Lewis is back from Vegas and after the travel nightmare story from last week, there’s still a lot from the travel that pissed him off. In fact, he didn’t even get the chance to share what his Vegas experience was like (hint, a lot has changed) and how he’s now even more committed to his idea of a new hotel there on the strip. At the same time, the DNC National convention just wrapped and there’s a lot of talk about the vibes that came out of Chicago. While he is still trying to grasp what exactly they mean by “vibes” it seems most people are already turning toward the schedule debates between the two candidates. Ugh, is this election over yet? It’s a good thing we have the long Labor Day weekend to recover from it all. __________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis was just in Las Vegas performing and while the shows went great, the flight home was anything but. It was as he described it as one of the worst travel experiences of his life. Which is saying a lot for someone whose made a living on the road traveling for decades. This trek included heavy storms, grounded planes, storms, boarding planes, de-boarding planes, and Buffalo. And somewhere in the midst of the chaos he got a buffalo chicken wing omelet, so perhaps it wasn't all bad? ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis stars in the new Pixar film, Inside Out 2 reprising his role as the character of Anger in the film. The film landed atop the box office opening weekend and to date is has the best opening weekend in 2024. So congratulations are in order for our favorite animated emotion. Lewis spent the days leading up to the release doing press with his fellow cast members at Disneyland California before attending the movie's premiere. And on this week's episode of the Rantcast (recorded before the opening weekend numbers were released) he recaps his trip to the West Coast and his experience with the film. And if you want to go see the movie, check out tickets and times here. ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis is met with another week of ridiculous news in what seems like a society that's continually going in the wrong direction. But hey! There's maybe some good news... for the people of England. Well, at least we'll get to see a possible court case when they question a fetus on the stand, huh? This week Lewis reads rants submitted from his fans and they have some really important things to get off their chests. Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com https://thelaughbutton.podlink.to/Rantcast. FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button Podcasts. For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy 4th of July! Don't we all feel super patriotic right now? Another day in America brings us another mass shooting at a parade in Chicago while we get the second opportunity to witness folks in the city of where our Declaration of Independence was signed run in fear from more gunfire as the Rocket's Red Glare fills the night sky. As if that wasn't bad enough, airlines are kicking us in the nuts as the biggest nuts in country right now, SCROTUS is taking its conservatism all the way back to the 1930s. Wooohooo, Let's celebrate! Where's the BBQ? This week Lewis reads rants submitted from his fans, some the night he recorded his most-recent comedy special and others from fans that just had to get some things off their chests. Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it does. We're completely dumbfounded by the lack of leadership going on in the political spectrum right now. From new Supreme Court rulings that are about as politically motivated as can be, to an ineffective government that appears completely broken. Lewis attempts to make sense of it all. The live rants this week come from the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem PA (Mar 7, 2020). Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, "Thanks For Risking Your Life" is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are now entering the summer of our discontent and Lewis is aware of it, from the latest revelations from the conservative questioned during the ongoing January 6th Committee hearings. But there's no shortage of things to rant about from rapid inflation that continues to ask the working man to make the most sacrifices while your host doesn't have the highest of hopes for the results of the impending gun control laws. So enjoy this week's Rantcast from the mind of Lewis and the minds of the people of Philadelphia. The live rants this week come from the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, PA on March 2020. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From gun control to climate change to preserving democracy, the litany of issues not being fully addressed keeps getting longer. And at a time when we desperately need to get on with ensuring a safe and sane future, the larger cultural and political forces in the country continue to stand in the way. Across the political spectrum leadership has taken a holiday, forced by a compromised electoral system to be more responsive to donors than to the citizens they represent. So enjoy this week's Rantcast as your host tries to find a sliver of hope in a country determined to immolate itself both figuratively and literally. The live rants come from the Virginia Theater in Champaign IL on May 1, 2022. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 84th edition of the Rantcast is about guns and gun control and the scourge of gun violence in America and the inability of the large majority of the country to summon the political will to keep our schools, churches, supermarkets, streets, and other public gathering places from continuing to be the sites of mass death. It asks when will enough be enough. It asks how many more children have to die before we take action. One impediment to action is semantics. In the recent national discourse about this subject the definition of evil has come into question. On this matter, evil is seeing what is in front of you and knowing what needs to be done, and feigning blindness. Evil is creating a system that protects guns and gun users and gun manufacturers wholly while leaving the people those guns are supposed to protect completely exposed to random and not-so-random acts of gun violence. It is an insidious evil destined to turn every day into a Memorial Day. Lewis’ Rantcast intro may inspire many different reactions, but laughter probably won’t be one of them. If you want to skip to the funny parts, the live rants start at 32:11. And while Lewis’ current thoughts on the guns might not be that amusing, he was able to find the humor in this subject in the past. In his 2016 special "Black to the Future", he gave his prophetic view on the matter, with a bonus insight into his retirement plans: https://youtu.be/QCEMxpjzDHM Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's episode, Lewis remembers his friend Bruce MacVittie, an accomplished stage and screen actor who passed away earlier this month. Lewis met Bruce through their work with 52nd Street Project, a community-based arts organization that brings NYC tweens and teens together with professional artists to create a variety of works of art. Aside from working with the kids, there was also some time for the adults to share a glass of wine or two. During these tastings Lewis came to appreciate wine and learned from Bruce to ask a critical question: do you like the taste for the price? Bruce will be deeply missed, so raise a glass for this consummate artist, and check out an exemplary example of his work, the episode of “Homicide: Life on the Street” from season 6 called “The Subway”: https://youtu.be/qhplAN8ie2w The news this week somehow reached new tiers of horrible, with events happening too fast to contemplate. There are massive problems in the country, from multiple plagues to active shooters to food shortages to sinister challenges to personal autonomy, so that nowhere feels safe and circumstances feel beyond anyone’s control. One way to regain some sense of security is to actively address the sources of these issues by learning and teaching the history they stem from. To ignore the mistakes of the past not only allows them to repeat, it allows the associated trauma of those mistakes to pass on to future generations. In happier news, Lewis filmed his latest special on May 15th on Long Island and is grateful to everyone who came out to see it and for the level of energy and excitement they brought to the taping. It was inspiring. And Lewis got to see his mom again this week, a good reminder to reach out to those you love because on personal, community, and national levels, it’s time to take care of each other. The live rants come from one of Lewis’ favorite venues, the Warner Theater in Washington DC on May 6, 2020. Reminder: we now have a prize for the best rant submission of the week: a subscription for cheeses from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont (https://www.youtube.com/JasperHillFarm). Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an America where almost anything jurisprudence-related – no matter how unreasonable it seems in the current context – can be justified if you can find a quote from an old, dead Englishman, it's a good time to reflect on the Bard's sentiments regarding the legal profession. Among Shakespeare's most famous locutions, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" (Henry VI, Part 2) can be interpreted in several ways but in the current moment let’s posit that it’s criticism of lawyers for siding with the wealthy and privileged to protect their power and money from the peasants. A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court have aligned themselves with this feudal sentiment, and as they (and many members of Congress) are lawyers, it speaks poorly of what is being taught in law schools. And regarding the SCOTUS Leak, the less said about the better, though the one thing it clarified is that the news media is a feeding frenzy of speculation determined to instill fear of the future as a means to keep us watching CPAP, boner pill, and insurance commercials. The fifth estate would serve us better if they stuck with “what is” as opposed to “what if”. Of course, dealing in actuality takes hard work and a dedication to approaching topics with as much objectivity and truthfulness as possible, while “what if” merely requires opening one’s mouth and bloviating.  In other news of the week, a Tennessee lawmaker cited Hitler’s experience as a means to show that being homeless can be a building block to a better life. As always, if you are citing something Hitler said as a means to win an argument, you have already lost the argument. And the rash of attacks on performing comedians continued with the attempted on-stage assault of Dave Chappelle. Like the Chris Rock Slap, there was an absence of a rapid response from those entrusted with the safety of the artist. It’s unfortunate that there is an increasing need for more police-like security at live shows, but that’s where we are given the sensibilities in the country and the lack of easy access to mental health care. Finally, it was Mother’s Day this past Sunday, a holiday that Lewis’ mother Jeannette refuses to acknowledge, having forcefully argued for a long time that that every day is Mother’s Day if you’re a mother or have a mother. Whether you agree with Mrs. Black or not, it’s certain that even at 103 years old, her arguments are more cogent and intellectually and historically sound than Justice Alito’s. The live rants come from the shows in Richmond VA and Greensburg PA and feature discourses on personal liberty, motherhood, monuments, and personal hygiene. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's episode, Lewis delves into the history of May Day and why in the US we moved the celebration of labor to the end of the summer. Honoring the working class at the same time as the rest of the world was too communal an experience for our nation of rugged individualists, and it was stained by links with socialists and anarchists and by fears of association with the 1886 Haymarket Riots. President Grover Cleveland thus proposed having the celebration for those who labor in September and it became a federal holiday in 1894. Now, more than a century later, we join together the first Monday each September to pay lip-service to the hard-working laborers who keep our economy and society functioning, while also somehow highlighting the importance of management and owners. Lewis also offers a modest proposal for relocating refugees and migrants, explores the vague return to normalcy that was the 2022 NFL draft, and offers this athletics-related opinion: Wizards is the worst name in sports. Also, if there’s a manliness crisis in America, Madison Cawthorne is clearly not the person to offer solutions. The live rants come from Chicago and Detroit, two towns where the citizens don't agree on much, especially regarding Lions, Tigers, Bears, or Cubs (or Pistons, Bulls, White Sox, Blackhawks, or Red Wings), but definitely agree that the potholes need to be fixed!\ The big news on the rant front is that we now have a prize for the best rant submission of the week: a subscription for cheeses from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week's episode, Lewis pays tribute to his friend and fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, a foul-mouthed angel who made a career out of finding the line of taste and then crossing right over it. He revived the Aristocrats joke as a way to recover from a post-9/11 moment of comedic transgression, and could make almost anything funny, including waiter’s trays. He will be terribly missed and if anything has happened “too soon”, it is Gilbert passing. In other news of the week, a federal judge ruled that the CDC’s mask mandate on public transportation was enacted without a proper mandate, just in time for new variants to put the lives of the immunocompromised (and the unvaccinated) at further risk. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' turn toward autocracy continued with his attacks on the House of Mouse, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's turn away from having any recollection about anything at all also continued, as she took the stand to recall her part in the January 6th Insurrection and her mind, like her policies, was a vast emptiness of ahistorical reactionary presentism. It would be an admirable trait in its Zen-like focus only on the now, if it weren’t accompanied by a tendentious desire to use that disregard of history as a way to continue the repression of historically marginalized communities. The live rants come from the shows in Cincinnati and Akron OH, where we learn that the denizens of the Buckeye state are not too enamored of their state government. But they do like to put chili on top of noodles. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Summer and with that comes a very simple message from Lewis, which is to just keep your mouth shut! Lewis has always lobbied for the politics-free summer and he's taking a stance. June, July, and August are times for us to relax, eat some fatty foods, and sip on a few cocktails. Once the air gets a bit colder does it become the time for us to start talking about the politics of life. So, until then SHUT THE F*CK UP! ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The rubber chicken is on leave after pumping out an extraordinary quantity of eggs for Easter. And like his coworker, Lewis is also on vacation, enjoying some rounds of golf and some time away from America's work-in-progress infrastructure. The live rants come from the show in Huntington NY on April 3, 2020. The show went so well that Lewis will be back at The Paramount on May 15th to film his next special. Tickets are available here: https://paramountny.com/shows/lewis-black-special-live-taping/ Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's episode comes from somewhere on I-20 near the Georgia/South Carolina border, possibly the bumpiest stretch of road for a locale that doesn't see much wintry weather. The bumps in the road (sorry) is a theme that carried forward from the previous night in Atlanta, where one of the patrons had had a little too much to drink and not enough talk about the current president. The gentleman in question, disinhibited by the night's imbibing, could not keep that sentiment to himself, and felt that it was his Constitutional right to be heard. Misinterpreting the meaning of the First Amendment, he would not be silenced, and while being removed from the premises declared, "This is America!" Throughout most of America, the audience will be self-policing, using their combined feedback to control the wayward members of the crowd. Unfortunately, this was not the case in Atlanta. Other than this interruption to Saturday evening's proceedings the week was mostly good for your host, highlighted by visiting his mom and then receiving a high honor from his alma mater, having the body of his written work and primary sources archived by the UNC library. The live rants come from the shows in Atlanta, GA and Charleston, SC, where the theater-goers come in a possibly more gentile variety than their Peach State brethren. For more information about Lewis' archive at UNC click here: https://library.unc.edu/2022/04/lewis-black-collection/ Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From a time when the Kansas Jayhawks don't exist, this week's Rantcast celebrates the brave, valorous young men of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team who defeated the despised Blue Devils and sent Coach K on his merry way. In another televised display of possibly manufactured animosity, there was the slap heard round the world at the Oscars ceremony, with slapper Will Smith valiantly protecting his family from a not-great joke made by slapee Chris Rock. This was followed by one of the most bizarre speeches ever made at an awards ceremony, which begs the question of why he was allowed to stay at all. If only we could all be the vessel of love and see beyond our personal, collegiate, and political divides. Which bring us to this bit of advice for rant submissions: it is not enough to say that you like or dislike this leader or the former leader. We need specifics. What policies do you like or not? What actions do you think need to be taken? And as with rant submissions generally, you cannot get too specific. Also, Lewis has a great wine recommendation. The live rants come from the shows in Red Bank, NJ and Syracuse, NY, where the vagaries of our changing climate are in full effect. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis is ready for spring temperatures, but the climate will not comply. While he's waiting for the vernal season to kick into high gear, and recovering from the Pat's vs. Geno's cheesesteak challenge, the main distraction from the madness of March is March Madness and the joy/trepidation of his UNC team facing the despised Duke Blue Devils. Go Heels! With the turn of the seasons, it is also a time to contemplate the larger questions of life and the world. A prime example at the moment is: how is hatred learned? In the cases of Pat’s and Geno’s or UNC and Duke, similarity and proximity may play a factor. Whether cheese comes in the form of a slice of American or as “whiz” may not seem that consequential, but for some people it’s a difference to base an identity on. (As an aside, there are many Philadelphians who argue that both Pat’s and Geno’s suck and that there are many better cheesesteak options easily procured in the greater Delaware Valley area.) Likewise, the student bodies of UNC and Duke are not all that different, so differentiating identity must be found in the natures of the schools (public vs. private) and their choices of shades of blue. Within reason, sporting arenas are the appropriate place to yell like an idiot and have unreasonable distaste for your fellow humans. One place some level of civility should be maintained is the Senate Judiciary Committee. The less said about the antics of certain elected officials, the better, but can we at least agree that the time and place for a discussion of the merits of the meritocratic system and its relation to rising inequality and the role elite institutions like Harvard play in perpetuating a process whereby it is increasingly difficult for Americans to escape the vicissitudes of class-based late-stage capitalism is the Education Committee? The live rants come from the shows in Hershey, PA, Philadelphia, and Port Chester, NY, where we learn that Lewis has an unexpected amatory effect on some audience members. For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This special Rantcast episode comes from the National Comedy Center in Jamestown NY. The Comedy Center is the only American cultural institution solely dedicated to comedy. Located in Lucille Ball’s hometown of Jamestown, New York, the museum documents the history of comedy through exhibitions about comedians, cartoonists, writers, and other artists whose work exemplifies the full range of comedic styles. In 2019, Congress designated it as the official American institution dedicated to comedy. If you are in the area, or planning you summer vacation, it is an excellent place to learn about comedy and have a bundle of laughs along the way. To visit the Comedy Center (or make a donation), please visit comedycenter.org. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's on old adage about New England that if you don't like the weather, just wait. And just like the wearying vicissitudes of the northeastern climate, the wider human experience provides an endless variety of new ways to redefine insanity. From war to pestilence to trading for Carson Wentz as your solution at QB, no amount of reason can sway certain members of the species from terrible decision-making. The news media may be the only people happy with the situation as it gives them license to fall into their natural tendency of being an endless funnel of the awful. Their operational focus being offering limitless speculation on how we are going to die today. The big news – non-Apocalyptic category – comes from the world of sports where the teams that Lewis roots for are doing their best to have their worst seasons; a real feat considering he roots for the Orioles. And the Wizards. And the Commanders. His only hope for distraction comes from March Madness, though the broadcasts are sure to be marred by incessant interstitial music and the overly hair-gelled announcers who think the sound of their voice is more important than the games on the court. Also, Olympic frozen penis. The live rants come from the shows in Concord, NH, Boston, MA, and Providence, RI, three municipalities battling for bitterness supremacy. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming to you from somewhere along the treacherous, no guardrail road from Loleta to Redding, this week's episode answers the timely question of what kinds of infrastructure in Humboldt County need to be fixed. The answer: all of it. From the bumpy roads to the lack of phone and internet service, the pot basket of America is in sore need of better streets and the ability to connect to the outside world. If it were possible to pave the roads with marijuana, Humboldt would have the best thoroughfares in America. And in this secluded region of the endless expanse of the Golden State, weed is the one thing that unites the left and the right; that and a fervent distrust of authority. But even in that area of agreement, the sides cannot find common ground on which authority they do not like. Some distrust the federal government, some distrust the state government, some distrust the local government, and some distrust religious authority. All of them want the freedom that living in a rural, semi-isolated region seemingly conveys. Perhaps it is the bad roads and poor communications services that gives the locals the Freedom they may not realize they already have. The live rants come from the shows at the Bear River Casino in Loleta and the Redding Civic Auditorium in Redding, where there is much discussion of the price of weed, what weed is called, and how everyone loves weed. Also Cali-bama! Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lewis escapes to the real magic kingdoms in California, Napa Valley and Humboldt County. They are lands of free-flowing wine and wondrous strains of weed, and great places to be while the world reaches a new level of self-immolation. From the horrific images on television to the absurd support for the Russian leader from members of the right wing, the cups are not deep enough to truly obliterate the acute sense that things have gone completely off the rails. This foreboding feeling is not helped by your host’s lack of skill at tasting wine. It’s either drink or not, there is no taste. And while the acute crisis in Ukraine will hopefully end soon, the ongoing climate crisis advances unabated. The view out the windows of the tour bus may be beautiful, but the lack of snow and rain, and the remains of last summer’s forest fires are a constant reminder of the larger tragedy taking place. The live rants come from the Uptown Theatre in Napa on Feb. 25th and feature submissions about Vladimir Putin and the Republicans who love him, math teachers, and a deeply analytical disquisition into the mystery of how Lewis’ tour has been routed through the worst places in the Golden State. Want to see Lewis live? Tickets are available here: https://www.lewisblack.com/tickets Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While stuck in traffic somewhere on I-80 west of the Donner Pass, Lewis recounts his travels in the Golden State and while highlighting one of the best rants from the weekend, gives his review of the George Romero film "Monkey Shines". The live rants come from the shows in Reno, NV, Monterey, CA, and Turlock, CA. Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Lewis traverses the frigid upper Midwest, the news from unseasonably warm Washington is as surreal as the weird Mid-Atlantic weather. First, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is spying on members of Congress with a reconnaissance force called the “Gazpacho Police”. Gazpacho of course being the Gestapo of soups (h/t to whomever first uttered this idiom.) Then the RNC said that what happened on January 6th is “legitimate political discourse”. Even Orwell would have rejected that description as too unhinged to be credible. What must be seen to be believed, however, is that the state capitols of America are booming. From Des Moines to Madison to somewhere near Minneapolis that it’s almost St. Paul, buildings are being built and roads are being paved. And judging from recent accommodations, the hospitality industry in the capitols is also on the rise. Don’t let anyone say that there aren’t great hotels and restaurants outside the big coastal cities. There are fantastic meals and places to stay all across America. Back in Washington, the new name for Lewis’ favorite football team was revealed, and no one other than Dan Snyder seems to like it. The old name represented a subjugated people, while the new one stands for the subjugators. Perhaps “Commodores” would be a better name, especially if Lionel Ritchie plays QB. Lastly, a couple of notes on rant submissions: 1, don’t bury the lede or relay the beginnings of an outrageous story only to say that it’s for another time. 2, Lewis loves how the rants have evolved to become so erudite and well-articulated. Now it’s time to focus on concision. As Archie Bell & The Drells said, let's “tighten up” those rants. The rants come from the live shows in Des Moines IA, Madison WI, and the Mystic Lake Casino near Minneapolis MN. Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis has returned from performing shows in Europe. One of the first things he learned of upon landing was the 34 guilty indictments handed down to Donald Trump by a jury of New Yorkers. The combination of these two events has given him a new perspective, which he's more than willing to share on this week's Rantcast. ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Originating from yet another undisclosed location somewhere on America's interstate highway system, this week's episode features a rubber chicken who has had enough of overland transportation. It is no way to travel for a fake fowl more acclimated to a warmer, sedentary lifestyle. So, he, like many of his fellow Americans, is ready to go on strike to get the better working conditions that he deserves. And as they have both had enough of the cold, one area of agreement between management and labor is that the naming of winter storms has to stop, and that the invention of new terms for cold and cold-related weather must be curtailed. To keep warm, Lewis brings the healing power of ranting with some special rants about teachers and statuary hall in Congress. Plus an open letter from an anonymous author to their cousins. They know who they are. The rants come from the Williamsport Community Arts Center in Williamsport PA on 2/29/20. If you're in the Williamsport area and in need of superlative mens clothing, be sure to check out The Clothier. Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming to you from somewhere near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, this week's episode features your host using words that only someone who has spent too much time in the flat part of the country would use. Gussied? Check. Crinoline? Check. And while Lewis was not able to visit Tulsa's own Oral Roberts University, he did have time to address the current great effort at overweening religiosity, book banning. And all he asks of those banning books is that they turn their censorious eyes toward his literary contributions. It can only help sales. The rants come from the past weekend's shows in Salina KS and Tulsa OK, where Lewis greatly enjoying getting back to reading rants in front of a live audience again. Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recorded live somewhere on an interstate near the Colorado/Kansas border, Lewis recounts the news of the past week, which, very much like the terrain he is transiting, is a lot of endless gray sameness. The live rants come from the Broome County Forum in Binghamton, NY on March 5, 2020. Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two weeks into 2022 and the disquieting sense of déjà vu persists. While the title of this week’s episode would be a great title for a disco song, it’s not great as an apt description of the new year. The same issues that plagued 2021, including an actual plague, continue to hamper any sense of progress or anything that doesn’t resemble a rudderless drift. For example, this past week the anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection passed, fortunately without incident, but we still have no idea what exactly happened. All we can say for certain is that the former leader is a poor loser and his behavior wouldn’t be acceptable from a child who struck out in T-ball. It was ever thus with the man. The real news this week was the passing of Bob Saget and Sidney Poitier, and this episode is dedicated to their memory and the great works of art they created. While Lewis was never fortunate enough to meet Sidney Poitier, the effect he had on his view of race and society was possibly equal to that of MLK. Lewis did have a relationship with Bob Saget, working with him many times. He was spectacularly filthy and spectacularly sweet, was a great headliner, and was overall a terrific human. The deaths of both seems to show that some people pass on and our society is not producing people of a similar caliber that have a positive effect on the world. In other news, get vaccinated, whether for Covid, or as your host did this week, against Shingles. The live rants come from the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, VA on February 28, 2020. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis rings in the new year by taking a look back at all the wonderful and joyous events of 2021. And like many things in the media today, that previous sentence bears only a partial resemblance to the truth. While some ostensibly good things happened last year, it has mostly left us with more questions than answers. For instance, why will people refuse to get vaccinated but will avail themselves of every ounce of modern medicine that can be found in an emergency room? Who knew about the Insurrection beforehand and why wasn't more done to stop it? Why does the state of Texas have its own electrical grid? Why do people think it's a good idea to mass themselves in Times Square during a pandemic? And rhetorically, if three billionaires can launch into "space" but we can't continue the child tax credit, does that mean we have a problem with inequality? On the plus side, the usage of profanity has exploded which means that at least some of the populace is getting a better handle on their anger issues. And as studies have shown, the use of profanity is a sign of intelligence. So, F.U. to 2021, and onwards to a better 2022. The live rants come from the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach, VA on February 27, 2020. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final Rantcast of the year 2021, Lewis ponders the unfathomable contradictions and conundrums evident in the pluralistic American society. How can a group of people who can't seem to get anything done on time still manage to shop themselves into Yuletide oblivion and get all the Christmas gifts under the tree in time to perpetuate the myth of Santa Claus (or Father Christmas for the Anglophiles)? How can a civic body that would rather go to the dentist than actually vote get their knickers so in a twist about the right to vote? And have we so lost our minds as a country that nothing seems amiss when animated bears sell us toilet paper and a live, costumed emu hawks insurance? Maybe we can all agree that no one is waiting for Sunday night, especially when it involves the Washington Football Team getting trampled by actual Cowboys. With the assaults of insanity from all sides in politics, the media, and the marketplace, Lewis has an important message as we transition to 2022: don't let them get you crazy. You're not crazy, they are. Happy New Year! The live rants come from the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, NY on February 22, 2020. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Having left the great state of Florida, the land where freedom goes to get sun-baked into insanity, Lewis reports in from a parking lot in suburban Baltimore. While he enjoyed his time in the sunshine state, the governor there seems to be lost in a florid freedom fog of Covid-denial, and the populace is following suit. Fortunately the audiences at the shows were able to enjoy their theater-going liberty and showed up en masse, vaxxed and masked. Meanwhile, the news this week is filled with the onslaught of Omicron and the meandering machinations of Sen. Manchin and his worries that funds to the citizenry will go to drugs and hunting. In all these stories, the news media does nothing to separate fact from opinion, and as usual relies on conflict narratives to keep the eyeballs fixed on the page and the screen. The good news this week is that the former leader was booed for getting a booster and Lewis got to see his mom. And a gift-giving tip from your host: at-home COVID tests make a great stocking stuffer. The live rants come from the Grand Opera House in Wilmington DE on Feb. 21, 2020. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's Rantcast comes from an undisclosed location in Florida. As your host tours the Sunshine state, it's important for him to not just maintain social distancing, but to hide from the sun-baked masses entirely. The citizenry there acts as though there's no global pandemic occurring and mask wearing is not even an afterthought. Despite this alternate reality, the shows in Florida have gone well, with audiences who have not forgotten how to behave in a theatre and may be the only people in the state who civilly comply with a mask requirement. The only downside is that tickets for the show in Jacksonville have not sold well (this is not something new) leading Lewis to wonder what other excitement is to be had in Jacksonville. Meanwhile the news this week was dominated by the tornadoes in Kentucky and surrounding states, a meteorological phenomenon rarely seen at this time of year. Something is clearly terribly wrong with the climate for this to be happening as winter approaches. Not so rare, unfortunately, was that there was yet another school shooting, a event that can't even be called a tragedy any more, because a tragedy is something that you actually try to prevent, but it happens anyway. The responses from certain members of Congress were as predictable as the calls for thoughts and prayers, with one representative, coincidentally, sending out holiday cards asking Santa for ammo for Christmas. Would they be used to defend the Douglas fir in living room? This kind of holiday card leads one to wonder what kind of weaponry the wise men brought the baby Jesus along with the myrrh and the frankincense. Also, Lewis notes the passing of Bob Dole and recounts his own encounter with the former Kansas Senator and presidential candidate. The live rants come from Princeton, NJ with submissions about traffic, bad drivers, and bats. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a hiatus to get ready for appearing in public again, Lewis is back with a new episode of the Rantcast. And while he spent his time away preparing his new act, the rubber chicken started working on getting his degree in psychology. That advanced education will come in handy as not a day goes by that doesn't traumatize the American psyche. From new COVID variants to the undermining of basic civil liberties to the trudging slog that is the Federal legislative process, the relentless flood of disturbing news assaults unabated. Hopefully we can hang on until the rubber chicken graduates. In the meantime, your host is back performing live shows, finishing this crisis of a year in the land that calls the climate crisis home, Florida. Appropriately, the live rants come from Sarasota, where Lewis performed on February 8, 2020. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving! As we all sit around and give thanks for making it another year during these uncertain times, we thought it would be great to revisit an older episode of Lewis Black's Rantcast. We decided to visit last year's Thanksgiving episode just to take a visit to where we were this time last year and remember that we've come a long way, even if it doesn't seem like we've had to. Also, yesterday news broke that Lewis' special, Thanks For Risking Your Life was was just nominated for a GRAMMY! Now is the time to take the long weekend to watch, buy, or stream it now - https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE ________ As we embark on what might be a very non-traditional Thanksgiving for most across this nation, Lewis reflects on the last few weeks of turmoil. Is he able to bring levity to the situation? You will have to listen for yourself. For the second episode in a row Lewis pulls some fresh user-submitted rants before whisking everything to Austin, TX where he set up shop at the Moody Theater (where they tape the iconic Austin City Limits) in a city where memories of live performances and great food are sorely missed these days. OUR SPONSORS Better Help http://www.betterhelp.com/rantcast For 10% off your first month SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com https://thelaughbutton.podlink.to/Rancast FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack For advertising opportunities email advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Memorial Day to you all. Hopefully the long weekend treated you well as we all kept those in our armed forces top of mind. Lewis is wrapping up an European run of shows and will be on a plane headed back to the states by the time you read this. Since ranting into a camera on a plane high in the sky is probably not the best look for someone, Lewis pre-loaded this episode while he was still on the ground (and about to head out to record an episode of The Daily Show) so you can all enjoy. ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last October, the folks at NY Comic Con asked its festival-goers to submit their rants about one of the nation's largest pop culture events. They then invited Lewis to perform those rants as part of a special edition of the Rantcast for their Metaverse online programming. As the 2021 festival just wrapped, Lewis is diving into his archives to deliver a never-before-available to the public NY Comic Con edition of Lewis Black's Rantcast. Enjoy and Excelsior! OUR SPONSORS Mint Mobile http://www.mintmobile.com/lewis For great cellular phone service for only $15 a month. Better Help http://www.betterhelp.com/rantcast For 10% off your first month SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com/live Lewis’ latest special, "Thanks For Risking Your Life" is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST https://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com https://thelaughbutton.podlink.to/Rancast FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis is finally back on the road, as the “It Gets Better Every Day” tour gets rolling throughout the lower 48. To start, he performed six shows in four days at Hilarities in Cleveland, a comedic version of spring training. There he was treated to some excellent food including a fantastic walleye and a great Greek salad. The shows there went well, with the support of the club’s owner Nick, who, unlike many a comedy club owner, knows how to treat the comedians, the staff, and the patrons with kindness and respect. Being in Ohio was a bit of a shock for your host as in his hometown of NYC people are still acting with COVID caution, maintaining social distancing and voluntarily wearing masks indoors. This is despite the relatively high vaccination numbers. Conversely, in the Buckeye state, there’s a general feeling that the pandemic is over and they are throwing caution to the wind. Other than performing before incredibly generous audiences, the highlight of the week for Lewis was seeing the Washington Football Team beat the New York Football Giants. And that about ends the good news, as this week provided another example of a country that cannot focus on what is important, on what actually affects people’s lives. Where did the news media point their attention? Did they focus on overarching issues like the federal budget negotiations, or employment, or the health and survival of the restaurant industry? No. Their attention was on the January 6th rally, where seemingly more journalists showed up than actual participants, and to the tragic story of Gabby Petito. It’s no wonder that in this prioritizing of lurid style over substance we are unable to educate ourselves and misinformation runs amok. Where the news media clearly has a problem doing the hard work of understanding the daily existence of most Americans, the ranters have clearly channeled their angry observations into a panoply of well-articulated insights. So this week we have submissions about the struggles of being a teacher at a school in the Caribbean, scam callers and gullible Americans, the search for an empty flat surface in the home, and a query asking if everyone has forgotten how to shop in a grocery store. And as Lewis is back on the road, we have live rants from a not-so-pre-pandemic Bob Carr Theater in Orlando FL. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty years after the September 11th attacks it’s hard to say that we have learned any valuable lessons from that tragedy. Do we have more common sense and a better understanding of foreign relations? Nope. Do we care about the people of New York more than we did 20 years ago? Fuhgeddaboutit. And after two decades of daily being told to never forget, the one thing we can’t seem to remember from that day is how to act in unison with singular purpose. We don’t agree on the facts of that day, and it may be that on that day the last shreds of something approaching universal truth disappeared in a conflagration of jet fuel, printer paper, and copier toner. The full-on assault on the truth and common sense may have started soon after the towers fell when Larry Silverstein, who had signed a 99-year lease on the buildings a few weeks prior, sued his insurance companies saying that it was two attacks and not one, so he should get double the money. So from the very beginning of the rebuilding process, there was no agreement on what happened and 20 years later, everything is seemingly up for litigation. Nothing is ever over, there’s always one more court to go to or one more politician to try to buy off. If you wonder why Americans are exhausted, this is why.  It is also the time of the high holidays for those of the Jewish faith, and while your host had an upbringing in that religion, he no longer finds it to be a place of comfort or sanctuary. Perhaps telling a five-year old that Yom Kippur is the day that his name will be written into the book of life or the book of death is what drove him away. Having received a full Jewish education your host knows for certain that to be written into the book of life, it would help to be vaccinated. (Note that despite untruthful internet rumors, Lewis does not get paid by anyone to say “get vaccinated”. But he’s happy to take offers.)  And Lewis was able to celebrate his mom’s 103rd birthday with her this week. She’s a centenarian with nary a wrinkle on her face, and when asked what her beauty regimen is, she answered “nothing”. She just washes her face once a day. Jeannette has other important life advice: people really like it when you smile. It’s worked for her for more than a century. The rants this week don’t have as cheery or celebratory an outlook, as the patience of the vaccinated toward the unvaccinated continues to wane and the social fabric continues to disintegrate. There are also submissions about the Texas abortion/bounty law, the parental hell that is Disney World, bank customers who don’t want to show ID, even though it’s to protect their money, and the Kars4Kids jingle. And for the people made insane by high concert ticket fees, some more Jeannette Black-endorsed advice: join Lewis’ F.U.C.K.U. fan club to get pre-sale access to the best seats in the theater, without paying ticket fees or “convenience” charges. Submit rants to Lewis https://www.lewisblack.com/live Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE Subscribe to Lewis Black’s Rantcast Apple – https://bit.ly/rantcast Spotify – https://spoti.fi/3oNaPFh Google – https://bit.ly/37Zb35u Amazon – https://amzn.to/37bg8Za Follow Lewis Website – http://www.lewisblack.com Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack Twitter – https://twitter.com/thelewisblack Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack New episodes arrive every Wednesday via The Laugh Button For advertising opportunities email: advertise@thelaughbutton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty years ago this week, the United States suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Following the horror of that triple death-from-above assault, the country was about as united in purpose as it can be, and in agreement, mostly, about what we saw happen. Not so much now when we cannot even agree on what reality is. Our views on the events of the world have become so distorted through our siloed lenses that the current lethal attack on the country has not corralled us to a similar unifying principle. Is it because we can’t blame foreign terrorists? Without humans to directly blame for the daily mortality that is approaching the death toll from that one terrible day, some people now think that doctors are the terrorists because of their incessant need to dispense medical advice based on facts and research. It makes one despair that we will ever escape the pandemic. So, your host has a singular message this week, with a hat tip to writer Wendy Molyneux: Get Vaccinated! Because until we get control of the pandemic, we can’t focus on the myriad of other problems we face. These issues are embodied in the threats to our democracy and personal and public safety from the radical conservative minority who would sacrifice everything the country stands for on the altar of a nihilistic definition of personal and religious freedom. As some in our community celebrate the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it’s worth remembering that the American political system is based on a separation of church and state and that there are many people who do not find the promise of potential rapture to be a good reason not to get a shot. And as we have also seen this week, the worsening effects of climate change are more and more evident as from coast to coast localities have been ravaged by 100-year weather conditions on a weekly basis, from hurricanes to flooding to wildfires to tornadoes. Whatever the aims of the 9/11 attackers, the subsequent twenty years have proven that left to our own devices, we can harm ourselves far more than any external threat. On a lighter note, happy 103rd birthday to Jeannette Black! The rants this week offer a range of gripes before taking a decided turn down COVID alley, with a brief excursion into the dialectics of Greek tragedy. Highlights include one veteran’s plea to stop saying “Thank you for your service” unless you are also going to vote for politicians who will support those who have served, a reminder that democracy is in danger in California where an entirely undemocratic recall election threatens the incumbency of Gov. Newsom, a plea for personal space, and a diatribe about the pointlessness of most news when it leaves the work of news gathering to the viewer. Also, get vaccinated. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The good news of the week: Lewis' Baltimore Orioles finally won a game! Also, he had a birthday. The bad news: the endless cycle of problems of the world. Hurricanes, COVID, Afghanistan, the assault on voting rights. The same horrors on repeat, all with a moronic dose of grandstanding and unnecessary risk. First up is Lewis’ mainstream media pal Al Roker, who, as he is wont to do, reported about a hurricane from within said hurricane. Is this really required? If we have announcers calling baseball games remotely, why can’t Al report about the weather from the comfort and safety of a TV studio. We know you’re committed Al, but this seems like a crazy level of dedication to the job. This particular weather system hit a little too figuratively close to home for your host, whose grandmother was also named Ida. For those of you familiar with Lewis’ mother, it really should have been called Hurricane Jeannette. Next, on the foreign affairs front, Sen. Lindsay Graham wants to impeach the current president for the debacle in Afghanistan. By that metric all of the last four presidents could have been removed from office, and while the focus on foreign threats is important, why does domestic terrorism always get treated like an unwanted step-child? Ignoring it won’t make it go away. Meanwhile the former leader has thrown his support behind former NJ Generals star running back Herschel Walker in his bid to win a Senate seat from Georgia. Some important context: the former leader owned that USFL team and paid Herschel Walker a lot of money in the 1980s, the former leader almost single-handedly bankrupted the USFL, and Herschel Walker lives in Texas. Finally, to round out the crazy train, a St. Louis taxi company is refusing service to riders who wear masks or are vaccinated. The owner of the company is proud that Missouri is one of the three states with the lowest vaccination rate. The lesson here is that there are two kinds of crazy: the Al Roker funny-crazy that leads one to maybe irresponsibly report about a hurricane from within, and the truly psychotic variety that not only denies reality, but actively promotes that delusional view of the world to the detriment of the greater society.  While Lewis couldn’t celebrate his birthday with a grand party, the best gift you can give him is to send in your rants. And this week’s submissions were quite a present, with rants about the end of the American experiment in democracy, the tribulations of a spouse who forgets to turn off the bathroom light, a query into why Lewis’ fall tour dates mostly skip the Midwest, and a plea to the organizers of the Red Neck Rave to keep their toxic stew away from the nearby Mammoth Caves National Park. Also, this highly controversial stance: okra is inedible. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While the tribulations of the world were on an endless loop of Haiti, COVID, and Afghanistan, Lewis' anger this week comes from a very personal place, but with a universal lesson. After a year and a half of being extra careful with everything germ-related, Lewis and a group of fully-vaccinated, often-tested friends had dinner together last week, only to find out the next day that one of their fellow diners has COVID. And that friend was supposed to go on a well-deserved trip to Italy the next day. The unfairness of it all made him angry. Very angry. So, there was some yelling that happened, and thus the lesson. What we hear a lot of in the public discourse is the fevered fanaticism of a loud minority, whether about vaccines, masks, guns, or climate change. Their reactionary amateurish spewing brings neither beneficial relief for themselves nor does it serve any higher societal function. It is just noise going out into the unmediated void, propped up by ads for gold, CPAP machines, and catheters. In contrast, your host proffers this professional advice: the true purpose of yelling should be the healthy expression of anger. Not in and of itself, but as a means to find your own vulnerability. He’s an expert on the subject. So, send in your rants and get that anger therapeutically out. You'll feel better. The rants this week offer their own range of personal anger therapy, with submissions about pooping geese, bad manners, e-scooters, flat-earthers, pandemic hygiene, Cuomo-esque unwanted touching, the Davenport IA police department, an insightful lesson on the meaning of the 1st Amendment, and Germans. Also, a doleful rant about the seasonal confusion caused by retail establishments having already started playing Christmas holiday music even though it is 150˚degrees outside. And more! Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A week off did nothing to temper Lewis’s anger or his sense that history has folded in on itself. Twenty years of US intervention in an Asian nation and it all ends in an ill-planned fleeing on overcrowded flights. Kabul in 2021 or Saigon in 1975, either way the images of departing Americans should forever dispel any further imperialist notions. Your host has himself visited Afghanistan, having performed there on two USO tours. From his observations from flying over the country, it was obvious from the haphazard nature of the terrain that the country could never be conquered. So here we are, unable to get our act together to defeat enemies foreign or domestic or viral, each attempt at a solution confounded by our own idiocy and delusional sense of self-worth. While the Taliban overwhelms the Afghan forces, COVID continues its resurgent march through the unvaccinated. America leadership seems to be defined by a hubristic inability or unwillingness to accurately assess any problem beyond what the personal political consequences might be. How else to explain certain governors stopping local schools from having mask mandates? These leaders look only to their own political advantage and criminally refuse to comprehend that their job is first and foremost to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. Instead they are willing to gamble the lives of children to make a nebulous virtue-signaling point about “freedom”. What about the freedom to not get COVID? The vaccination situation has become so ridiculous that some people in Missouri are wearing disguises when they go to get vaccinated. So, there’s freedom for those who won’t wear a mask or won’t get vaccinated, but not for those who choose to get vaccinated. But, it’s not all bad news on the vaccination front, some dominatrices are demanding that their submissives get vaccinated. Whatever it takes. From one end of the English-speaking world to the other, Lewis’ global reach persists as this week we have a Kiwi’s perspective of American politics likening it to the death rattle of a failed state, some fan appreciation from down under, and from north of the border, a discursive deconstruction of how Canadian politics isn’t so much better than American politics, they just do it in a quieter fashion. We have several perspectives on vaccination and the pandemic, and from Texas, a local’s view of Gov. Greg Abbott’s destructive antebellum governing strategy. Plus, what’s up with all the shopping cart traffic jams in the aisles of Sam’s Club? Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 back on the road. Originally founded as a Methodist adult camp, the Chautauqua Institute is located in western New York state, and features a wealth of programming where adults speak intelligently to each other. Amazingly, this kind of place still exists in America. Followers of Lewis Black will know that in nearby Jamestown is the National Comedy Center which features a treasure-trove of material about the history and development of comedy in America, including exhibits on Ernie Kovacs, the Smothers Brothers, George Carlin, and Muppet Fozzie Bear. It also hosts the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, which is happening this week (August 3-7)! So, if you’re in the greater Chautauqua County area it’s an experience you won’t want to miss. The NCC is also home to the Lucy-Desi Museum, which honors the contributions to comedy that Lucille Ball made (she grew up in nearby Celoron), and the entire NCC serves a monument to Lucy’s legacy and her vision of the place of comedy in American culture. Lewis’s performance went well, though preparing for it was one of the hardest things he’s ever done, up there with getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah. Preparing for a show and writing his set without an audience is not his normal approach. He had to work in isolation and without his usual facilities and faculties, similar to the pandemic-restricted training regimens of the Olympic athletes now in Tokyo. But like them, once he’s on the big stage, the muscle memory comes back and the joy of performing comes through. His set went well and now he’s looking forward to hitting the road starting in September. So, assuming the vaccine situation gets a little better, Lewis's fall tour will begin next month with club dates in Huntsville, AL, Cleveland, OH, and Omaha, NE. If that isn't incentive enough to get vaccinated, what more do you need? The rants this week touch on the state of the vaccinated and the un-vaccinated, with a decided lack of empathy for the latter. We also have submissions about the difficulties of buying a pillow, the sacrilege that is fruit on pizza, and one about how Canada is not so much better than America. And more. The live rants come from Lewis' performance on Feb. 6, 2020 at the Coral Springs Center for the Performing Arts. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 fact for some Republicans in Congress who are afraid to say whether they have been vaccinated. In what world do they live in that they are too scared to declare their vaccination status because it might offend the followers of the former leader, when we all know that the former had COVID and was vaccinated. Whatever it was that they learned in their student government days, it was not how to lead. Your host served a term on his junior prom committee and managed a neat fiduciary trick that resulted in a free senior prom, which is a lesson in leadership many of our purported leaders could learn. It is time for us to get our act together, to wake up to the reality that getting vaccinated is what gives you your freedom to not wear a mask. Perhaps this is all a way of god saying that we have screwed up royally and enough is enough. And perhaps it is time for a third Testament called, “What The F$*k!”. In other news, Lewis visited his mom this week, who's very pleased to know that she has become a centenarian social media star, commanding her son to be sure “to talk about me because they like me”. And in travel news, now that fully vaccinated Americans will be able to travel to Canada starting August 9th, it’s a good time to remember that Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities on the planet. Be sure to check the apartment rental listings when you visit. It makes living in NYC seem reasonable by comparison. Speaking of our neighbors to the north, the rants this week include one from a disgruntled Canadian who would like to remind his fellow drivers that the laneway is for driving not for parking. Back in the states, we have rants that focus on the vaccinated, the unvaccinated, gun violence, and workplace surveillance. Plus, an epic diatribe/novella about a surreal experience at the DMV that serves as an archetypal summary of all that has happened in the last 18 months. Also, vaccinated lives matter! Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 whose politicians, particularly those who follow the former leader, cannot seem to escape from a nihilistic doom cycle. And this episode does not disappoint. Around the planet, from the wildfires in the US west to the biblical floods in Western Europe, the ravages of global warming can no longer be ignored or escaped. Except that is, if you happen to be one of the nation’s benighted billionaires who launch themselves into what may or not be space on an almost daily basis. They say it’s for “space tourism” but we all know that it’s to save themselves from the defiled planet the rest of us have as our only residence. Back on terra firma, the vaccination rate in the US has stalled as many of the former leader’s followers apparently would rather die than upset him or accept that they are in a cult. These are generally the same people who continuously spout the same tired and false claims about taxation, voter fraud, and health care. As such, your host believes that there’s only one person who can save these lost souls from certain damnation. Tune in to find out who it is. Also, it’s time to retire the emu from selling insurance. This week’s rants also hit on some of the recurring themes, including voting rights in Texas, gun violence and the language of violence in a violent society, and the pandemic. Other rants hit a little closer to home with ones about children who want dessert for breakfast, dealing with contractors who won’t show up to the job, and a heartwarming story of a husband who knows that the less said about his spouse’s shopping habits the better. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lewis is still in Europe performing some dates long his tour. While he's spending time in a foreign land he prepared some other rants live from a recent run in the South )Tennessee and Atlanta) and the Midwest (Wisconsin and Minnesota). The US dates of the Goodbye Yellerbrick Road tour pick back up in August, but there will be plenty of Rantcast for you until then. Enjoy. ___________________ For advertising opportunities email: rantcast@thesyn.com ___________________ TOUR DATES: http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets GET MERCH: http://www.lewisblack.com/collections ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? http://www.livelewis.com _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS https://www.lewisblack.com https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 is important, this is such a weird time for this to happen. When we have a cracked system from the pandemic it’s Virgins vs Amazons dominating the Sunday news cycle. But hey! With any luck, a petition to keep at least one of the evil overlords in space could help us out, right? Meanwhile, on the ground people are still fighting science. Both with the vaccine to bring the pandemic to its knees or the fact that half of the US is on fire because of climate change. Lewis is considering turning the articles he reads about it in to his act, just a reading the facts to get chuckles. The rants this week continue to explore people’s anger toward what it means to act like an American and degradation of what it means to fly the flag these days. The simple lack of respect people have when it comes to returning a shipping cart where they belong. The growing disdain for how bosses are treating their employees, whether it be blue collar work or on the healthcare frontlines; one in particular hitting Lewis personally as it relates to care for the elderly. A military vet who feels the current military has become soft. Ending with a rant about how the politicization of the COVID vaccines have divided families. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 electoral success. So, given the current state of American politics, the time may now be right for the Rubber Chicken Party. The RCP has one platform: empathy for the citizenry. While many human elected officials seem to only have empathy for corporations, a legislative branch of rubber chickens will definitely have more compassion for the people, and will be better equipped to represent the voters rather than multinational corporations. Never mind a chicken in every pot, it’s time for a rubber chicken in every seat in Congress! (As an aside, it was not Huey Long, or Herbert Hoover who first said, “a chicken in every pot”. At his coronation in 1589, French King Henry IV vowed that he would make the peasants of France so prosperous that each would, “have a chicken in his pot on Sunday.”) Our elected leaders could also take an empathy lesson from the search dogs at the site of the collapsed Champlain Towers South in Surfside, FL. Many have become depressed because after long hours of searching, they are not finding living people. If we can’t wait for the advent of the RCP, the least we could do is send our Representatives and Senators (and some Governors too) to Florida to take lessons on how to act with empathy, with reverence for the humanity in all our fellow humans. The alternative is more weeks where the cascade of news brings stories like the Supreme Court celebrating Independence Day by making it harder for people to vote and Bill Cosby getting out of prison. We could take a lesson from the Germans, who, while also pulling their troops out of Afghanistan, have prioritized removing all of their alcohol before a single soldier returns home. This is a move that is both culturally sensitive and eminently practical. If we can learn from other humans, maybe we will get more stories like the fact that the name Karen has plummeted in the baby name rankings. And that’s having empathy for your child, which is a good place to start. The pandemic has broken many things about our society and as we emerge from its ravages, we are all acting a little strange. For instance, your host has taken to watching soccer as he needs the distraction and dreams of a European Vacation. And if the rants this week are any indication, the ability to handle interpersonal communications has greatly diminished. As such, we have submissions about working in customer escalations, calling customer support, doctors who don’t keep their appointments, and dealing with government bureaucracy. Plus, a rant about how living in Switzerland has made one ex-pat want to simultaneously be a capitalist and kill all the capitalists. It’s a great summation of the paradox of our times. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Congress. The point was that if it’s so important to Republicans that this not become the law of the land, they could do the citizenry the favor of actually debating the issue, giving their side of the argument and outlining exactly what they think will happen if the law passes. Instead we got Grand Guignol political theater, minus the visible puppet strings. The Rantcast was on vacation last week as Lewis ventured south to check in on his mom, and to visit his alma mater, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. UNC has been in the news lately as the board of trustees intervened in the hiring of Nikole Hannah-Jones to be a tenured professor in the university’s School of Journalism and Media. Some of the trustees were upset with Ms. Hannah-Jones involvement in the Pulitzer-prize winning 1619 Project, which reframed American history with the origins and consequences of slavery as its centering theme. This is an academic debate that should be left to the academic community to engage with, and whether they eventually give her tenure or not, the history will get told with or without the support of the UNC Trustees. [Breaking news: The Board of Trustees will hold a vote on tenure for Ms. Hannah-Jones on June 30th.] Much more happened this week, especially in the world of academia, but the big news is that Lewis will be performing live, for the first time since the start of the Pandemic, at the Chautauqua Institution. So, if you’re in the middle of very rural upstate New York on Monday, July 26th, check it out. While one of the ranters this week has been disappointed by Lewis’ occasional failure to pronounce words correctly, he nails the hard ones in what is almost certainly the first rant from Iceland. Not everyone is so critical as another submission describes the importance of the Rantcast to the listener’s mental health. Also we have rants about how recipes always leave out one crucial step, waiting on hold for 175 minutes with customer service, online shopping, and more. Lewis’ latest special, Thanks For Risking Your Life is available now! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE New episodes arrive every Wednesday. SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS www.lewisblack.com/live SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST www.lewisblacksrantcast.com FOLLOW LEWIS www.lewisblack.com www.youtube.com/officiallewisblack www.instagram.com/thelewisblack www.facebook.com/thelewisblack www.twitter.com/thelewisblack www.tiktok.com/@thelewisblack For advertising opportunities/contact email: rantcast@thesyn.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices