Lewis Black + Barry Gordon, M.D., Ph.D.

Comedian Lewis Black and Johns Hopkins neurologist Barry Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. discuss the implications of short-term memory loss for an actor after the New York City premiere screening of the documentary by Gaylen Ross and Rebecca Nelson of Caris’ Peace.
Presented in partnership with The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives

Lewis Black came to national prominence on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. His segment, a three minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into Back in Black. It became one of the most popular and longest running segments on the show. Since then, Lewis has taped four specials for the Comedy Central Presents series, co-created Last Laugh with Lewis Black, presided over Lewis Black’s The Root of All Evil, and continues to perform Back in Black on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His popular appearances on Comedy Central helped to win him Best Male Stand-Up at the American Comedy Awards in 2001. In 2007 he won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album for The Carnegie Hall Performance and in 2011 his second for Stark Raving Black. He has also penned over forty plays.
Dr. Barry Gordon received his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. He is the inaugural holder of the Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience Professorship, and is Professor of Neurology, with a Joint Appointment in Cognitive Science, at Johns Hopkins.

An author of two books – Memory: Remembering and Forgetting in Everyday Life, and Intelligent Memory – Dr. Barry Gordon is a behavioral neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in experimental psychology and neuropsychology. He directs the Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology group in the Department of Neurology, had been the founder of The Memory Clinic at Johns Hopkins, and was a founding member of Johns Hopkins’ Mind/Brain Institute.

About Caris’ Peace

Caris’ Peace 2011, a film by Gaylen Ross & Rebecca Nelson, USA, 76 minutes With Lewis Black, Kate Burton, Caris Corfman, Nancy Giles, Tony Shalhoub
New York City premiere
She was an exceptional graduate of the Yale School of Drama. She was a rising star among such luminaries as Lewis Black, Kate Burton, and Mark Linn-Baker. She played opposite Tim Curry and Ian McKellen in the Broadway hit play Amadeus. And then she had a brain tumor. And then she lost her short-term memory. Ross with collaborator Rebecca Nelson create a wrenching documentary which tells the story of Caris Corfman, a brilliant actress who was robbed of her ability to learn, recall, and recite lines. Unlike dementia sufferers who gradually lose awareness of their deteriorating condition, Corfman was swiftly forced to recognize that her career was over. This film captures what it is like to live trapped in the past, with only the thinnest slivers of the present.