The Oscars Controversy Has Gotten Ridiculous, says Lewis Black | Big Think

The Oscars Controversy Has Gotten Ridiculous, says Lewis Black

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Lewis Black, the voice of Anger in Disney's "Inside Out", says tongue-in-cheek that it was the only film featuring characters of color nominated at the 2016 Oscars. During his interview, Black discusses his least favorite film of the year and why "Straight Outta Compton" should have been nominated. He says he has experienced the injustice of Hollywood firsthand and that a number of identity groups are frequently treated unfairly by the film industry.

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LEWIS BLACK:

Lewis Black uses his trademark style of comedic yelling and animated finger-pointing to skewer anything and anyone that gets under his skin. His comedic brilliance lies in his ability to make people laugh at the absurdities of life, with topics that include current events, social media, politics and anything else that exposes the hypocrisy and madness he sees in the world.

Born in Washington D.C. on Aug. 30, 1948, Black was raised in Silver Spring, Md. Degrees followed from the University of North Carolina and Yale Drama School, with a stint in Colorado owning a theatre with a group of friends in the interim. During his tenure at UNC, Black ventured into stand-up, performing at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill. Stand-up was a steady presence as he pursued his career in theatre. Black eventually settled in New York City and became the playwright-in-residence at the West Bank Café’s Downstairs Theatre Bar. He oversaw the development of more than 1,000 plays, including works by “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin, “American Beauty” writer Alan Ball, as well as his own original works. In addition to overseeing the works on stage, Black emceed every show. He left the West Bank in the late 1980s to pursue stand-up full time.

In 1996, his friend Lizz Winstead tapped him to create a weekly segment for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” The segment, a three-minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into Back in Black, becoming one of the most popular and longest-running segments on the show for both the Jon Stewart era, and now The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

In 2015, Black joined the cast of Madoff (ABC mini series). Black portrays Ezra Merkin, who, after investing with Madoff and receiving great returns, brought many famous and well-to-do Jewish clients, including Elie Wiesel and The Hadassah Organization, to Bernie’s fold. Black has penned more than 40 plays, many of which have been produced around the country. In 2015, Black notably voiced the character “Anger” in the Oscar nominated film from Pixar, “Inside Out.”

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TRANSCRIPT:

Lewis Black: When it comes to the Oscars and the controversy, the best line I heard was Larry Wilmore in The Nightly Show, which I don't know if it was on the show or it was just a tweet or on their Facebook page or on Instagram, but they said that Inside Out was the only film, was the film nominated where they actually had people of color. It's a rough one. I just posted that I thought Mad Max movie was horrific. I just thought it was a — I mean if it empowered women on some level, God bless whoever the hell got empowered by that movie, but I thought that was inexorable. So I posted, you know, because that was getting nominated for stuff and I posted that if you're going to nominate something like that then you might as well — I would have nominated Straight Outta Compton instead. And I got this you liberal — you get a backlash of these people telling me that I'm just doing this politically. And then I've got to write, "No schmuck, I liked this movie more than the other movie. It has nothing to do with politics." I'm not going to spend the time explaining why I think that movie is more interesting to me than Mad Max.

Interestingly enough — I mean there are people probably — they did nominate 10 films; that didn't help. Apparently a big chunk of the voters or 70 percent, you know, there's a big chunk already who are not diversified; 70 percent are white. And the other thing is, is that women are getting screwed all the time in terms of it. And then you could go ageist too. Age-wise. So, it's not just minority. And I'm not saying — and by doing that I'm not — and then you have to sit here — I now have to explain what I mean — that is not denigrating the fact that blacks don't have a right to ask of their seat at the table, but women have a right to ask. That's all I'm saying. And films aren't perfect.

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