Lewis Black's Rantcast

After a nearly 500-day hiatus, due to the biblically cataclysmic global plague, Lewis made his “post”-pandemic performance debut. Was it outdoors? Yes. Was it in front of physically present live humans? Indeed! And while he may have had the comedy equivalent of the "twisties", the audience at the Chautauqua Institute could not have been more gracious or appreciative. All in all, a great way to get...

As the Delta Variant comes riding in like whichever of the four horsemen of the apocalypse represents Pestilence (it’s the white one), the Pandemic is turning downright biblical. And to paraphrase 1 Corinthians 13:11, the time for childish ways has ended, which means that if someone asks you if you've been vaccinated, answer the question like an adult. Yes or No. It's very simple. Too simple in fa...

There are 50 states in the United States, 50 ways to leave your lover, 50 is the age when you become eligible to join AARP, and this is episode #50 of Lewis Black’s Rantcast! Those 50 episodes have contained many recurring themes from impending and present climate catastrophe to the Covid-19 pandemic to rich people not wanting to pay taxes to the sclerotic machinations of a nearly psychotic nation...

Three billionaires are currently in a race to get to space, of course there’s nothing more pressing to the people of earth right now than to have the news spend a Sunday morning talking about it. In a time when people are having trouble paying for healthcare or a house, we have the news giving us commercials for something only rich people can do. It’s conflicting, because while space exploration i...

Since the founding of the Republican party in the mid-1850s, politics has been dominated by a two-party system that clearly isn’t working too well anymore. Third parties have been tried before, from Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party to Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrats to Ross Perot’s Reform party to current incarnations like the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. None have achieved much lasting el...

Do you follow @TheLewisBlack on Twitter? If not, you may have missed one of his recent posts about the irony of Senate Republicans voting to not vote about voting rights, thereby killing (for now) HR 1. The usual reactionary backlash emerged as some in the Twitterverse did not get the joke, or were under the impression that what Lewis says has an actual impact on what happens in the halls of Congr...

Did you know that the rubber chicken is not just the mascot for the Rantcast, he is also an accredited member of the press? Along with many news outlets, the rubber chicken can officially report that, in a huge surprise, rich people do not pay taxes. The bird’s usual beat is natural resources, and while on a failed fact-finding trip to Washington, he witnessed Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) espouse...

As the collective COVID-induced confusion begins to abate (maybe), one thing has become abundantly clear: the tolerance for nonsense and magic thinking in the country has reached new heights. From the Federal government to state legislatures to your host’s humble center-of-the-universe metropolis, the onslaught of balderdash, hogwash, and malarkey rampages unabated. It starts with the former leade...

While there is an effort afoot to add our nation’s Capital as a new state, it may be time to let certain other states to secede. The Lone Star state is high on the list to go their own merry way. There are myriad reasons for this, but it starts with the Republican-controlled legislature, who took it upon themselves to honor the sacrifices memorialized on Memorial Day by passing extremely restricti...

As the unofficial start of summer approaches, and we emerge (maybe) from the pandemic, now may seem like the time for hope and optimism. This is not the place for that. Instead, as your host points out, we are living in a continuous Sisyphean loop of politics, where just as it seems we may actually get something done, the boulder of democracy comes rolling back down. Among the things Congress is n...

Lewis continues his southern sojourn, this time from multiple undisclosed locations in the Tar Heel state. And while the eastern seaboard dealt with the gas shortage, Lewis has a diagnosis for the true cause of what ails America: an intelligence shortage. As evidence: hoarding gas because people thought there was a gas shortage caused the gas shortage. As a sidebar, Lewis thinks all squirrels are...

This week’s Rantcast comes from an undisclosed location in the Tar Heel State, aka North Carolina, where Lewis has traveled to hit the links and visit supermarkets. Did you know that the 12th state’s motto is esse quam videri, Latin for “to be, rather than to seem”? It’s advice that many of our lawmakers have never learned, as from coast to coast “seem” has taken on a higher value than “be”. There...

After a one-week dental surgery-induced hiatus, the Rantcast is back! A lot happened in that interval, but the eternal question remains: when will we ever get back to being smart? That time is clearly not now as the stupid train rolls on, this time stopping at the door of Rick “Google It” Santorum. The former Pennsylvania Senator propounded the inanity that there was nothing of significance happen...

Back when Lewis was barely AARP age-eligible, US forces invaded Afghanistan and now, nearly 20 years later, your esteemed host is fully qualified for Social Security. And come September, the US military will have fully withdrawn from the Central/South Asian Republic. What did it all mean? Did the US occupation amount to anything? From having done three USO tours there, Lewis has some personal obse...

Many subjects divide the denizens of the United States and the list easily comes to mind. Now, we must add the legendary rubber chicken to our culture war. Some consider the chicken’s caterwauling the epitome of crass comedic laziness, while others, including your host, believe that the rubber chicken is a celebrated figure in the history of comedy going back to at least the Vaudeville era as a ga...

The signs of spring and renewal are in the air, as Lewis forgoes celebrating Passover and Easter isn’t his thing either. So, no hunting for eggs and no mom’s brisket (not a big loss as Jeannette’s version involved boiling the meat until it was the consistency of rubber). Another sign of spring comes from the start of the baseball season, where Lew’s Baltimore Orioles opened the season with a sweep...

Another week, another mass shooting. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had a completely inappropriate, but totally within character response, wherein he disingenuously claimed that any attempt to curtail gun violence can be seen as mere theatrics. (It bears repeating that Sen. Cruz attended Princeton and Harvard Law School and their admissions departments have a lot of explaining to do.) The parade of bad...

The madness in America continued this week on many levels and in many forms. Spring breakers descended on Miami causing chaos of near catastrophic proportions. No masks, no problem, as the Florida free-for-all mentality meant that everything was allowable, as long as someone was making money from it. March Madness, a.k.a. the NCAA Tournament began and Lewis felt guilty for watching but it provided...

Another week, another Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) verbal inanity. This time he claimed he was more afraid of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, than the insurrectionists who actually attacked the Capitol on January 6th. In further "I'm Just A Bill" news, the American Rescue Plan passed and was signed into law by President Biden, all without a single GOP vote, leaving Lewis to wonder what exactly Republica...

Congress managed to actually pass a law, the American Rescue Plan, but not before Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) used valuable legislative time to have the full text read on the Senate floor, rather than discuss why he’s opposed to it. The House also passed the For The People Act, and Lewis, a voting rights ambassador for the ACLU, has some choice words for those who act to restrict the franchise. Also,...

The rubber chicken joins the fight for $15, as the junior senator from Texas, fresh off his quick sojourn to Cancun, popped up at the CPAC convention. Ted Cruz was in Orlando alongside the former leader and a mob of maskless minions, all there to pretend that Joe Biden isn’t president and that nothing happened at the Capitol on January 6th. Sen. McConnell, now the minority leader, plays it both wa...

Just when its citizens needed help the most, Texas leaders take vacations and Lewis has a few thoughts about leadership from Ted Cruz on down. Speaking of leadership, our former Leader is having a bit of an issue with his tax returns, but that’s okay! According to Q-Anon he’s going to assume the Presidency again on March 4th, hooray! This week users brought Lewis yet another constitutional amendme...

The rubber chicken might be running for a Senate seat in 2022 because we all know it would’ve voted to impeach had it been in office. The second impeachment of our leader brings back memories of when Lewis was involved in an impeachment during his college senate years. After thinking about it, that might’ve been the moment he realized he wanted to pursue a career in comedy. This past week brought...

This week, Lewis is surprised to learn he was “selected” as a COVID-19 benefit winner. After reading that email, he also might know a Saudi prince that wants to give him millions of dollars as well, okay!? The second impeachment of Donald Trump is underway and if the incompetence of members of Congress doesn’t make you mad, you might just not be paying attention. But it’s not all bad news! After t...

We have new conspiracy-theory embracing people in Congress and Lewis is seriously considering running the rubber chicken for office. Why not? It can’t do any worse. When are we going to declare enough is enough? Lewis’ mother finally got her stimulus check, but not in check form because nothing can be easy these days. For the rants, Lewis received some more user-submitted rants and the start off w...