Search - Lewis Black :: Anticipation

Less topical, more timeless. A great album.

Marco Antonio La Manno | 08/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had the pleasure of getting an early peek at this material when I went with a friend to see Lewis Black on New Year's Eve of 2007; the material on the CD was almost identical to what I heard. However, I had forgotten all the exact jokes, so I bought the album anyway. I laughed just as hard now as I did then.



Many of the jokes revolve around anticipation and how the anticipation of any event is better than the event itself. He talks about the anticipation of losing your virginity, how gamblers and golfers live their lives in anticipation, and he throws that theme in during his Santa track is a hysterical moment. A lot of these jokes are great because, as Bill Maher would say about Carlin, if you remove the punchline, the comments he makes are great material anyway. But even in some of his less "philosophical" stuff, he's still hilarious; any Lewis Black fan knows his mannerisms by themselves are worth quite a few laughs. But there are many to be had in this album regardless.



One thing I noticed was the nature of the jokes -- there are less political jokes. His Santa material deals with politics, but it doesn't deal with issues that happened recently. Even though his commentary on today's news is usually hilarious, the problem I've always seen with those jokes it that they're topical and don't age well; they can't find new fans. These jokes, however, about Christmas, golfers, and his losing his virginity are jokes that new listeners can hear 20 years from now and still understand. That's one thing I've always worried about with Lewis Black, but this album is one of his performances that'll age very well.



Another reason why I'm giving this album five stars is due to the fact that it never seems to sag. His Carnegie Hall Performance was great, but I felt it slowed down once it got to the topic about his performance at the White House dinner; it didn't help that his material on that was close to 20 minutes. This one doesn't seem to ever sag, which makes it well worth the money. Buy it."

ANTI is AWESOME!

Brian B. Paillette | Roseburg, OR | 08/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After listening to this gem by Lewis Black, it is with little doubt, his best work yet. Lewis losing his virginity to a LP record is hysterical and his funniest is "Blueberry Pancakes". Will make any man think twice before he makes pancakes for his wife. Buy this today because it is worht it!! By Brian Paillette"

Awesome as usual

Timothy Johnson | boston, ma | 08/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lewis Black is perhaps the funniest stand up in the country right now - or at least approaching the level of the chris rocks and george carlins (rip) of the world. This is another hillarious album by Black. I love the first track."