Lewis Black: The Root of All Evil
Did anyone watch Lewis Black: The Root of All Evil? I was tremendously excited when I found out he was getting his own show. That feeling lasted about 10 seconds into the first episode. This show was not good, really not good. Nothing against Greg Giraldo or Paul F. Tompkins (who is awesome), but this show was really missing one big thing, namely Lewis Black.
Everything about this show seemed really fake, overscripted and overproduced. I thought Comedy Central just reused the set from Beat the Geeks (Side note: Whatever happened to that show? I remember enjoying it). The jokes that they were supplied were hacky and unfunny. I mean Oprah and the Catholic Church? Did doing Monica Lewinsky jokes seem too dated? All the comedians existing in the alternative comedy world (maybe not Giraldo) excel at their own oddball observations and humor. Given such mundane topics it's no surprise that all the jokes were so obvious. Oprah is an egomaniac, the Catholic Church allowed boy-fucking and repeat for 22 minutes. The last hope was for the comedians just to deliver this crappy material in their trademark characters. This worked well enough for Tompkins and Giraldo, but Lewis Black really suffered. He looked the most out of place there as all his comments seemed to add nothing to what was going on and seemed added as an afterthought.
Up until the second commercial break, I was convinced that the laughter was piped in. And after seeing the one quick audience shot I was convinced. They seemed to be sitting very orderly and looked bored. They would have made great extras in a Kraftwerk video.
Barring a rapid overhaul of the show's format and writing staff, I do not predict good things for this show. (Won't even last as long as Beat the Geeks)
Why didn't they just do 22 minutes of Back in Black, you know, the thing everyone loves?
Everything about this show seemed really fake, overscripted and overproduced. I thought Comedy Central just reused the set from Beat the Geeks (Side note: Whatever happened to that show? I remember enjoying it). The jokes that they were supplied were hacky and unfunny. I mean Oprah and the Catholic Church? Did doing Monica Lewinsky jokes seem too dated? All the comedians existing in the alternative comedy world (maybe not Giraldo) excel at their own oddball observations and humor. Given such mundane topics it's no surprise that all the jokes were so obvious. Oprah is an egomaniac, the Catholic Church allowed boy-fucking and repeat for 22 minutes. The last hope was for the comedians just to deliver this crappy material in their trademark characters. This worked well enough for Tompkins and Giraldo, but Lewis Black really suffered. He looked the most out of place there as all his comments seemed to add nothing to what was going on and seemed added as an afterthought.
Up until the second commercial break, I was convinced that the laughter was piped in. And after seeing the one quick audience shot I was convinced. They seemed to be sitting very orderly and looked bored. They would have made great extras in a Kraftwerk video.
Barring a rapid overhaul of the show's format and writing staff, I do not predict good things for this show. (Won't even last as long as Beat the Geeks)
Why didn't they just do 22 minutes of Back in Black, you know, the thing everyone loves?