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March 31, 2005
 
Black Out in Huntington: Lewis Black Comes to Town.
 
by Eve Marcum-Atkinson
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington (HNN) — Lewis Black said it best last night at the Veterans Memorial Field House on his Nothing Sacred tour: "Time is a river.. it's a river of s**t and we're on it, but [as we get older] our paddles keep getting smaller and smaller". This said, it was my birthday Wednesday. Thanks, Lewis, for putting it all into perspective.
 
It started out a great day. The sun was shining, the flowers were out everywhere, and I had just received the "Go-Ahead" by my Producer Matt Pinson to see about getting an interview with Mr. Black. My husband and I are taking courses at Marshall University, so we were able to get student tickets... just in time for my birthday. So I stopped by the VMFH with my Friend Maura Conway to see what could be done. The wonderful Ken Bannon and Bill Heaberlin from MPE Entertainment were there to lend a hand, and graciously arranged for me to be part of a group interview 15 minutes before the show, shared with students from Marshall's student newspaper, the Parthenon and WMUL.
 
I thought "Great! My first Celebrity Interview!" But, as my excitement began to grow and the time grew near, my brain power began diminishing inversely to the klutz-factor. I broke my tape recorder getting out of the car, made 3 trips back to the car for things like a pen, paper, my press-pass, camera, batteries for the camera, etc., and by 7:20 PM, 25 minutes before the interview and 40 minutes before the show, my mind went into interviewer's-block, repeatedly taunting "Me reporter... Me write words good". As the VMFH continued to fill, my mind raced.
 
But inspiration came to me: "Call a friend who's not having the most embarrassing birthday of her life and might be able to think outside of the stress-box". "Did you know that Lewis Black has a web site?" was the comment from Kari Adams a friend with Internet access. (www.lewisblack.net) Well I do now and I had no excuse for not thinking of that sooner. That aside, we found out that Mr. black is both an Actor and a Playwright, attended Yale, earned two Theater degrees, works with the 52nd Street Project to help inner-city kids, and does fundraising for several theatrical scholarships and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Plus, he won an American Comedy Award for Viewers' Choice Stand-up Comic. Aside from touring, he is working on a new series for Castle Rock Entertainment. With some good bio-tidbits and my camera in hand, this meager writer found a small portion of her brain and headed back-stage. (View Pictures)
 
There I met the lovely ladies Nicole Young and Lorie Kersey of the Parthenon, as well as Mr. Terry Barley of WMUL, a nice young man who offered to provide me with an audio copy of the session in trade for pictures of the event. Expecting to see the "Daily Show" bitter sardonic Black, us "kids" were a bit nervous. But Mr. Black proved to be kind and light hearted. Funnyman John Bowman, as well as Bill Heaberlin and Mr. Black kept us laughing as we attempted to ask good questions. Mr. Black shared that he had spent some of his childhood years growing-up near the West Virginia border in Maryland, "back before West Virginia had an economy". As an adult, having seen the plight of some of the more rural areas of West Virginia, he spent a year on the Appalachian Regional Commission, but left when "their great idea to help WV was to build golf courses".
 
For the last 16 years, Mr. Black has been a full-time touring comedian, always on the road to places like Huntington because "College kids get it." When asked what kind of advice he could give young comedians, he said "Kill yourselves," laughed, and then gave the sage advice of a professional: "Do it again, and then do it again...Anytime you can get yourself on the stage."
 
The popular Nothing Sacred book is the most recent of Lewis Black's writings, a darkly humorous social comentary focused on "Stupidity and Authority". When asked if he would write such a book on Huntington's politics, he replied "It would be a short book... about 3 1/2 pages." Mr. Black, of course, knows what to market and how to market it. With several comedy CD's, T-Shirts, Bobble-Headed Dolls, etc, Lewis Black & his crew had loads of collectable merchandise for the fans. When asked if he had any final words (ominous tones not applied), he simply said "I want to thank everyone for inviting us here." Well, Lewis, thank you too for coming to Huntington, making us laugh, and letting me know that no matter how bad a birthday can get, we're all floating on the same river anyway.
 
(View Pictures)
 
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