SCRANTON — You don’t quite know what to expect when you are about to spend an evening with Lewis Black. And last Friday night’s show at the Scranton Cultural Center was filled with unexpected twists and turns from the famous angry comedian.
After a great opening performance from John Bowman — who spent most of his time telling funny tales about touring with Black and then making fun of him for his lack of a playwright career — Black slowly walked on stage to a loud ovation. Black’s reply: “You’re more excited to see me than I ever have been.”
And so it began. Black tried to open his 75-mintue routine relating his act to Scranton until he was interrupted by the first of many fans yelling out positive and negative comments.
Before Black could even say “For those of you who have never seen my act,” someone from the audience yelled out, “What act?” Again, Black with the quick reply: “How f---ing stupid are you to yell something like that?” Another fan then screamed, “Tear him a new asshole, Lewis!” Black replied, “I’ve done all the surgery I’m going to do.”
This was just a dose of what the rest of the night had in store: people from the audience shouting out and Black delivering a funny response. After the first batch of hecklers, Black said it must be a long winter here in Scranton, that we are stupid for living in an area that has weather for polar bears and that if the “rowdy folks” kept making comments he would shove a kazoo up his ass and just dance around for the rest of the night.
Black covered everything from Valentine’s Day (saying it should be at a time of the year when men can actually feel their nuts) and terrorism to the development of cell phones and Facebook. He ended the show with a story about Ringo Starr’s birthday party and how he turned into a 12-year-old girl when we met Paul McCartney.
It was hard to pick out just a few standout moments from the show, but the cell phone rant was probably the best. Black said that some LSD dropout from Minnesota that works for $6.79 an hour can tell you any bit of information you need to know just from having a smart phone, and that is wrong. He told an elaborate story about how he switched from an iPhone to a Droid, then yelled furiously at the crowd for applauding an inanimate object.
Another highlight might have been when he said Sarah Palin is a delusion to him and that the only thing she should be in control of is Farmville.
While the crowd interacted probably a little too much for Black’s liking, he did say he wished he taped the show because he never experienced anything quite like it. At one point, a heckler yelled something so obscure in the middle a rant, Black stopped, gave a long and awkward pause, then said, “Have you folks been out at any point this winter?”
After making fun of a local newspaper, he ended the very localized show with a thank you and bow. The crowd, which some would describe as rude, did give him a standing ovation before he exited the stage.
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