October 16-22, 2003

mixpicks

Anger Management

Lewis Black is pissed off. If you're at all familiar with Black and his high-blood-pressure oeuvre, this comes as no surprise: On stage and in his regular spot on The Daily Show, Black (pictured right, with Dave Attell) has been known to wax apoplectic over the smallest of matters, like a snatch of insipid overheard conversation (If it wasn't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college) or the fact that Minnesota is, hey, kinda cold. But Rules of Enragement, Black's latest album, finds him ripping into a subject that has even type B personalities watching their sodium intake: the post-Sept. 11 era of shoe-bombers and Where's Saddam? Black's saving grace is that his tantrums never shade into bullying; if anything, he's venting the impotent rage of the over-educated, not using his mic to club his audience to death. There's a lot worth getting angry over these days and Lewis Black is just the man to do it. You just know he'll have a Schwarzenegger routine cooked up by the time he hits town.

Comedy Central Live, Fri., Oct. 17, 8 p.m., sold out, with Lewis Black, Dave Attell and Mitch Hedberg, Tower Theater, 69th and Ludlow sts., 215-336-2000.

—Sam Adams