What is Lewis Black's Net Worth?
Lewis Black is an American comedian, actor, playwright, author, and producer who has a net worth of $2.5 million. Black first became nationally well-known after he began appearing on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in 1996, and he was given his own show on the network, "Lewis Black's Root of All Evil," in 2008. Lewis voiced Anger in the 2015 Pixar film "Inside Out," and he has appeared in dozens of film and television projects, such as "Accepted" (2006), "Man of the Year" (2006), and "Madoff" (2016). Black has produced several of his stand-up comedy specials as well as "Root of All Evil," the 2008 documentary "History of the Joke," and the 2016 TV series "The Mentors." Lewis has released more than a dozen comedy albums, including "The White Album" (2000), "Rules of Enragement" (2003), and "The Rant is Due" (2017), and he has published the books "Nothing's Sacred" (2000), "Me of Little Faith" (2008), and "I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas" (2010).
Early Life
Lewis Black was born Lewis Niles Black on August 30, 1948, in Washington, D.C. His mother, Jeannette, was a teacher, and his father, Samuel, was a mechanical engineer and an artist. Lewis and his younger brother, Ronald, grew up in a Jewish household in Silver Spring, Maryland; sadly, Ronald passed away from cancer in 1997. Black attended Springbrook High School, and after graduation, he enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, then transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after a year. At UNC, he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi International fraternity and Student Congress, and he studied playwriting. After earning his degree in 1970, Lewis moved back to Washington, D.C. and took a job at the Appalachian Regional Commission. He continued to write plays, and he began performing stand-up comedy at a local tavern called the Brickskeller. He later attended Yale School of Drama, graduating with an MFA degree in 1977. Black was the associate artistic director and playwright-in-residence at West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City, and he worked on numerous one-act plays with artistic director Rand Foerster and lyricist Rusty Magee in the 1980s. Lewis and Rusty also wrote a musical, "The Czar of Rock and Roll," and it premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston in 1990.
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Stand-Up Comedy Career
In the early 1990s, Lewis appeared on "An Evening at the Improv" several times, and he got his own "Comedy Central Presents" special in 1998, then again in 2000 and 2002. He starred in the Comedy Central special "Taxed Beyond Belief" in 2002 and the HBO special "Black on Broadway" in 2004, and in 2007, he co-hosted Comedy Central's "Last Laugh '07" with Dave Attell and D.L. Hughley. In 2006, Black earned his first Best Comedy Album Grammy nomination, for "Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues," and he later received nominations for "The Carnegie Hall Performance," "Anticipation," "Stark Raving Black," and "In God We Rust," winning twice. In 2009, his concert film "Stark Raving Black" was released, and he hosted "Surviving the Holidays with Lewis Black" on the History Channel. "Stark Raving Black" was followed by the comedy specials/albums "In God We Rust" (2012), "Old Yeller" (2013), "Black to the Future" (2017), and "Thanks For Risking Your Life" (2020). In 2004, Lewis was ranked #51 on Comedy Central's "100 Greatest Stand Up Comics of All Time" list, and in the network's "Stand Up Showdown," he was voted #5 in 2008 and #11 in 2010.
Film and Television Career
Black made his acting debut in the 1986 film "Hannah and Her Sisters," and in 1990, he appeared in "Jacob's Ladder" and began a five-episode stint on the television series "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd." He then appeared in the films "The Hard Way" (1991), "The Night We Never Met' (1993), and "Joey Breaker" (1993) and guest-starred on "Law & Order" (1991), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1997), "Mad About You" (1997), "The Brak Show" (2003), and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2004). In 2006, Lewis appeared in the films "Accepted," "Man of the Year," "Falling for Grace," and "Unaccompanied Minors," then he voiced Jimmy in 2007's "Farce of the Penguins" and narrated 2010's "Peep World." He guest-starred on "The Big Bang Theory" in 2009, appeared in the 2013 documentary "Comedy Warriors: Healing through Humor," and portrayed Gregory Perkins in the 2016 miniseries "Madoff." He voiced Anger in the 2015 film "Inside Out," a massive hit with a worldwide gross of $858.8 million, then he appeared in the films "Stereotypically You" (2015), "Better Off Single" (2016), "Imitation Girl" (2017), and "The Last Laugh" (2019). Black has lent his voice to several animated projects, including the film "Rock Dog" (2016), the TV movie "The Happy Elf" (2005), and the television series "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" (2005–2007), "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated" (2010), "The Penguins of Madagascar" (2011), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (2012; 2014), and "SpongeBob SquarePants" (2018).
Personal Life
Lewis got married when he was 26 years old, and the marriage ended 10 months later. In 2000, Black, fellow stand-up comic Jim Norton, and 13 other people were arrested after "The Opie and Anthony Show" hired The Voyeur Bus to drive around Manhattan and promote the show. Several topless women were on the bus, and it drove onto a street that had been cleared for Bill Clinton's presidential motorcade. A police source said that the arrests were made because "it was creating a crowd condition…they were flashing everybody." Black and Norton were released after "about 18 hours," according to Lewis, and he spoke about the arrest on "The Daily Show" the following night. Lewis has performed on three USO tours to entertain the troops, and he has supported numerous charities, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Rusty Magee Clinic for Families and Health, and Fifty Second Street Project. In 2012, the ACLU of Georgia honored Black with the National Civil Liberties Award, and the ACLU named him an "ambassador for voting rights" in 2013.
Awards and Nominations
Black won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic in 2001, and he earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special for "Lewis Black: Red, White and Screwed" in 2007. He has received five Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Album, winning for "The Carnegie Hall Performance" in 2007 and "Stark Raving Black" in 2011. Lewis earned an Online Film & Television Association Award nomination for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" in 2004, and he received a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie: Hissy Fit for "Inside Out" in 2015. He has earned five Behind the Voice Actors Award nominations, taking home the BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award for Best Male Vocal Performance in a Feature Film in a Supporting Role and Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film for "Inside Out." The cast also won the BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film.
