Two of my favorite contemporary comedians are Ron White and Lewis Black.
You probably know White from the latest version of Jeff Foxworthy’s White Collar Comedy Tour. His jokes are above average, though not especially groundbreaking, but his delivery kills me every time. The drink in one hand, cigarette in the other, raspy voice ‘Been There, Done That’ attiude combined with his material will set my sides to aching.
Lewis Black is probably best known for his ‘Back in Black’ special reports on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Like Ron White, his material is also nothing truly new, and while I seriously doubt we’d agree on a whole lot politically, the majority of his jabs at the (R)s are right where I want them. Also like White, his delivery is what murders me.
Black plays the part of the exasperated citizen who just can’t believe the stupidity of it all. At times, he literally looks as if he is going to have an aneurysm right there on stage and, while I feel that way about what he is talking about, I manage to not look as completely unhinged as he does.
While I don’t watch a whole lot of TV, I have caught their Comedy Central specials via Comcast’s ‘On Demand’ feature and watch them whenever they’re available. I also have at least one of each of their audio CD’s. While I don’t listen to them all that often, I mention all of this because I have caught myself, and the Analog Wife has pointed out, that I have picked up one each of their mannerisms.
From White, I have snagged his nod when giving verbal topical warnings. If you’ve seen his “Tater Salad” special on ComCent, you may remember the line “You know, the next time you have a thought, just let it go.” I have that nod. If I can coordinate having something to drink in my hand, I unconsciously work that in as well.
But the really bad one, and the one that the wife caught almost immediately, is from Black. When he is in PG-13 mode and working himself into a fit, he draws out his F’s. For instance, if I were to tell you that Black is funny, it would leave my mouth as “Lewis Black is ffffffuckin’ hilarious.”
I’m working around them both, but I’m not finding it all that worrisome.
Personally, I wish that Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy had never let him on their Blue Collar Tour.
The drinking and smoking schtick is old hat, Jackie Gleason and Dean Martin used to do that, but what gravels me about White is that his delivery drips contempt. I suppose you could say that his lampoon targets are what he is aiming his contempt at, but he doesn’t come across that way to me. It’s almost as if the contempt is aimed at the audience.
He sneers at his own jokes, when one of the first rules of stand-up comedy is to dead-pan your punchline as if you yourself didn’t hear it.
Nope, dispite his anti-correctness stand (Lenny Bruce had that stand also, and even as a flaming Communist he was funnier), I usually turn off the show when White comes on.
I used to think Jeff Foxworthy was low-brow comedy. But then came Larry the Cable Guy, who makes the Foxworthy look like the epitome of with and humor.
Ron White’s new DVD, “You Can’t Fix Stupid” is a pretty good one.
I caught a bit of a NPR interview with Black a couple months ago, and the interesting bit was that he freely admitted that his persona on stage is just that — a persona — cooked up by both Black and his writer. It was kind of funny because Laura Gross’s questions often were of the “what were you thinking when you made up that joke” variety, and Black just kept saying he didn’t make it up, it was the writer.