, man. Love you. Take care of yourself, Mark, okay? Okay, man. Good to see you.

Louis Black, folks. Love that guy. The new special is Thanks for Risking Your Life. Get it on all the video demand platforms, also streaming audio platforms, and his podcast, Louis Black's Rantcast. You can get that where you get the podcasts. You dig?

All right. Let's play some music. Now I'm going to go take a bath in Epsom salts. thoughts. Thank you. so so Stamford Stavros Thank you. Boomer lives. Don't forget monkey. Nafonda. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything.

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Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. Thank you. how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative.