Lewis Black's Root Of All Evil
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''Lewis Black's Root of All Evil'' is an American television series that premiered on March 12, 2008, on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
and was hosted by comedian
Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...
. The series was produced by Scott Carter and written by David Sacks. Sometimes there were pre-recorded video segments directed by supervising producer Michael Addis. ''Lewis Black's Root of All Evil'' is formatted as a tongue-in-cheek
mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisti ...
acted in
deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of Comedy, comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant t ...
. Black presided over two opposing guest comedians championing a person or thing as the "root of all evil" (
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,
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
,
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
,
PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...
, etc.). The series ended on October 1, 2008, with a total of 18 episodes. The series' cancellation was confirmed by Lewis Black in September 2009. The entire first season of ''Lewis Black's Root of All Evil'' was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
in the United States on September 30, 2008. The remaining episodes from season two are not currently available on DVD. After the show ended, it was determined that the ears of stand-up comedian Greg Giraldo was the root of all evil.


Format

Each show followed the same format: Black welcomed the viewer to his courtroom and announced the two Evil candidates for the Root of All Evil. Black gave a brief history of each of the Evils and introduced the two advocates, who presented their
oral argument Oral arguments are spoken presentations to a judge or appellate court by a lawyer (or parties when representing themselves) of the legal reasons why they should prevail. Oral argument at the appellate level accompanies written briefs, which also ...
s why their Evil is the greater. Black began his inquisition, questioning the advocates about their Evils. Usually, the answers pointed out the good or usefulness of the opponent's Evil or the greater evil of their own. Black asked the advocates to predict what would happen if their Evil continued to spread. The ''Ripple of Evils'' used absurd, comedic
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
and were generally very silly. After the advocates gave their
closing argument A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of evi ...
s, Black asked for the audience's opinion, which he seldom followed, and announced his verdict and the loser's sentence.


Advocates

The advocates were not the same every week, but six of the eight appeared multiple times. The advocates and their Win/Loss records are: * *No winner was declared in "Red States vs. Blue States". Instead, Black declared that the ''Root of All Evil'' was
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
. Therefore, the results were not counted in the Advocates' Win/Lose column. However, the audience poll declared Red States the ''Root of All Evil'', which was counted in the Audience Poll columns.


Episodes


Season 1 (2008)


Season 2 (2008)

Season two was dedicated to the memory of
George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...
, who died on June 22, 2008, due to a heart failure; but a dedication message did not appear until the end of "Olympic Games vs. Drinking Games" on August 13, 2008.


Reception

Even before the first episode was broadcast, Brian Lowry in ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' attacked the show, saying that the guest comedians were "second-tier" and that the set "resembles a cut-rate version of ''
The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...
'' set" and that "Comedy Central's programming usually falls squarely into the sublime or the ridiculous, so consider ''Root of All Evil'' a rare tweener in terms of quality—one that proves a whole lot of Black is preferable, albeit marginally, to a
black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
." Attracting about 2.3 million viewers, the debut episode was the most-watched premiere episode of a
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
series since the premiere of ''
Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...
'' in 2003 and topped the demographics for male audiences ages 18 to 34. Mark Dawidziak of ''
The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...
'' wrote in his review, "I'm a sucker for a good Lewis rant, and sometimes ''Root of All Evil'' would benefit from more Lewis fomenting and less formula. For as long as it's around, though, it does make a good fit with a Comedy Central lineup that includes
Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...
,
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
,
Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...
and, of course, ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
''." The 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards presented an award to ''Root of All Evil'' recognizing the promotion of science and critical thinking in popular media on May 18, 2009.


Cancellation

While there was no official notice from Comedy Central, Lewis Black stated in a September 2009 interview that "the show is dead".


Home media

The entire first season of ''Lewis Black's Root of All Evil'' was released on two disc
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
set in the United States on September 30, 2008. All episodes are available on
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.


See also

*'' The Debaters'' - CBC comedy debate show


References


External links

* * *
Comedy Central picks up ''Lewis Black's Root of All Evil'' pilot
{{Comedy Central programming 2000s American comedy television series 2008 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings Comedy Central original programming American English-language television shows