Lewis Black And His Rage Christens City Winery Chicago's Concert Room

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 16, 2012 7:00PM

“So far the 21st century sucks,” Lewis Black said as he christened the concert venue at City Winery Chicago Wednesday night. “It’s like the 20th century in HD.”

That line served as the foundation for a one-hour set where Black dove deeper into his rage and frustration at government, society, culture, and even his audience. The rage Lewis exhibits in his Daily Show rants has become his stock in trade at this point and he wallows in it like a pig in slop without letting it fully consume him. In this regard, Black could be seen as an heir apparent to the late George Carlin, if Carlin had peers.

The centerpiece of Black’s set was a rant on attention deficit disorder that started with wondering why 5-year-olds are prescribed ADD medication while pot is illegal for adults and ended with an indictment of smartphones as “ADD incarnate.”

“It’s as if the Lord said, ‘Let there be ADD,’ and this showed up,” he said.

In between, Black touched on the state of cable television and the internet and went off on a connecting tangent about social media that drew strong parallels to Carlin’s classic “A Place for My Stuff” routine: “Now I have to set up the Twitter to tell people to go to my Facebook to tell them to check out the exclusive stuff on my web page.”

Black’s anger at the world is sincere, but the actor-comedian-playwright is able to play it for maximum effect. Contrary to his Daily Show rants, Black’s delivery is mostly calm, with an occasional Roger Rabbit-inflected “Bw-bw-bw-bw-bw-what the fuck?” used to punctuate his incredulity at the targets of his ire.

And it played well in what will become one of the city’s best new concert rooms. The acoustics and soundproofing at City Winery’s concert room is equal to the venues to which it’s most compared: Lincoln Hall, Martyrs’, Mayne Stage and SPACE in Evanston. But City Winery needs to work out the kinks in its service with quickness. There were major problems with food running and the venue’s POS system, leading to delays of over 90 minutes between placing an order for food and seeing orders reach tables. The dinner and a show vibe is something City Winery owner Michael Dorf is hoping to make his venue stand out among the rest. If they can’t work out the kinks and dinner is reaching tables as Black is wrapping up his set, there are going to be some major problems.

Black’s openers, John Bowman and Kathleen Madigan, did a marvelous job of warming the crowd for him. Bowman riffed on how the Penn State scandal means he can no longer use the word “horseplay” and the creepiness of Mitt Romney’s laugh. St Louis native Madigan brought Midwestern charm and Irish Catholic humor as she noted how casual Romney looked “like a cop at a drug party.”

“I don’t trust any 60-year-old man who says he’s never taken drugs, never drank, never smoked,” Madigan said. “In my family, the only ones who can claim that are babies.”

Lewis Black's "Running on Empty" tour plays five sold-out shows through Aug. 19 at City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph St.