popular thinking

LEWIS BLACK INTERVIEW: Lewis Black is flustered.
What else is new?
When Black phoned in from Atlanta two days after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans and destroyed southern Mississippi, he had new reasons to bash the president.
"My favorite is this: He flew over it and said there's a long recovery. What a, what a - brilliant!'' Black said.
"He cut his vacation short. I'm surprised he even got up to look! But he had to - it was right next door. It's chaos down there. There's bodies floating. What do you expect people to do? That's not normal.''
`"This is the kind of happy snappy stuff I'll be doing.''
Fans of Black know that happy and snappy aren't his forte. Black, 57, has risen to national prominence in the past few years through a series of Comedy Central specials and his regular "Back in Black'' rants on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
So the tragic aftermath of Katrina cannot restrain him, particularly because it plays up to his mad-as-hell-and-he-ain't-going-to-take-it-anymore persona.
Black also found out that the Gulfport, Miss., casino he performed in earlier this summer was destroyed by Katrina.
"As if Mississippi was doing that well to begin with,'' he said.
Boston crowds aren't Mississippi crowds, though. That's a good thing for Black, who says he feels his rage is welcomed by the working-class, battered-down mentality of Hub residents.
"There's a bottom line of bitter in Boston comedy,'' he said. "I consider Boston the spiritual home of my comedy career.''
He arrived in town last night and has to leave Sunday because he's doing a movie.
"You have to realize by saying, 'I'm doing a movie,' and that sounds really good because it is really good, but I end up flying back and forth across the country,'' he said.
It's a Universal Pictures production called Accepted, about a kid who starts a fake college because he didn't get into school, then has to back it up when his parents want to learn more. Black plays the fake dean.
Look for the movie next year.
"And hopefully people will have gas and be able to get there,'' Black said.

"Lewis Black and Friends'' opens the Boston Comedy Festival. Black performs at 8:30 tonight with Lynne Koplitz, Jim McCue, Tony V. and Mike Wilmot; at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow with Alonzo Bodden, Kevin Knox, Don Gavin and McCue. Tickets: $35. Go to www.bostoncomedyfestival.com or call 800-233-3123.