Crude, blaphemous and (unforgivingly) boring

Ever wonder how much of Lewis Black's comedy is his material and how much is delivery? This book will confirm that it's about and 80/20 split. "Nothing's Sacred" is a mildly interesting biography of Black's childood and college years. But there's not enough personal information to give the reader a peek into his psyche. I would have enjoyed reading about Black's struggle to succeed as a comedian. But he leaves us in the dark about that. Every now and then, Black swerves off into a banal rant about government, but without his trademark middle-age rage, there's not much new here.

There are exactly two over-the-top moments in the book. One is on the cover, showing Black displacing Christ in Michelangelo's Pieta -- cheap blasphemy. The other is Black's repetition (from another comic!) of a horribly tasteless joke about JFK's assassination. So much for shock value. The book is worthy of 2 stars. I added a third out of respect for Black.

Some advice: stick to the night job and leave book writing to the pros.

Back in Black

Like probably everyone who has ever heard of him, I first encountered Lewis Black in his weekly rant on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And if you don't watch that arch news parody show, bygosh you should. Black is a very component of a very funny show.

His comedy revolves around two main facets. One is his complete outrage at the idiocy of it all. And of course, idiocy is in plentiful supply in the world. He aims his anger at stupidity on all sides of the political aisle. He calls atheists stupid for caring that the words "under God" are in the pledge of allegiance. He calls the religious right stupid for caring whether gays can get married. He lambasts Bill Clinton for being a moron. Then lambasts George W Bush for being a moron. Idiocy is the great uniter.

His other great strength is his delivery, his raspy voice the shouting embodiment of exasperation. If you are familiar with it, you can picture this book in your head as you read it, spoken in Black's trademark cadence, and it will be a lot better. If you're unfamiliar with him, you might want to subtract a star from this review's rating.

Note that the book is not a collection of his stand up routines or Daily Show rants. [Note, also, for the sensitive: the book is frickin' loaded with profanity.] It's mostly an autobiography, where he talks about his family, his life in college, his failed attempts at theatre, his college life in the radical 60's, even his dog. He frankly discusses his own drug use, fairly admitting his own stupidity on this count, though clearly he has some sentimentality about some of t5he old tripping days.

It turns out that Black is a pretty good storyteller. He has some interesting tales to share, he convincingly defends his anti-stupidity/anti-authority streak, and much of the book is quite funny, occasionally laugh out loud funny.

Worth a read, though as I said, it goes down smoother if you're already a little familiar with his style.

BORING!

I'm sorry, but this book is most definitely a SNORE-FEST! First of all, if you're expecting this book to be mostly new material of Black's comic observations, it most certainly is not! The majority of the book is a pretty damn boring autobiography! And the few parts of the book that aren't boring autobiography consist mostly of Black's recycled material! For me, at least, what makes most of Black's comedy funny (or at least a lot funnier) is his comedic delivery, which of course you can't get in a book. Bottom line: ONLY read this book if you want to know about Black's pretty boring life, but I warn you--it's not very funny at all!