How many years has Lewis Black been a professional comedian?”
Black was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Jeannette, a teacher, and Sam Black, an artist and mechanical engineer. He was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Silver Spring, Maryland. Originally, his career was in the theater as a playwright. He served as the playwright in residence and associate artistic director of Steve Olsen’s West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, where he collaborated with composer and lyricist Rusty Magee and artistic director Rand Foerster on hundreds of one-act plays from 1981 to 1989.
Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is a Grammy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, author, playwright and actor. He is known for his comedy style which often includes simulating a mental breakdown or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena. He hosts Comedy Central’s The Root of All Evil and makes regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivering his “Back in Black” commentary segment. When not on the road performing, he resides in Manhattan and also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N.C..
