March 12, 2008 - Lewis Black Doesn't Triumph Over "Evil"

Lewis Black is a very funny fellow. His caustic comic approach wears well, and his outrage normally is aimed at precisely the right targets. Like Sam Kinison before him, Black gets angry for all of us, and says things few of us dare to say out loud.

As a Daily Show correspondent, and the star of his own standup comedy specials, Black has been reliably entertaining. But Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, which premieres tonight at 10:30 ET on Comedy Central, isn't nearly as funny as it should be.

It's not Black enough.

Even though Lewis Black's name is in the title, and he presides over the proceedings like a short-tempered eccentric judge from Boston Legal, he doesn't have nearly enough to do here. Yes, he holds the gavel, but doesn't go gavel-to-gavel. Instead, he's shown reacting, like Drew Carey at the judge's table in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, while other comics duel for laughs, and the arbitrary approval of their host.

Each show pits two "roots of all evil" against each other. Tonight's opener, for example, is "Oprah vs. Catholic Church." Taking the opposing sides, like standup comedy equivalents of a Celebrity Deathmatch bout, are comics Paul F. Tompkins, who argues the supreme evilness of Oprah Winfrey, and Greg Giraldo, who does the same for the Catholic Church.

These guys make some good points, but they aren't all that funny. "You know who's on the cover of Oprah magazine every month?" Tompkins asks. "Oprah."

He continues, "Really, Oprah? Nobody else? Ever?"

Giraldo shows pictures of Inquisition-era torture devices to buttress his argument - but again, not very funny, which is supposed to be the point. And even at the end, when Black gets to cross-examine the comics and their arguments, all he does is set them up with straight lines.

There's not enough comedy - funny comedy, that is - and nowhere near enough Lewis Black. That may not be the root of all evil - but it's the root of the problem with Root of All Evil.