Black and Oberlin: Both Weird, Both Anti-Bush
BY CHRISTINA MORGAN

According to Comedy Central, Lewis Black is “America’s foremost commentator on everything.” The comedian will bring his stand-up talent to Oberlin tonight at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel. Black is best known for his weekly segment on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show entitled “Black on Black” where the comedian angrily pummels the audience into submission with his views on the insanity of American society.
Black, this year’s winner of the American Comedy Awards Viewer’s Choice Stand-up comic award, was brought to Oberlin through The Daily Show’s “Send Lewis Back to School” Indecision 2000 contest. The contest began after Black attended the Republican National Convention and “got so fed up with politics and comedy that he decided to go back to school.” 
The “Send Lewis Back to School,” Indecision 2000 contest required students to send e-mails about why Lewis should visit their school of choice. Four students e-mails are posted on the site persuading Black to visit Oberlin by boasting claims ranging from the fact that Oberlin has more Nader supporters than Republicans, has no Greek system and is frequented by evangelists. 
“Frustrated with city life, politics, and reality in general, Lewis Black is escaping to the Midwest’s Oberlin College,” The Daily Show told fans on comedycentral.com stated. 
In addition to stand-up comedy, Black, a graduate of Yale University School of Drama, has written over 40 plays. Black has also appeared in several films including Hannah and Her Sisters and Jacob’s Ladder. Black’s TV credits include Mad About You, Law and Order, Murphy Brown, The Conan O’Brien Show and Homicide: Life on The Street. The White Album, Black’s first comedy CD, was released last year.

Oberlin students should expect in-your-face comedy from Black whose performances were called “rough-edged and risky, to which words like ‘patter’ and ‘routine’ simply do not apply,” by New York Daily News. However, Black might find Oberlin students eagerly receptive to his anti-Bush politics. 
When asked in a humor.com interview what advice Black would give to George W. Bush, Black responded: “I would tell him that if he’s going to talk about education, spend some time with someone who’s been educated. The interesting thing about him is that they kept talking about how he went to Yale, and that should be a good thing –– but what they don’t seem to realize is that maybe Yale sucks.”