Search - Lewis Black :: Lewis Black - Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues

I Love Lewis, But I Only Like This Album

Arthur Kicker | Your Mom's House | 02/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"You gotta love Lewis Black. Its very rare that you see someone who so gets so angry so easily. Not to mention he's one of the absolute funniest comics working today.



With that said, I was a bit disappointed in this album. I'm not saying that it isn't funny, its just that alot of the material here is pulled from his previous 3 albums. I'd say its about 40% old stuff, and 60% new stuff. His new riffs are great. Very funny stuff about mostly politics from his insane point of view. Its a very good cd. I couldn't not recommend it. But it was just disappointing that I had heard so much of it before."

The Good News -- this is almost completely new material and

Marco Antonio La Manno | 03/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I own all of Lewis Black's DVDs and CDs, and I am also a big fan of his material on The Daily Show. That said, this is definitely his best CD that he's done.



First, I will have to rebut some of the reviews here -- this is not recycled material. Yes, there are a couple of Superbowl jokes that were reused from The End of the Universe and his 2002 Comedy Central Presents special, and yes, his "civics book" joke was reused from Rules of Enragement. However, those jokes have actually been far more refined in this CD.



Also, the first 8 tracks (with the exception of Gay Marriage) deal with the Superbowl Halftime 2004, and nowhere will you find any of this on any of his other CDs or DVDs. The thing with his other CDs is that if you have all h is material, you'll see it all recycled. The White Album is like his 1998 and 2000 Comedy Central specials. The End of the Universe is like his 2002 special. Rules of Enragement is like Black on Broadway, and Carnegie Hall is like Red White and Screwed. You'll find a lot of new material on all of this, yes, but a significant chunk of the pairs I put up have similar jokes in each. Not so with Luther Burbank. This is the only CD of his that I laughed the whole way through, since I rarely ever stopped and thought, "Wait, I've heard this before." If you've seen all he's done on TV, you will barely recognize any of the material on here. That includes his "Iraq, An Idiots Delight" portion. On Rules of Enragement, he talks about it for a good amount of time. On this, he has about 17 minutes dedicated to it, and besides his "civics book" joke, you'll never hear any of this anywhere else. Funny stuff. Wait until he rips on Rumsfeld!



That said, his jokes are hysterical. Wait until you see his rant on gay marriage and Bush's proposed constitutional amendment. When he talks about the Constitution after that, you are going to roll on the ground laughing. While he sometimes, though rarely, misses the mark on some of his other merchandise (the latter half of Red White and Screwed is a good example of this), he never seems to miss a beat here, constantly churning out wit like it was nobody's business.



This is a must-buy. If you are diving into his works and want a CD of his, this should be the first one you get."