Stark Raving Black - DVD Review

Having only seen Lewis Black live recently, the aspect of his comedy becomes an edge of spite. His angles require an adjustment of sorts because beneath the rapid outbursts is an interesting texture political subtext. Not that he needs it. Black knows his audience and tries to manufacture on his end a sense of knowing in how the common man thinks. As his Epix concert "Stark Raving Black", now being released on DVD by Comedy Central, illustrates, the connection to his parents and his idea of "paying dues" reflects a man who made his way through the comedic jungle. While most comics crave the next step of motion pictures, Black himself started late within the thought process so to speak because he spent many years working the comedy club circuit like most talent trying to make it. Now over the age of 60, he has attained an enlightenment but has lost none of his rage yet a softer edge protrudes making him applicable for the edgy twenty-something kids but also for their parents. He shows his disdain for new technology but also the aspect that his generation never quite did it right. He takes real world ideas like a story of him playing a benefit where he performed after Vince Gill which made him feel jokingly like "a despicable piece of shit" because Gill and his wife Amy Grant (a Christian singer of note) were so perfect. These perceptions make him accessible to the audience. Granted, like Kevin Smith at times, Black's ideas and anecdotes can become too "inside" for the audience but it doesn't seem to have hurt him. While the economy does come into play, it is interesting though that Black doesn't specifically address the location of Detroit [where the concert took place] more unilaterally during the special beyond a quip of the end that shows his opener John Bowman playing for nickels in an abandoned field outside the city.The documentary included on the disc brings the idea of Black a little closer to the forefront showing his beginnings with his buddies in a comedy club where he wrote a musical called "Czar Of Rock N' Roll". It definitely is a little film schoolish but navigates around what motivated this man in the first place. Comedy as a form of stand up seemed to not be the primary focus initially of his life but seemingly became where his energy eventually was placed. Earlier comedy tape from the 80s and into the 90s showed a younger Black who, while angry, didn't support the life experience per se in terms of glancing. He actually needed to get into his late 50s and 60s before he became like the teacher you both like and you could learn from. This is reflected in a small but slightly odd piece off-the-cuff that shows him performing in Amsterdam and acting as mentor to some up-and-coming comics over there. While it provides the balance which leads to a small resurrection of his "Czar" play Off Broadway in NYC, the docu seems more chronological in many ways including his current tour which perhaps might be what fans want to see but it lacks a succinct through-line."Stark Raving Black" gives a view of the man and the current idealization that defines his act. While inclusive and showing of his focus and beliefs, some of the comedy comes off more inside when not pinpointed which was more apparent at his performance live at Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. This might simply dictate the way the special was edited since it was done over two nights but perhaps not. The docu is interesting mainly for some of the older tape on Black which shows the evolution of his act from the VHS days on. Out of 5, I give the DVD a 2.