Lewis Black returns to Arizona with fresh rants and zero apologies

Comedian Lewis Black doesn’t hold back when he talks about Donald Trump — and he doesn’t care who’s offended.

“Trump is nuts,” Black says simply. “I’ll see people afterward who ask, ‘How come you were so mean to Trump? You used to be more balanced.’ Here’s why: because he’s nuts. I tried to balance it for a long time, but that ballgame is over. I’m not going to play this game with you to make you feel better. In the end, they have to deal with it.”

Black will share those thoughts at The Showroom at Wild Horse Pass at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11, and during his Lewis Black Invitational Golf Tournament from Sunday, April 12, to Wednesday, April 15, at The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain.

“The real reason it’s difficult to perform now is that you’re dealing with the audience (and division),” he says. “It used to be that the parties represented two different realities. Now, the audience actually believes it. I’m trying to balance the two realities that are out there.”

In March, asked the audience how the Venezuelan oil checks were coming. 

“It’s like being in an insane asylum,” he says. “I’m trying to draw them in so they will enjoy it — no matter what side they’re on.”

He’s not the only one who will share opinions. Lewis will read “rants” from audience members in the last 15 minutes of the show. 

The 77-year-old Black was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, inspired by a family rooted in education and the arts. He studied drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, training first as a playwright and director.

Before he became known for stand‑up, Black spent years working in regional theater, running a company in Colorado, and eventually serving as playwright‑in‑residence at the West Bank Café’s Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York, where he helped develop more than a thousand new works.

In 1996, he joined “The Daily Show” to do his “Back in Black” segments, which led to stand-up specials, national tours and TV projects. He expanded into film and voice acting, especially as the voice of Anger in Pixar’s “Inside Out” and its sequel.

Beyond his rich entertainment career, Black is active in civic and literary initiatives, serving as an ACLU voting rights ambassador and sitting on the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library’s board. 

He also hosts the Lewis Black Invitational at The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain to raise funds for The Luv U Project. The event includes The Masters Watch Party; a short-game golf clinic and exhibition with Peter Kostis; a golf tournament; the Salsa, Guac and Margarita Throwdown for social guests; and a Lewis-headlined dinner. Tickets are $6,000, $2,225 of which is tax-deductible. 

The nonprofit honors Carolyn Mattingly, who was murdered in September 2014 at her home by an employee from her husband’s office. The accused murderer, Andrew Racca, was caught stealing from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. After allegedly shooting her, he set her body on fire. He said speaking about the nonprofit is meaningful.

On Nov. 5, 2015, The Luv U Project announced a partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) to create a national symposium and advisory board dedicated to workplace mental health and prevention.

“The back story is extraordinary, and what they do is pretty unbelievable,” he says. “They hand out, basically, a Pulitzer Prize for the best writing each year about mental health. That’s where they started and I support it.”

Lewis Black performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Gila River Resorts & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass, 5040 Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Chandler. Tickets start at $49; playatgila.com.