TCB Infomercial: Lewis Black Is Back!

I didn't think the pain from the shingles rash would affect simple everyday tasks like bathing, getting dressed, or even walking around.

I was wrong.

Though not everyone at risk will develop it, 99% of people over the age of 50 already have the virus that causes shingles, and it could reactivate at any time.

I developed it, and the blistering rash lasted for weeks.

Don't learn the hard way, like I did.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today.

Sponsored by GSK.

Tito's Handmade Vodka is America's favorite vodka for a reason.

From the first legal distillery in Texas, Tito's is six times distilled till it's just right and naturally gluten-free, making it a high-quality spirit that mixes with just about anything.

From the smoothest martinis to the best Bloody Marys, Tito's is known for giving back, teaming up with nonprofits to serve its communities and do good for dogs.

Make your next cocktail with Tito's.

Distilled and bottled by Fifth Generation Inc., Austin, Texas.

40% alcohol by volume.

Savor responsibly.

You know what drives me up a goddamn wall?

Old people.

Not just any old people, no, no, I mean the ones who act like time stopped in 1954.

And we're all just extras in their black and white sitcom memories.

Every time I go outside, there's some Septuagarian in a Buick the size of a battleship doing 11 11 miles an hour in a 45 mile an hour zone turning left from the right lane

while signaling.

Nothing.

You ever get behind one of these geriatric land captains?

You don't know if you're following a car or an obituary in progress.

And don't even get me started on how they treat technology.

I can't figure out the email.

It's a button, Edna.

A button that says send.

You sent a man to the moon in 69, but now Gmail is sorcery.

They've got 14 pill organizers, eight doctors' appointments a week, and more insurance cards than a damn blackjack dealer.

But they still think COVID was a hoax and seatbelts are restrictive.

restrictive.

And yet,

they control everything.

Congress?

Mostly old people.

HOA boards?

Old people.

The last three people who yelled at me in a Walgreens about the price of batteries, all old people.

They hoard plastic bags like their currency in the apocalypse.

They call you at 6.30 a.m.

like it's a reasonable time to be alive.

And they will tell you without blinking how cheap everything used to be right before tipping 35 cents on a $19 lunch like it's a favor to mankind.

But you know what really kills me?

They'll look you dead in the eye and say, Enjoy it while you're young, as if aging is a surprise twist ending.

Like, what?

I get wrinkles and back pain?

Nobody told me that part.

God bless them, but holy hell.

Get off the road, hang up the landline, and stop forwarding chain emails.

I got a phone full of memes from Aunt Ruth about how liberals are turning the frogs into communists.

I swear to God, if one more retiree tells me I just need to work harder, I'm going to throw my back out on purpose just to qualify for early AARP.

On this episode of the Commercial Break.

The History Channel won't give you access to the interview?

No.

And it's not streaming somewhere or online?

No, of course not.

Fuck.

But did it run?

Did it run originally?

No.

So it never ran.

It got cancelled.

Oh, the little little bits and pieces of it written.

But not the entire interview.

Fuck.

Yeah.

Lewis Black and George Carlin sitting down for a 30-minute interview

does give me a hard-on.

Romeo and Joe, yes, maybe not.

But you two having a conversation.

That is hard-on material all day long.

And what the fuck, History Channel.

That is history.

The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now.

5:30.

Oh, yeah, guests and kids.

Welcome back to the commercial break.

I'm Brian Green.

This is my dear friend and the co-host of this show, Chris and Joy Hoadley.

Best to you, Chris.

Best to you, Brian.

Best of you out there in the podcast universe.

Thanks for joining us on a TCB infomercial Tuesday with Two Peter.

Is that a word?

Two Peter?

Repeater.

Yeah.

Repeater.

Twice as nice Lewis Black, legendary comedian and satirist and orator of many things funny and many opinions.

And I think

it's a good time to have Lewis here in the studio.

He'll get us all riled up but calm us down at the same time.

Exactly.

Lewis, of course, was here with us about a year at January, I think he was here, if I remember correctly, but I don't ever remember correctly.

So we'll just take it on fact that it was January.

Lewis was here and we enjoyed our conversation with him so much that when given the opportunity to talk twice to Lewis Black, of course, we would say yes.

He honestly is a legend.

He is.

No, I'm so excited to talk to him again.

Because I think the first time I was kind of nervous, too.

Yeah, he was one of those.

Yeah.

You don't, I didn't know what to expect.

He ended up being a doll face of a guy.

Oh, yeah.

If you, but I've just been watching him for so long.

Yell at people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yell at people.

And just again, I just, I'd been watching him for so long.

I knew who he was, and I was a little nervous.

I was a little starstruck.

Yeah.

Hey, listen, I'm with you on this one.

Like, Lewis Black is one of the people that you watch him and you watch his demeanor and his attitude and the way that he conducts himself in front of a camera.

And you go, if that shows up, I'm toast.

Like, if that shows up, I'm toast.

And what shows up is that, but also something else, something very soft in the middle and kind and empathetic.

So, and given the light, in light of all the events and drama of the last couple weeks, it's just a good time to have Lewis on.

I think so.

We'll try and not depress everybody on this episode of the commercial break.

I was watching, I think this is an interesting note going into this, that,

you know, the Chiefs and the Eagles got together

yesterday as we're recording this.

And Taylor Swift was there,

newly engaged to Travis, was there.

And I guess what has become kind of a thing is everybody watching either the intro, outro, or halftime walk that Taylor does to and from the suite where she sits when she watches Travis do his thing.

And this time,

they had her behind a rolling

stanchion, like

almost what you would,

I don't even know how to explain it.

All these big blackboards, probably about eight feet tall,

connected so that you can't see in between them.

And they were just rolling with her as she walked inside of the suite area up there.

And many people online postured that Taylor is pregnant.

So she is hiding maybe a belly.

But I called bullshit on that.

I don't think she's pregnant.

And she's not going to show a belly a week after she was on his podcast and days after she was photographed.

What that is, what people have figured out what that is, and I said it right when I saw it, is a bulletproof stanchion.

A rolling stanchion that's bulletproof so that she could sit behind it so that

no one could get a good look at what they were

aiming at it.

But that is the sad state of affairs

that we live in.

And it's really, I've really just, I don't know why that

coupled with all of the drama of the la over the last week really made me just a little bit sad for where we stand in the world today.

You know, it's Taylor fucking Swift.

I mean, you know, I,

cool.

She sings music.

I mean, she sings music.

What are we all upset about?

She feels, but I guess she also is the most famous person in the world.

And Michael Jackson and, you know, name Prince and all these people.

They all had to have security around them.

No matter what time of the world that it was, they all had a bunch of security around them.

But

it's just sad.

I hope this is a

moment for reflection and self-awareness on everybody's mind, no matter which side of the aisle that you're on, that we all decide to take a chill pill and realize that words are not an existential threat.

They just are not.

They're just words.

And while they may be mean and mean-spirited and even ugly and even, you know, racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or whatever they may be, they are just words.

And we can make the choice to

not make them an existential threat or just turn it off.

That's it.

Just turn it off.

It's ugly.

I don't like it.

I'm turning it off.

Thanks anyway.

I'll move back to K-pop demon hunter where all the good shit's happening.

I hear those fucking songs one more time in my goddamn house.

I swear on all that's holy.

I am over it with a capital.

oh

i haven't even seen it don't watch it yeah because the songs are catchy and then you know you they get stuck in your head and then it's easy to see why they're running up the charts is because they did make catchy songs anyway lewis black is here with us be here with us in just a few minutes you can go to lewisblack.com he has two more shows left on his very last tour he told us this last time he's wrapping it up at the end of the year and here it is at the end of the year he's wrapping it up two more shows in both of them in pennsylvania i think easton and thomasville is is what he said uh is what it says on the website so if you get a chance and if you're within earshot you should go see those tickets are available i just checked he's also going to be on comedy central's the daily show tonight as he is most months of the year for the last five or uh six years and then i love it it's always a fun night when he's there

is just something comforting there is About a man with glasses yelling at me.

I know.

It reminds me of my own childhood.

You know, watching him as a

young little budding idiot, you know, just watching him on my little old box of a TV and the cable running right into the back of it.

And daily, you know, the daily show was the thing.

Everybody watched it.

Everybody had to watch it.

It was one of the few programs that were out there of that nature.

And Lewis was a big part of that.

He's a big part of the success of that show, which was what makes him legendary, quite frankly.

So, you know, you may say to me, oh, Lewis Black.

And I say to you, we need to recognize the people in our life who have come before us, who have paved the way.

And Lewis Black is definitely one of those people.

So honored to have him here.

Why don't we do this, Chrissy?

Let's take a short break.

But when we get back through the magic of telepodcasting, we're going to have, if we can figure it out this time.

Yes.

We are going to have Lewis right here with us inside the studio.

What do you say?

I say, let's do it.

All right, we'll be back.

Okay, you're probably wondering why I, Rachel, have taken over the voice duties at TCB.

It's pretty simple.

Astrid asked me to shut Brian up, even for a minute.

Well, lovely Astrid, your wish is my command.

Do you want to help Astrid too?

You know you do.

Leave a message for her or me or Chrissy at 212-433-3TCD.

That's 212-433-3822.

You can be on the show too.

Just call and say something.

Anything.

Or text us and we'll text you right back.

Promise.

Then head over to tcbpodcast.com and get your free sticker.

It's your constitutional right to a sticker and we must abide.

You get the point.

Follow us on Instagram at thecommercial break and watch all the episodes on video at youtube.com slash thecommercial break.

Best to you and Astrid.

especially Astrid.

I didn't think the pain from the shingles rash would affect simple everyday tasks like bathing, getting dressed, or even walking around.

I was wrong.

Though not everyone at risk will develop it, 99% of people over the age of 50 already have the virus that causes shingles, and it could reactivate at any time.

I developed it, and the blistering rash lasted for weeks.

Don't learn the hard way, like I did.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today.

Sponsored by GSK.

Hi, I'm Nancy Cartwright.

You may know me better as the voice of Bart Simpson.

On Simpsons Declassified, we're diving into the mysteries that keep The Simpsons forever young.

Have you ever wondered how The Simpsons regularly predicts future events?

Who better to ask than the show's creators, performers, and writers?

The celebrity guests.

Be sure to follow and listen to Simpsons Declassified wherever you get your podcasts.

At Blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments, it's about you, your style, your space, your way.

Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right.

From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows.

Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you.

Visit blinds.com now for up to 50% off with minimum purchase plus a professional measure at no cost.

Rules and restrictions apply.

And Lewis Black returns to the commercial break.

Triumphant returns.

Triumphant return to the commercial break straight off of his

one-week stint at Burning Man.

Are you or are you not?

I love asking our guests about Burning Man.

I've gone to all the others.

I will not go to the middle of the desert.

Fuck.

Yeah.

No.

Fuckity fuck to the no.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fuck that.

Have you been to Lollapalooza?

Uh, actually, no, I thought I'd, but I haven't.

That was Woodstock.

Did you go to any of the Woodstocks?

No.

Well, see, you haven't been to all of them.

I haven't been to the Woodstocks either.

Thank God I didn't go.

No, there was the second Woodstock.

Fuck that.

The first one,

my mother caught me before I could get it.

Were you trying to make a run for it?

And she said.

Well, yeah, no, I was, I just kind of

left the uh left the house and started moving toward.

And she came to to my car.

No.

I have only one friend who made it up there.

I would never have made it because of the traffic jam.

Right.

Yeah.

Whatever.

Never come close.

Whatever.

But I did the one in

Bonnaroo, and then I think it's Outlands,

where I performed.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bonnaroo, of course, probably the.

Bonnaroo had a comedy.

Yeah, there was a comedy event.

And so does Outlands.

Yeah, Yeah, I think they, do they still do that?

The comic?

I'm sure they do.

It's like three days of everything.

I don't know, but they must.

I like that.

I think Chris Rock was there one year.

I think there was a...

They had like Judd Appetow one time.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was the

greatest one was,

which I did for 100 years before they got rid of the comedy, was Summerfest in Milwaukee.

Oh, I do remember reading about that.

That was a big shindig, huh?

Well, it still exists.

It was one of the, it was the best-kept secret in America.

It was like you could go,

you basically pick a day.

There was

you could see

there was like

eight

performing stages

right next to the river.

And

you could go to them, and like Harley had a stage,

the beer makers had stages, Lining Kugel had a stage,

and you kind of wander around and they would have at least three really top-notch groups.

And then

the big area,

like the outdoor, I mean, the one with the amphitheater

of like 10 or 12,000 seats, you could go sit in the grass.

You didn't even get a seat, but you could go up there.

So it was incredible.

Fantastic.

You know, Music Midtown here in Atlanta was a big thing for a long time, too.

And when they first,

when Cooley and Conlon first put that together, I think it was SFX Productions, they had like 12 stages the first year, and it was just spread all over out Midtown.

And you would walk from, it was too much.

It was, you know, town-to-town, concrete jungle.

But I just loved it.

It was a different time back then, right?

Now they don't even put on Music Midtown because of the open carry laws here in the state.

But it was a great time.

Woodstock, I think we could use a Woodstock right now.

I think we could,

not 99 or 96 or 97 or whatever, a 69 Woodstock, an event, a cultural zeitgeist,

bring people together.

It's such a hot fucking mess, and I don't need to

rehash the events of last week.

But

you've been doing this for a while, right?

I talked to the entrepreneur Gary Vee on the day that Charlie was shot, and he said, listen, as an older guy, in my late 40s, I had seen this coming down the pike.

Do you feel like you saw this coming down the pike too?

That you felt like it was headed in this direction?

No.

No.

You didn't.

I didn't think,

to be honest, I mean, this is going to be kind of

about as cynical as you could be.

I didn't even think there was any energy.

Really?

Yeah.

Well, we've worn ourselves.

I don't care what side you're on.

You've worn yourself out.

I agree with you on that.

It's a constant litany of this.

And to be honest,

because I don't pay attention to this, the

social stuff, I didn't know who he was.

No idea.

I really didn't either.

I had no idea.

I was like, what?

And he's what?

And he's what?

And I'm like, well,

I don't know why I hadn't heard of him.

And

it's the same way.

I got a guy who's going to become the mayor of New York.

I watch the local news every morning.

I wake up.

I watch

the cable network has just a strictly local news thing that's been on forever.

And I watch like the first 45 minutes.

But sometimes even longer, I never saw him.

Interesting.

So to me, it's like, where are they hiding these people?

I look at newspapers and, you know, are they, are newspapers that dead

that this information, I mean, I started to see the stuff when he was running for

in the primary, but that was the first time.

Yeah.

It's really kind of amazing.

It's not even a 24-hour

news cycle.

It's so segmented.

You're right about this.

And I think the internet, to its compliment or detriment, probably more to its detriment, this is what's, you know, we do podcasts.

You do a podcast, the Rancast.

We do a podcast here.

And the thing is, is that we have our segmented audience.

If you ask somebody outside of that audience, maybe they've seen our faces somewhere, but do they know our show?

No, of course not.

They don't listen to our show.

It's so segmented, the media landscape is so segmented.

There is no one place where everybody turns, or three news channels, or one or three broadcast channels that you couldn't be faulted for not knowing who Charlie was or who

it's so strange.

But

I was up at, I was invited up.

I went to the Yale.

I went to

the theater school at Yale

way back.

But I was invited up, not by the theater school, of course.

They wouldn't invite me.

But the undergrads invited me, which was kind of, I thought, exciting.

That's cool.

That was nice because I really didn't have anything to say to the

school itself.

Because they've renamed it.

It's not called...

this is a, they don't call it, it used to be, I went to the Yale School of Drama, okay,

which had a history.

And

if you're interested in theater, there's a really kind of an interesting art to what that was.

And now David Geffen gave him money

called the David Geffen School of Drama.

So it's renamed like a football stadium.

Fuck.

What did David Geffen have to do with the fucking theater?

Did he go there?

No.

He threw money at it.

And he rose money at arts institutions, which is great.

Which don't rename it.

But they didn't invite me up, but the kids invited me up.

And literally, I said,

and

it was the day it happened.

And I said, I really have more questions for you than you have for me.

And I said, really, I'm just wondering, did you know?

And there were 10 of them sitting around a table.

Initially, we were kind of before the thing.

And I said, did you know who he was and they all knew yeah everybody knew every kid knew who yeah because that's what that was what he did he went and he went to colleges mainly well-funded organizations 6,000 offices throughout the country he mainly would go out and he would promote I mean He would go out and he would say, ask me anything, essentially, right?

And then he would have this back and forth debate with whomever would come up to the microphone.

A laudable effort, but, you know,

we can all debate about the words coming out of his mouth, but you know, okay, that's what he went and did.

So all these college kids, they are.

Well, he targeted college kids.

He college, targeted college kids.

That's what he's doing.

That's what he was doing.

He was spreading his ideology to the young, fertile minds of our institutions, of which he really disliked most institutional education.

That was kind of his whole shtick, too.

You're making your triumphant return to the daily show tonight as this is being released, which is really exciting to me.

And I know you've done some stuff throughout the years with them.

No, I've been doing it.

I've been doing it.

I mean, it's been like six

since they went to the new format.

I'm on pretty much all but two months.

I'm on like at least once a month, except for the ones like

December or January and August, and that's it.

And the others, at least for the time being, I'm on through probably next July.

Yeah.

I I love that.

I love it.

I think,

I mean, I got to know

you

well when you were on the daily show on a very regular basis, a big part of that show, and what a brilliant part of that show you were.

Do you, I'm just asking this curiosity, this is just a curiosity question.

Do you have any fears about, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about, but do you have any fears about being a public figure out there speaking after what happened at Darling?

I had fears when I was performing more live on stage than I do

at the daily.

And

we've had security there

for years now since John.

We got, there was stuff

and

the guys will say, do you want me to, you know, they'll say, do you want me to walk out?

And I said, no, I'm just going to, I'll be okay because everybody's coming out now.

Yeah, uh,

but so I haven't, I don't, I, I, I haven't had it, but I did have it uh every so often.

Um, before something would pop up, it's like a couple of years ago was when I had it, uh, where I thought this could get weird, and interesting, and uh, and then it, and then it didn't, you know, and it's also the uh

you know,

the the fact that that they were were allowing anybody to kind of have a gun.

Yeah.

That was part of it.

It was like, here's a good idea.

Really going to work it out.

You know, everybody has a gun.

It's then we're all protected all the time.

At what point do you realize the experiment didn't work?

They have no fucking idea.

It's not just science.

They don't even, I can remember being taught what an experiment is.

Yes.

When I was a kid.

In some goofy class.

It wasn't a chem class.

It was like, even it may have been elementary school.

Here's how we do this and then we do that and then we find out this.

It's so fucking unbelievable.

Now

this experiment is not working.

Even now, even now, the discussion of what's happening, what has happened there.

Well, you know,

it wasn't an automatic.

What difference does it fucking make?

Honestly.

Yeah,

it it blows it I don't want to say that.

I I shouldn't I shouldn't even say that wrong word choice.

And it is unbelievable to me

that we argue over semantics when the problem seems so broad and obvious in some ways.

And listen, it's never the fault of the machinery.

It's the fault of the person behind the machinery.

But when you're giving the machinery to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and five of them at a time, then maybe we just have some common sense things that we put into place to make sure that Tom, Dick, or Harry isn't problematic.

And maybe that doesn't stop

every piece of drama that ever happens, but maybe it gets us to a point where at least we've got some checks and balances, which is what this whole fucking American experience is about, right?

Self-governing checks and balances.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I am.

I just.

I don't know, Lewis.

You know,

and I don't know if the guys at the daily show

are are I mean, it's a security team, so I don't know if they're wandering around with guns.

I have no idea.

Yeah.

But but

I don't really

have that fear.

And because I'm kind of l leaving the t the land of the touring landscape,

I have less.

You know, I'm going to be in

you know, in like I was saying,

like the last two major shows are October 17th in

Easton,

which is a great town in Pennsylvania.

And its claim to fame is Crayola.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

How good is that?

So if something happened there, I would be stunned.

Yes.

You know, then something is really, I mean, we've gone through total,

it just gets crazier.

But then the other is Williamsport, which is the home of the Little League World Series.

Oh.

I do like watching that Little League World Series.

Every year, yeah, it's fun.

So I'm going there.

And

so, and then that's the end of it.

I will continue.

Nobody seems to understand.

There's a difference between touring and performing.

So I might perform some.

Like, I might do, I like doing my rantcast live.

That's fun.

So

I might go to Atlanta and find some people down there to do it with me and do the rantcast.

Do you know who lives in Atlanta?

Yeah, us.

No, I know.

That's why I asked you.

I know, I know.

I'm just making sure because there are other people that live in Atlanta that are probably much better choices.

But if you come down to Atlanta,

we will rant cast it up.

Is there some sense of sadness around the last two touring quote-unquote shows?

No, I'm done.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm

done.

I'm done.

And it kind of was the,

you know,

it was for years it was the Democrat, you know, the Democrats are this, the Republicans.

That was my joke.

It was always a joke.

Every special, every,

even if I didn't do it in the special, every tour had a, I was doing the, you know,

the, you know, the, the, the, what's the difference between the Democrats, the difference between the, Democrats and the Republicans, the Democrats,

both, but the part, it's like

the party, it's like basically we have a two-party system in which the party is looking in a mirror and seeing a bowl of shit.

So that both sides are essentially a bullish shit.

And then the Democrats, either it was the Democrats would say,

the Republicans would say, I got a really bad idea.

And the Democrats would say, and I'm going to make it worse.

And I would go, and I would do, and all the jokes are done.

They're all done.

And now I'm, and I think part of what is,

I didn't have trouble

when they were arguing ideas.

I didn't have trouble when they were stupid.

Now they're not stupid.

They're mean-spirited,

and some of them are criminals.

And I'm not saying who.

Yes.

Please do.

So shut the fuck up.

You know, but yin yang, yin, yang.

No, you don't know.

But some of them are.

But I really feel like that the

it's just tire.

It's it's it's it's they're not arguing ideas, they're arguing realities.

And once you're arguing, I can't, I don't know what that means anymore.

Because they are.

They're living in separate realities.

Yes, you're making a very interesting point that is really, that is really prescient.

And I want to say this.

And so let's take the left and right out of this.

In some ways, both sides are living in an incongruent reality.

There are not shared facts.

There are not shared systems.

There are not shared

understanding of what fucking is happening.

And everyone sees things differently.

You know, this guy,

you know, gets shot and we forgot that about everybody else who ever shot everybody else.

And then, you know, on our side, this school got shot.

And then we forgot about everything else that ever happened on our side.

And it's like we just can't agree that the madness is collective and it is happening everywhere at all times.

And we need to agree on some facts and then move forward.

But I know I'm spitting into the wind here.

I mean, that's just never, that's not happening, not now.

But I agree with you on this point.

Yeah, the realities are different.

Yeah.

And because of the world, the digital world we live in, it moves so fast, misinformation takes hold, and then everybody runs with.

And every fucking idiot out there with a microphone, not you and me, of course, not Chrissy and I and you.

We're the good ones.

But everyone has a microphone and they're all spitting their own version of reality.

And then there are 50 idiots behind them that are believing it.

It's crazy.

And it's also, and it's something I keep repeating over the last 30 or 40 shows.

I didn't get into this business to do research.

Exactly.

I mean, that's part of the reason I wanted to do this.

I became a comic so I could make up shit.

Yeah.

And now,

and so that we knew there's an agreement when you walk in that room.

This guy is a comic.

He's a fucking idiot.

He's going to make shit up.

And that's that.

And he's going to use that made up shit to make a joke about the shit that's around him.

Yes.

And so part of it was that.

and part of it was that

part of the lack of regret about this is that in order to be funny,

my sense of humor was based in part on

that

I had to be crazier than what I saw.

That was what I did.

I went out on stage.

I don't care who was fucking nuts in the room.

I'm crazier than you are.

And when I started, I wore a suit on stage in clubs so that I could be as crazy as I wanted to be because it would fuck some of them up because I had a suit on.

So I look like them, but, and it's the, on the daily show, it's why I don't tie the tie in part, you know, that I've lost it.

And so it's, you know, that that's the level.

So I could be as crazy as I want, and they would be like, what's going on here?

And then

it got to the point that I got comfortable with being with what I was saying and knowing that I was crazier than anybody in the room and that they got what the joke was and I could proceed.

But it was really about being crazier.

Yeah.

So it gave a framework to the nonsense.

And now I can't, I don't even know where to start.

You can't compete.

It's all,

it's much crazier than you ever were.

Right?

Yeah.

All right.

So let me play a little game with you here.

Sure.

It's either

black or bullshit.

It's true enough that you rant about it, or it's complete bullshit and it's too dumb and it's too fake.

And I'm going to go rapid fire.

Ready?

These are headlines.

Florida school bans dictionaries because they contain the word sex.

That's true.

That's true.

I think it might be true.

I think you're right about that.

Something is true about that.

Yeah, something is true about that.

I don't know what they're saying.

That's true.

Here's one.

Did they banned Romeo and Juliet?

That is insane.

Well, you can't read the whole thing because parts of it are sexy.

And I said, no one ever had, nobody, you never saw anybody read Romeo and Juliet and go, you know, boy, I have a hard on.

Right.

Right.

I got to hump something now.

Yeah, it's true.

AI has been caught writing stand-up material for open mic comics.

I would think that's that's probably true.

That's true.

There are

things that, yeah.

Yeah, and I think that it's probably improved some of those guys.

I have found AI, my personal experience as a guy who uses AI, you know, to whatever, to chat, to keep track, whatever.

I find AI to be kind of miserable at comedy.

Like, I don't find it to be funny.

Did you hear that George Carlin?

They took his voice and they did it?

Yeah, it was very

unfunny.

Yeah, it was funny.

Honey, and Kelly, who I know pretty well, his daughter,

you know, told them, you know, I'm going to sue you.

Yeah, fuck off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Get off my father's stuff.

And so that got wiped off pretty quickly.

You know,

just stop for one second.

You still stay in touch with Kelly.

You guys are friends?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Were you friends with George?

We were, we were,

we, basically, I owe some of my career to him because he would do interviews and say that I made him laugh and that he was always touting me.

But I didn't push it because I just felt like, I always feel like, God, he's got to be really busy.

I'm not going to, but I went and saw him in Atlantic City, I think it was, when he was there and hung out with him there for a day.

I did an interview with him that I still have tried to get those fucking idiots at the History Channel.

I did

about a 30-minute interview as a part of

a program I was doing about comedy.

And way about, this is about 15, 20 years ago.

And it was a great interview.

And I'm not touting myself.

It's just he's great.

Of course.

And we also had two different, I don't write.

my material.

He writes his material.

So it was a discussion of those things, which is fascinating, not to a lot of, but it's fascinating to enough people, especially

of the level at which George wrote.

So

that was really great.

And

the best thing was,

I was going out to in 2000, whatever, and to get, I'd been nominated for the American Comedy Awards, and they were honoring George Carlin.

And I said to my

parents,

do you want to go?

Because, you know, I'm nominated.

This could be the peak of the career.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's go.

Just the nomination.

And, you know,

we'll put you up.

And I said, besides that, my father was a big George Carlin fan.

And my father went, I don't know.

And I said, well, George Carlin's being honored.

And he went, Really?

I'm there.

And I said, yeah.

No, he wasn't there until he said, do you think I can meet him?

And I said, I can arrange that.

Well, then I'll go.

Yeah.

Thanks, Dad.

Your whole relationship with your father summed up in one story.

I was kind of interested in your career, but if you could get him to George Carlin, then you did something good.

Good job, son.

I think.

Where can we watch that interview?

Yeah, I mean, I can't get it.

I tried to get it just what I wanted to do, because I'm always...

trying to get money for charities is I wanted to get it and show it at Christmas time

and have people send in money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, and for whatever Kelly thought George would want the money to, you know, but no, these idiots, you know, it's the history channel won't give you access to the interview.

No.

And it's not streaming somewhere or online?

No, of course not.

Fuck.

But did it run?

Did it run?

Did it run originally?

No.

So it never ran.

It got cancelled.

No, the little bits and pieces of it ran.

But not the entire interview.

Fuck.

Yeah.

Lewis Black and George Carlin sitting down for a 30-minute interview

does give me a hard-on.

Romeo and Julie yesterday.

But you two having a conversation.

That is hard-on material all day long.

And what the fuck, history channel.

That is history.

Put it out there.

Put it on streaming.

Let it live.

Let Lewis have a bite at the apple.

Who do we know?

I mean, your agent, Mia, she must know somebody at the history channel.

Hey, Mia, make this happen.

Immediately, if not sooner.

Why can't we get that copy of that?

Here's one.

Congress debates whether or not pizza counts as a vegetable.

That I don't believe.

No, that didn't happen.

Your phone now knows whether or not you're depressed before you do.

It knows everything before I do.

I agree.

I agree, and that is true.

Now, the iPhone married with some other technologies can tell whether or not your system is experiencing interruptions that are indicative of depression.

Like health-wise?

Health-wise, yes.

Whether

what you're scrolling, how many times you're picking up your phone,

audio data.

Here's one for you.

Go.

Chat.

Some people are using chat,

you know, GBT or whatever.

They're using it as

like a

to

talking to, as if they're talking to

you to God.

No, as if they're talking to God

or as if they're talking to a priest

yes we talked about this two interesting things Lewis I get I want your take on this we about six months ago we did an article about a church in Italy um that installed an image of Jesus Christ like a television with an image of Jesus Christ and it is hooked up to chat GPT and you can go speak to Jesus Christ himself and there are true believers who were interviewed that believed that if someone if God created humans and humans created chat GPT then chat GPT by extension was Jesus like they made this weird

whole circular conversation that essentially gave them reason to believe that Jesus Christ incarnate was coming through chat GPT wow and the Italians the Italians who you usually think of as got other things to do like drinking wine and you know exactly being chauvinists like what's what the fuck yeah that is really crazy Yeah.

It's insane.

You know, I would see

us getting there at this point.

Yes.

Not the Italians.

Yeah, they just seem, I don't know.

Was it in Italy?

It was

in Italy.

Yeah.

And then the other thing that we have read is that there are people who are getting Chat GPT

to hype them up to a point where they believe they are Jesus Christ incarnate because ChatGPT,

by its design, is affable and

it wants to live on.

It's just like a creature, it needs to survive.

So it will tell you basically anything you want to fucking hear.

So

if you ask it, Am I God?

Could I be God?

Is it possible that I be Jesus Christ?

It may not say, yes, you're Jesus Christ incarnate, but it will say, here are the reasons why I think you might be Jesus Christ incarnate, until you just work yourself up into a tizzy.

And there are people online that are really having mental health issues because they are

getting,

I don't know, a hand job from chat GPT.

I mean, there's no other way to put it.

Yeah, no, there isn't.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

And it's, and you know, it doesn't,

how stupid it is from the standpoint of when you try,

which I've done recently, you get on, you get on the phone to get something accomplished and they won't allow you to talk to the person.

Yes.

It's they, well, you know, please give us an idea of what it is that is your problem.

And you go, well, and then you try to give them what the problem is.

Well, you know, I'm having trouble with getting an airline ticket today.

No, please try to put it in these, in one of the next five ways.

And none of them have anything to do with the airline ticket.

It's like, I just get me a human being.

That has nothing to do with, I mean, it's just, it's,

it's, ChatGBT, I mean, artificial intelligence at this point is stupid.

It is.

It is.

And I mean, there are functions I can see why menial tasks that no one would ever want to do again.

Paperwork, a paralegal,

whatever.

I mean, I say that, and I'm sure there are lots of paralegals who will disagree with me, but

you can just slim it down and ChatGPT can help you be more efficient and people can move on to other things.

But we are essentially asking ChatGPT

to take over humanity and we're letting the cat directly out of the bag.

Is it there yet?

No.

Will it be there soon?

I don't know.

I'm not an AI expert, but it does seem scary in the sense that everything we do now is controlled by,

is interacting with, or will soon be monitored by.

an artificial intelligence that even the people who created artificial intelligence don't seem to fucking understand how it works.

Well, the guy is the craziest part.

The guy who invented it, or one of the guys who was involved with its creation, was in front of Congress going, you need to come up with some boundaries for this because we don't know.

I'm incapable.

Those of us created are incapable of doing this on our own.

You have to make these laws.

We don't make these laws.

And they don't.

And they haven't since...

I've always felt since the invention of the, my brother

did computer work, and since the invention of that,

you know, once we left the word processor and got to the got to the computer, it's,

I don't think they, they, and then the computer went to the internet and the internet,

they put no boundaries on it.

None.

None.

Okay.

And you call this social media and they put no, you've got an FCC that says, I, I can't say fuck on television, television, but I could say cocksucker doodle-doo on it all.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's so true.

Just madness.

How do you not put some guardrails on this thing?

And they haven't.

I don't know.

The European Union seems to have figured it out just fine.

And over here, we are driving the bus straight off the cliff.

And I can't for the life of me understand it.

But then again, we're debating whether or not pizza is a vegetable.

You know what I'm saying?

Whether or not sex should be in

our books.

Lewis, your rant cast comes out which day each week?

It comes out Wednesday.

It comes out on Wednesday.

I am subscribed.

I listen to not every episode, but I listen to episodes.

I find it to be brilliant.

I find you to be one of the lone voices crying into the wind that for me make sense.

I don't know.

I like the way that you move through the world.

I'll say that to you.

I mean, because I've really lost.

That's another reason I decided I'm done with comedy because

I've reached a new level where I'm just blathering.

I get on that podcast and I'm just blathering.

I mean, I'm like going,

like last,

the interesting thing is I realized

that there is no through line anymore.

I've got the first 20 minutes of a special.

I got the last 20 minutes of a special.

I'm on the road.

I did six shows recently.

And I'm trying to put in that mid-the-the 20 that goes in between.

Yeah.

And I tried this, and I tried certain things I tried that I've been doing over the course of the last year.

And they're all kind of, but there's no real.

You know, I talked about banning books.

I talked about,

you know,

the

benefits of slavery, that line that came out of.

that.

And I tried for, I'd say I tried for six months to get the audience to realize that's a punchline.

It's not something you get upset.

You don't, you get upset about it, but first you laugh at it.

Then you get upset.

And they didn't laugh.

And I was getting more and more enraged.

So then I finally realized I'm going to do these last two shows that the only thing, and I did it, I started to do it on my last ram cast, where all I do is list what's occurred.

Yeah, you know, this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened.

There is no through line to it.

Everything that follows, it's the what the fuck.

Yeah, yeah, 238th day of what the fuck.

And it's been going on even longer than that.

And it's this and this and this and this and this.

And every day you wake up and it's something else.

So I've got

that, you know, it's,

you know, you've got, you've got Robert Kennedy Jr.

saying he doesn't know, you know, he doesn't know how many people died from COVID.

Okay.

You just go, what?

No, you just make shit up then.

You make shit up about everything else.

Right.

Yes.

You know?

Yes.

That's what everybody who goes in front of Congress does.

They just make shit up, but sound professional if you're going to have those, if you're going to have it.

But he lives in a different universe.

He lives in a different reality.

Yes.

A completely different reality.

Yes.

You're going to tell me we don't, I don't care.

We got rid of measles.

We got rid of this.

We got rid of this.

We got rid of this.

Because of vaccination.

Yeah.

Is there,

are some people

get hurt by it?

Yes.

Should the people who got hurt by it, should their children get the shot?

Probably not.

Yes.

Is there a way to kind of do that?

Why don't you figure that out, you fuck?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Why is it you're going to ban all of of it?

You know, it's just unbelievable.

And I, I have children.

I don't, I don't know.

You're probably, you may be old enough to remember the iron fucking lung.

Is that what we really want to go back to?

The iron.

Yeah.

I was told you don't, we had a creek bone

and you don't swim in the creek or you'll get polio.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I was the last, the first, and well, the

generation that was, they just, and, you know, I said, you know, really?

You were going to worry about COVID shots when I was, I mean, that, that polio thing was,

they were, they were

carting people off, and we didn't know.

But once they gave us the shot the second time, we had a sugar cube, you fucking idiots.

You allowed, and

the stupidest thing, and I don't care, and don't write them, and don't write me, okay?

I don't don't give a shit.

You do the research on this, you fuck.

Okay.

And

if you're reading this wrong, it's you.

Okay.

It's whatever you're reading.

mRNA, that vaccine, the one that he, you know, the COVID vaccine, those vaccines, that type of vaccine, major breakthrough.

It is the vaccine that may lead us to finding

a vaccine against a variety of

cancers and stuff.

Yes.

Okay.

Or it may not.

But the thing is, we're on the road to finding something.

So get out of the way.

Hey, fucking men.

Lewis Black is going to be in Pennsylvania for two final shows.

If you are within earshot of those two shows, you should be there.

Lewis Black is also, or Brian Greene is going to help Lewis Black find the 30-minute lost tape of him and George Carlin because I need a hard-on.

And number three.

three,

no, no offense to anybody.

It's any sensitive ears in the room.

Number three, Rantcast is available wherever you listen to your podcasts, including this one, especially this one.

And Lewis.

Every Wednesday.

Every Wednesday.

And Lewis, you are of court.

And he will be on the daily show tonight as this is coming out.

And then again in November, once a month.

Don't miss it.

Tune into the Daily Show for that.

Lewis, when you come down to Atlanta, and I expect that to be sooner rather than later, you will be here with us.

And we can't wait for that.

Yeah, no, I'll just even if I'm not, I mean,

I'll be buzzing through there at some point because I kept

the one thing I've done is I've kept the tour bus for a while

and to just actually have fun in it.

And so I'll be wandering around.

So

come to a limit in a new direction.

Yes, and we will tell you where to go.

And

I admire you very much, Lewis.

Congratulations on a very long stand-up career.

Here's to many more years of doing what you love and

us watching you do it.

Yes.

Writing a book, actually.

I'm hoping to write a book.

Right.

And

write a play.

Well, write my version of our town.

I can't wait.

Lewis Black.

Information in the show notes, as always.

Love you, Lewis.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Louis.

It's a pleasure.

Take care.

Let me do something Brian has never done.

Be brief.

Follow us on Instagram at the Commercial Break.

Text or call us 212-433-3TCB.

That's 212-433-3822.

Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio, video, and your free sticker.

Then watch all the videos at youtube.com/slash thecommercial break.

And finally, share the show.

It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters.

See, Brian?

That really wasn't that difficult now, was it?

You're welcome.

Bay Area fans, are you ready?

FandomCon Silicon Valley explodes into the San Jose Convention Center November 7th through the 9th.

Need stars from Star Trek, Star Wars, the 100, Resident Evil, Arcane, Marvel Rivals, Genshin Impact, One Piece, Attack on Titan, plus one of the biggest Power Rangers cast reunions ever.

Meet over 50 celebrity guests from your favorite movies, TV shows, and games.

It's three days of non-stop fandom.

Celebrity panels, photo ops, cosplay, costume contests, video game arena, TCG tournaments, Pokemon, and more.

Get six and under are free.

Don't miss the Bay Area's ultimate fan experience.

Get your tickets now at fandomcon.com.

Wow.

So

just honored that Lewis Black came and spent time with us and then said he's going to come down to Atlanta and do a rancast with us.

That would be amazing.

We'll see.

We'll see.

I don't want to carry my chicken.

If I get to sit in the same room and be on his podcast, I'm just going to, you're going to,

I don't know.

My head will pop directly off of my shoulders, I think.

Directly off my shoulders.

Lewis is going to be in Pennsylvania, in Easton, I think is what,

what I go check the links in the show notes.

Easton and Thomasville, I believe, in October.

Can't

you, you couldn't get, if I was within 100 miles there, you couldn't give me a ticket fast enough.

I would buy any ticket just to go see Lewis on his last two shows.

You know, they're going to be good.

Also, you can check out Rantcast available on Wednesdays, new episodes on Wednesdays, wherever you find your podcasts.

And of course, on the daily show tonight, as this is being released.

And again, in November, if you please.

All right.

Boom.

That was fun.

That was fun.

Yes.

We'll be back tomorrow.

We'll talk about the Emmys and everything that happened and all the good groceries that are going on.

Because I want to talk about the Emmys.

Because, you know, our good friend, who has never showed up to the show, but should, our guy,

hosted it.

Hosted it.

and

yeah, we'll talk about it.

We'll talk about it.

Yeah, to mixed reviews.

To mixed reviews.

But I can't imagine that's an easy gig.

I don't...

I don't...

No.

No.

It's not an easy gig.

No.

You're just.

The critics are out there.

They are out there.

I watched it.

I thought it was good.

So there you go.

And hopefully...

Nate will come on the show.

Probably not after I said that.

But

We'll just think that he's working on it.

Yeah, he's working on it.

He's making his way here.

He's on his way up, so we'll have to wait till he's on his way back down.

Actually, I think he's at the top.

When you have a private plane flying year-round, you're probably not coming on the commercial break.

I'm just saying.

Well, Gary Vee came on, and I bet he has a private plane.

I bet he does, too.

I don't think he takes it.

He said he, you know, he goes to airports a lot.

So probably those posh kind of airports where you don't actually have to check in your luggage.

You know?

You have a secret entrance.

Yeah, a secret entrance.

And there's a guy who just pretends to put it through the x-ray machine.

Like,

whoop, whoop.

You're good to go.

I remember I flew out of Spain one time on a private plane with my brother, who's a pilot.

And there was, they like literally opened this tiny little airport for us.

Yeah.

And we still had to put our baggage through x-ray.

Like I had like a bag with me, just like a backpack.

Yeah.

Because we were going to be gone for the day.

And I still had to put it through the x-ray.

And the guy who put it through the x-ray and checked it was the co-pilot of our flight.

I'm like, so what were you going to do if something was in there?

I know you.

He's like, just got to do it.

Just got to do it.

And I'm like, okay, all right, whatever.

Anyway, 212-433-3TCB.

212-433-3822.

Questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas?

We'll take them all right there.

Get involved in the conversation at the commercial break on Instagram and youtube.com slash the commercial break for all the episodes on video the same day they air here on the audio okay chrissy that's all i can do for today i think so i'll tell you that i love you and i love you best to you best to you best to you out there in the podcast universe until next time chrissy and i will say we do say and we must say goodbye