The Science of Rage

The prolific stand-up comedian Lewis Black discusses his use of rage, rant, and the simulated nervous breakdown as comedic devices with anger management psychologist Robert Allan.

Lewis Black is one of the most prolific and popular performers working today. He executes a brilliant trifecta as stand-up comedian, actor, and author. Receiving both critical and popular acclaim, he performs over 200 nights a year throughout Europe, New Zealand, Canada, and for sold-out audiences in the United States at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City Center, and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In August 2007 he was the first stand-up comedian to ever perform in concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Black’s live performances provide a cathartic release of anger and disillusionment for his audience. He yells so they don’t have to. More a passionate optimist than a mean-spirited curmudgeon, he has perfected expressing what the rest of us cannot say in polite company. A rare comedian who can cause an audience to laugh themselves into incontinence, he is best known for making compelling points about the absurdity of our world.
Robert Allan, PhD, is a leading expert in the field of anger management and a specialist in coronary risk reduction. He is the recipient of the 2002 Timothy A. Jeffrey Award for “outstanding contributions to clinical health psychology” from the American Psychological Association, which published his first book, Heart and Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology. Allan received a PhD from New York University and is now a noted clinical psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He is the author of Getting Control of Your Anger: A Clinically-Proven, 3-Step Program for Getting to the Root of the Problem and Resolving It.