Page 484 of 583

The main attraction (for us) on Monday was comedian Lewis Black, best known for his political humor on “The Daily Show” and for his HBO specials, “Black on Broadway” and “Red, White and Screwed.” (Check out Bullz-Eye’s recent interview with Lewis Black, just prior to the “Red, White and Screwed” premiere.)

We decided to get down to the grounds early to see Pat McCurdy again. The 15 minutes he did before the Lynyrd Skynyrd show the other night just weren’t enough. McCurdy was slated to do two sets (90 minutes) of music and his large cult following in Milwaukee came out in force; when he went on stage there weren’t very many seats to be had. McCurdy was funny as usual, and treated his audience to tributes to the ‘80s and the ‘90s. Amy suggested that we fly McCurdy out for our tenth anniversary and rent a party boat. She didn’t say, but I’m assuming we’d invite our friends and family as well. Regardless, if you’re ever in Milwaukee and looking for something to do, try to catch McCurdy. I can (pretty much) guarantee a good time.

After a brat and an Italian sausage from Usinger’s Wurst Garden (yum!) we made our way over to the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Stage & Pavilion with Sprecher Brewery (all the stages have multiple sponsors) and tried to locate some seats. We were an hour early so we were thinking we wouldn’t have a tough time, but we underestimated Black’s increasing popularity. As the previous show ended, Amy spotted some seats in the third row and made a mad dash, scraping her knee in the process – don’t worry, there wasn’t any blood. Once settled, we had to listen to a pair of kids in the aisle say over and over, “I’m 16 years-old and I just need a seat. A single seat.” People were asking those already seated to slide over and go thigh to thigh so that they could sit down. Some did and some didn’t. As Black came on, the aisles were still packed.

He comes to Summerfest every year, and he used to perform in the comedy tent in the quieter, South end of the fairgrounds. At the Potawatomi stage, it seemed like we could hear music from three or four other stages. Black made light of the setup saying, “I like coming to Summerfest because it’s…well, it’s the most difficult place to do comedy.” He lamented about the fact that he was the only comedian to be performing at the fest, but promised he’d do something about it: “I will have words with them. I will have words.”

Much of his material seemed familiar, as it was probably used in one of his HBO specials. But Black’s delivery is the draw – he’s the gruff, curmudgeonly guy in the corner, who’s not afraid to shake his finger at people that piss him off. He’s also a lefty, so there were a few easy targets, including our Vice President – “Dick Cheney. (laughter) It’s gotten to the point where all I have to do is say ‘Dick Cheney’ and people laugh. That’s the joke. I can’t make it any funnier.”

Black railed on George W. Bush, John Kerry, creationism, Mike Brown and the Katrina disaster and the war in Iraq. Surprisingly, he kept the act mostly clean, only dropping the f-bomb a few times. As Milwaukee’s famous 4th of July fireworks started up, he closed with a real news item (in an effort to leave his audience less depressed when the show is over), which had the headline “Hippo eats dwarf.” Overall, it was a good show despite the difficult environment.

Four days down – one to go. Wednesday night we’ve got Wilco, and then it’s back to California.