Welcome to a collection of wit and wisdom from the sharp-tongued comedian, Lewis Black. With his trademark blend of sarcasm, cynicism, and observational humor, Lewis Black has carved out a unique niche in the world of comedy. Known for his animated delivery and unapologetic rants on everything from politics to everyday frustrations, Black offers a refreshingly honest perspective that resonates with audiences far and wide.
Throughout his career, Lewis Black has delivered a plethora of memorable quotes that encapsulate his irreverent take on life’s absurdities. Whether he’s dissecting the absurdities of modern technology or skewering political hypocrisy, Black’s insights are always incisive and often hilarious. As you delve into the collection below, prepare to laugh, nod in agreement, and perhaps even find a new favorite quip to share with friends. So, without further ado, let the wit and wisdom of Lewis Black inspire and entertain you!
I think the only reason you visit an Apple store is because you wonder what life is like on another planet. Lewis Black
I watch some CNN and a lot of Fox, because it helps me get irritated. Lewis Black
What you don’t do, if you’re an adult, is decide that you’re going to budget things through a sequester. What does that word have to do with budgeting? It’s like if you have a family budget and go, ‘We really don’t know what to take out economically from the budget, so we’re going to whack out protein for this week.’ Lewis Black
I started playing golf when I was a kid, because across the street from where we lived there was a little nine-hole golf course where my father worked. Lewis Black
I’m a Jew. Lewis Black
Online, there’s no time. It’s always Christmas. Lewis Black
When a country wants television more than they want clean water, they’ve lost their grip. Lewis Black
You’re on Facebook, and these people seem to have endless lives. I don’t have time to live my life, let alone tell you what I’m doing, or post a photo. Lewis Black
I’ve always really liked theater. It fascinated me. You can create a reality and get people involved in that reality. It takes place in real time. Lewis Black
I think that I don’t panic as much as the folks on the left or the right do. I don’t have that sense of panic. Lewis Black
The fine line that you do when you do political comedy is, as long as you have that laugh, you’re fine. Lewis Black
Parenting isn’t just parenting your own child. Lewis Black
I believe that summer is our time, a time for the people, and that no politician should be allowed to speak to us during the summer. They can start talking again after Labor Day. Lewis Black
I am angry that the Democrats don’t have the ability to explain to Republicans that we should be able to feed people in this country, and that is not socialism. Lewis Black
Everybody’s always asking me about my blood pressure. They did an interview once where they hooked me up to a blood pressure machine and they’d rile me. I’d yell and scream, and then it would just go back to normal in a few minutes. Everything else is probably rotting, but the blood pressure is spectacular. Lewis Black
You realize that for all the shenanigans that go on in the big circus of politics, everybody wakes up and goes to work. Lewis Black
My touring has never stopped; from the time I started doing stand-up, I’ve been on the road. Lewis Black
What I find most disturbing about Valentine’s Day is, look, I get that you have to have a holiday of love, but in the height of flu season, it makes no sense. Lewis Black
My father worked at the Naval Ordnance Lab, and they had a nine-hole course on the property. You paid a quarter. Lewis Black
It’s absolutely stupid that we live without an ozone layer. We have men, we’ve got rockets, we’ve got saran wrap – fix it! Lewis Black
Republicans and Democrats can barely do what they’re supposed to do, and they sure can’t do math! Lewis Black
When people come to my act any time after Thanksgiving, I usually say, You shouldn’t be here. You should be shopping. Our economy depends on you! You should be out there buying stuff.’ Lewis Black
If I get a week off, I’ll go to a hotel that has a golf course. I like to come downstairs and go right onto the course. I’ll do that five days in a row. Lewis Black
And I know this happens because I took economics, and I’d explain it to ya, but I flunked that course. Not my fault. They taught it at 8 o’clock in the morning. And there is absolutely nothing you can learn out of one bloodshot eye. Lewis Black
I get an idea about something. I just start thinking about it, and then I get onstage and I talk about it, and then I think about it some more and talk about it some more, and think about it some more and talk about it some more, until it starts to take a shape. Lewis Black
I love anything that gets me outside of my own head. Lewis Black
Usually I’m too tired to apologize. Lewis Black
The kids say golf taught them this and that. I get it with the military: A guy joins the military because he needs discipline and has to find himself. But don’t tell me, ‘Golf helps you find yourself.’ I’ve been playing my whole life, and I’m still looking for myself. Lewis Black
Being a playwright is like the equivalent of doing a jigsaw puzzle that has 1,500 pieces, and it’s a jigsaw of a blue sky. Not a cloud in sight. Lewis Black
This is how sad my life is: I got a scar from scratching my chicken pox too much. That’s my big scar story. I really have no major scars. Lewis Black
You look at my audience, and it proves what Congress thinks America is, is wrong. I get people across the political spectrum. Parents and kids come and they’re all punked out, and there are these other guys in John Deere caps. Lewis Black
In my lifetime, we’ve gone from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. We’ve gone from John F. Kennedy to Al Gore. If this is evolution, I believe that in twelve years, we’ll be voting for plants. Lewis Black
The whole Valentine’s thing is fine, but you don’t back it up right next to the biggest gift-giving holiday of the year. Unbelievable. And we find it acceptable. Lewis Black
For a while, I thought the great disappointment of my life was that I don’t have a family of my own. Then it dawned on me: That’s not what I think; that’s what married people think. Lewis Black
I think one reason people play golf is it allows them to obsess about something other than the daily crap. It takes your mind off that. Lewis Black
Self-love is a big part of golf. Lewis Black
I’m amazed that anyone is interested in what I have to say. Lewis Black
I do the same gig. I might change it a little; I might slow it down if I’m in the South. I talk fast, and they’re not used to people talking that fast. Lewis Black
My problem has always been with authority, and I’m sure if anybody understands that, it’s people in uniform. Lewis Black
You don’t want another Enron? Here’s your law: If a company, can’t explain, in one sentence, what it does… it’s illegal. Lewis Black
The worst thing about Halloween is, of course, candy corn. It’s unbelievable to me. Candy corn is the only candy in the history of America that’s never been advertised. And there’s a reason. All of the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911. And so, since nobody eats that stuff, every year there’s a ton of it left over. Lewis Black
Socialism appeals to me. It’s like imposed Christianity. You’ve got to share. Lewis Black
Kids seem to get me when I play colleges – they like it because I go after them. They’ll come up after and say I am like their dads, only funny. Lewis Black
Democrats are dumb and Republicans are stupid, but the difference between dumb and stupid is dumb isn’t funny. Dumb is when you say something and the whole room goes, ‘What did he say?’ Lewis Black
The fear of health care changing is beyond belief. Like there’s a way to make the system worse. Really? Lewis Black
People would be a lot better off if they’d enjoy being single. Lewis Black
I’m not a great joke writer, which is odd for a comic to say, but I’m not. Lewis Black
There should be a law that you can’t shut down the government – that you don’t have that power. Lewis Black
Political audiences are not fun. Lewis Black
If we’re not going to tax the rich anymore, we’re going to create class warfare. Lewis Black
I like college football, but I’m a huge college basketball fan. I could sit and watch every game of March Madness and be happy. That could be a vacation. Lewis Black
The people we elect aren’t bipartisan. The American public is bipartisan. Lewis Black
You got to be just stupid to not be focused on alternative energy. Lewis Black
If you’re going to vote for somebody because you think they have a great faith in God, you’d better be sure that God has faith in them. Lewis Black
I like indoor Christmas trees. And I like people who decorate their homes with lights and all that crap. I think it’s a healthy outlet for them. If they weren’t covering their lawns with twinkling lights, they’d be doing something that was really, really creepy. Lewis Black
I’ve been very lucky. There are guys I know who are really terrific in this business of stand-up who have not gotten the recognition they deserve. And it’s nice, if you’ve put in the time, to achieve that recognition. Lewis Black
The Democrats have responded to the Republicans’ lack of dealing with reality by truly not dealing with reality, either. Lewis Black
It took forever for me to get work because I was a political comic, and now it’s become good business, and God knows how long that’ll last. You have to do it night after night after night to kind of make it. I still find myself on ‘Piers Morgan’ or on some show and I think, ‘I hope this is funny.’ Lewis Black
What I’ve found in my career is that 70 to 75 percent of comics are nice and have some sense of social skills, but there are those who end up in comedy because they don’t know how to socialize. I don’t want to deal with that group. Lewis Black
When it comes to idiots, America’s got more than its fair share. If idiots were energy, it would be a source that would never run out. Lewis Black
It’s a big thing now: A lot of people want to be assistants to celebrities. If you’re pursuing that, you’re an idiot. You’re a moron. The shortest distance between two points is not a celebrity, or being next to a celebrity. Lewis Black
As psychotic as it gets outside, the comic can be more psychotic. Lewis Black
I’ve got stress like anybody else, and it builds up during the day. Like, I’ll be trying to do something on the computer, and I’ll get stuck, so I go to the help section. And it just enrages me, because why even call it a help section at all? There’s nothing in any way ‘helpful’ about it. Lewis Black
There’s no such thing as soy milk. It’s soy juice. Lewis Black
I continue to work on plays, but I’ve always felt that you could put a note in a bottle and send it offshore, and you’d have as much chance communicating with people. Lewis Black
The core of the American public, their hearts and their minds are in the right place. And that gives me hope. Lewis Black
One of the interesting things about comedy is it’s tension release, and nothing creates tension faster than anger. Lewis Black
When I’m funny is when I’m angriest. Lewis Black
Saying that the Palestinian people aren’t really a people – that’s not a zany thing to say. That’s a psychotic thing to say in the midst of all of the politics we live through on a daily basis. Lewis Black
If you’re going to pick a book and you want to base a system of government around it, why not ‘Harry Potter?’ Lewis Black
Every time I use an app, part of my brain dies! We’ll get to the point where we go to bed and wonder: ‘Did I have a thought today?’ You’ll have to go to your ‘Thought’ app! Lewis Black
I’m not a big birthday guy; I never have been. Lewis Black
In Vegas, you have an audience you can’t find anywhere else. It’s from all over the country. You play Seattle, everyone’s from Seattle. But in Vegas, you have six from Seattle, a bunch from L.A., some local Las Vegans and maybe a farmer from Iowa. In Vegas, you learn the ins and outs of holding a room because of that great spectrum of folks. Lewis Black
Basically I wake up in the morning and I think everything’s going to be great. I’m really kind of optimistic, and I look forward to a new day. I pick up ‘The New York Times,’ and I look at the front page and realize that once again I’m wrong. I start to fixate on stuff. Lewis Black
A father and two sons run Adelphia. It’s a cable company. And they took from that company a billion dollars. A billion. Three people – three people took a billion dollars. What were they gonna do, start their own space program? ‘Let’s send the monkey to Mars, Dad!’ Lewis Black
I’m a selfish, little pig of a man. Lewis Black
Harry Reid is not funny; he’s creepy. Nancy Pelosi is creepy. Charles Schumer is sneaky and creepy. Lewis Black
Nobody in college races home and says, ‘I can’t wait to see the news! I can’t wait to see who CBS is going to hire!’ Lewis Black
The thing that makes my generation The Greatest is our ability to hang out. We’re spectacular at it. If you take somebody from my generation and sit them on a couch and bring them food and plumbing, they’ll sit there and talk to you about anything you want until the day you die. Lewis Black
No matter what, your parents are going to worry about you. I had a tour bus, and my mother still thought I was broke. Remember: It’s your life, not theirs. Just because your parents sent you to college doesn’t mean they bought the rest of your life. Lewis Black
I’m a happy person but an angry citizen. Lewis Black
I think comics in New York are interested in being comics. And there’re comics in L.A. who are touring comics, who are certainly more interested in stand-up, but a lot of L.A. stand-ups are really looking to do something else. Lewis Black
I don’t Tweet a lot because I’ve Tweeted things that I thought were really innocuous about subjects that are inflammatory, and the response is so insane sometimes from people. Lewis Black
All the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911. Lewis Black
Stupidity really gets me going, when it’s just plain stupid, obvious stupidity. Lewis Black
I would like to play Pebble Beach at some point. I keep waiting for them to call and ask me to that little pro-am thing, but I’m not big enough. Lewis Black
One of the most important things, especially when you’re leaving school, is to realize you’re going to be dealing with a lot of idiots. And a lot of those idiots are in charge of things, so if you’re in an interview and you really want to tell the person off, don’t do it. Lewis Black
What makes it difficult for people trying to follow a dream is that the whole time you feel like you’re slamming your head against the wall. So it’s nice to make a breakthrough and not kind of lying there with your head bleeding. Lewis Black
I don’t buy the ‘at 60 it’s great to have kids’ thing. I don’t buy the line that has been thrown down – ‘You can have a kid at any time.’ That doesn’t mean you should. Lewis Black
When you’re fund-raising for schools, then something’s wrong. We seem to have lost some sort of sense of what the common good is, and if you don’t have a sense of what the common good is, then at least give to what you think your specific goods are. Lewis Black
I’ve got stuff about airline mergers, which just shows that my stand-up is getting more insane by the minute. Lewis Black
You can never put too much pork in your mouth as far as I’m concerned. Lewis Black
I think that many things that go on in an art school have a tendency to undermine confidence, and that shouldn’t be part of the ballgame, ever. Lewis Black
Do you know what ‘meteorologist’ means in English? It means liar. Lewis Black
I don’t understand how anybody’s still a Democrat or a Republican. I don’t know what they’re basing it on. Lewis Black
Republicans have nothing but bad ideas and Democrats have no ideas. Lewis Black
Democrats are like a big tortoise that’s on its back and can’t get up; you can’t make jokes about that. Lewis Black
If you yell about one woman, you’re not a misogynist. If I yell about Michelle Bachman, that doesn’t make me a misogynist. If I compare all women to Michelle Bachman, then I’m a misogynist. Lewis Black
All food is comfort food. Maybe I just like to chew. Lewis Black
I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake. Lewis Black