Lewis Niles Black (born August 30 1948) is a Grammy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, author, playwright and actor. He is known for his comedy style which often includes simulating a mental breakdown or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena. He hosts Comedy Central's The Root of All Evil and makes regular appearances on The Daily Show delivering his “Back in Black” commentary segment. When not on the road performing, he resides in Manhattan and also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N.C..

Early life

Black was born in Washington, D.C.,
the son of Jeannette, a teacher, and Sam Black, an artist and mechanical engineer.Lewis Black Biography (1948-) He was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Silver Spring, Maryland, graduating from Springbrook High School in 1966. He was exposed to playwriting as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was also a brother of Pi Lambda Phi International fraternity. He earned a Masters in Fine Arts at the Yale School of Drama in 1977. Originally, his career was in the theater as a playwright. He served as the playwright in residence and associate artistic director of Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, where he collaborated with composer and lyricist Rusty Magee on hundreds of one-act plays from 1981 to 1989. Also with Rusty Magee, Lewis wrote the musical The Czar Of Rock and Roll, which premiered at Houston's Alley Theatre in 1990. Black's stand-up comedy began as an opening act for the plays as he was also the master of ceremonies. After a management change at the theater, Black left and began working as a comedian as well as finding bit parts in television and films.