Popular and prolific angry comedian Lewis Black will say farewell at his Sunday show at Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead. His “Goodbye Yeller Brick Road” tour may be his last hurrah in Pittsburgh, but it won’t be the last we see of him.
“There are other things I want to do,” Black said in a phone interview. “I’m still going to perform, but I won’t be doing any kind of full tour. It got to the point where I had to tell people because there was an expectation that I was coming back. And now I have to tell people this is it. And I want to say goodbye. And if they don’t want to say goodbye, I’ll just say goodbye to the theater.”
Known for his rage-filled rants about politics, current events and the human condition, Black has been a mainstay on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” for almost three decades with his “Back in Black” segments, which will continue (with the potential for some time in the host chair, as well). He has won two Best Comedy Album Grammy Awards, written three best-selling books and appeared in numerous TV and film roles. Those roles include the voice of Anger in the 2015 Pixar film “Inside Out,” and he reprises that role in the sequel, “Inside Out 2,” which will be released this year.
Black has released numerous stand up specials, the most recent of which, “Tragically, I Need You,” is available on YouTube.
“I always said that I would work until I wasn’t learning something while I was onstage, and that isn’t the reason I’m retiring — because I’m still learning stuff from the audience,” he said.
The 75-year-old pivoted to stand up full time in the 1980s after spending his career as a playwright in New York City. Returning to playwriting is one opportunity he’s looking forward to once he’s retired from touring. He’s also mulling a new book based on his writing and work from over the years.
Another future focus for him will be his podcast, “Lewis Black’s Rantcast,” where he reads rants submitted by listeners — and adds some rants of his own.
“Really, the driving force is reading those rants,” he said. “I’ve thought since the beginning that it was important that people could get anything off their chest. No matter what you’re yelling about — if you’re yelling about peanut butter, you’re not just yelling about peanut butter but 20,000 other things that are irritating you.”
Getting to hear that anger straight from the source holds meaning for him. “It’s not some politician saying ‘I met a woman named Shirley who said this.’ No, you didn’t. It’s better to hear the voice of the person and not some putz politician.”
Speaking of politics, Black didn’t hesitate when asked about the current political landscape. “I used to make a joke anytime I did a special, that if you think it was crazy yesterday, wait for tomorrow. It’s happened. It gets stupider, dumber, crazier. … Now I’ve got to use the word ‘cray cray.’ It’s cray cray to the fifth power.”
Black, a native of Silver Spring, Md., has fond memories of Pittsburgh, even if the Pirates did beat his Orioles in the 1979 World Series. “The first time I got there, I thought, wow, this is pretty neat. And then when I really went back and spent time, I thought, people are dissing this city and they shouldn’t.” He’s especially a fan of The Andy Warhol Museum and Primanti Bros., though he claims the out-of-state franchises just don’t make sandwiches as good as the Pittsburgh stores.
It’s seeing places like Pittsburgh that he’ll miss most about traveling the United States in a tour bus. “I’ll miss the people, the towns, seeing it all … watching it change, watching it grow,” he said wistfully.
Black’s comedic persona may be full of rage and cynicism, but he seems optimistic about the direction of the country after the pandemic. “Yes, it’s screwed up,+ and there’s an inflation problem, but every town I’ve been in, especially during the pandemic, has boomed in terms of building. Every city has better food, better this, better that.
“We’ve matured, on some level. We’re idiots, but we’ve matured,” he added.
Lewis Black will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 10 at the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead, as part of his farewell tour. It is sold out.
Alexis Papalia is a TribLive staff writer. She can be reached at apapalia@triblive.com.