bergenPAC Presents Lewis Black, 5/18

Lewis eventually settled in New York City and became the playwright-in-residence at the West Bank Café's Downstairs Theatre Bar. Lewis oversaw the development of more than 1,000 plays, including works by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, American Beauty writer Alan Ball as well as his own original works. In addition to overseeing the works on stage, Lewis emceed every show. As the West Bank grew, so did Lewis' skill as a stand-up and eventually, the fulfilment of performing stand-up outweighed that of working in the theater. Having found his public voice, Lewis left the West Bank in the late 80's to pursue stand-up full time.

Increased exposure from The Daily Show eventually generated a record deal with Stand Up! Records. His first CD, The White Album, was released in 2000 to much critical acclaim. Lewis followed with eight more, six under the Comedy Central Records label. He has been graced with 5 Grammy nominations and two wins for his work. The first nomination came in 2006 for Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues, the second in 2009 for Anticipation. In 2007 he won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album for The Carnegie Hall Performance and in 2011, his second for Stark Raving Black. His most recent release, In God We Rust (Comedy Central Records) was nominated for a Grammy.

He's filmed two specials for HBO, Black On Broadway and Red, White and Screwed. The latter was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. He had a regular feature for two seasons on Inside the NFL (for which he earned a Sports Emmy) and in 2006 was honored to be asked to participate in Comic Relief.

In 2009 Lewis filmed his first feature length concert film, Stark Raving Black at the Fillmore Theatre in Detroit. The film had a limited run in theaters across the US and Canada in the summer of 2010. At the end of the theater run, premium movie channel EpixHD picked up the film for its channel along with the accompanying documentary Basic Black. Both are still aired regularly and can be found in the EpixHD on demand queue. 2011 found him producing his second full length concert, In God We Rust, which also still airs on EpixHD.