Prior to his comedy show on Oct. 3, comedian Lewis Black granted The Signal a sit-down.  The Q&A, included below, touched on Black’s gripes with Glenn Beck, the iPhone and the state of Delaware, among other things.

We’d like to think this conversation got his juices flowing.

Signal: The New York Times Magazine profiled Glenn Beck this week.

Lewis Black: Did they really?

S: They did. A ten-page article.

LB: Ten pages? Gives me a headache just to think about it. Go on to the next question … no, go on, finish.

S: They noted that Beck’s made over 400 on-air references to fascism, Nazis, Hitler and the Holocaust, etc. Do you think that they took a page from your “Nazi Tourette’s” segment on “The Daily Show”?

LB: Yeah, they did take a page from it and they should’ve given us some credit, you know?

S: So you scooped The New York Times Magazine?

LB: Well, no. It’s just you might as well, if you’re doing that, then at least say something. It’s typical of them, they ignore the work. My work. Bastards.

S: You’ve used your comedy to comment on politics, very prominently during the Bush administration. You’ve described your outlook in the past as “being on the Titanic every single day and being the only person who knows what is going to happen.” Is there any particular absurdity in American culture right now that you see as the next iceberg?

LB: Well yeah, we’re not gonna pay for anything. So at some point, we need to figure out how to pay for stuff again. We’ve completely ignored it. And the biggest absurdity is for anyone to say you can’t tax wealthy people. I mean, that is stunning in its ignorance, it’s spectacular. When I read that there’s this kind of debate about it, it makes me think I’m crazy.  Part of the reason of the Great Depression was — and everyone knows this, everyone knows it — that there was a disparity between the wealthiest and the middle class and the rest of the country.  And we’re repeating that again. There’s a repeat zone. Okay, so we’re not in a depression, but … Will Rogers would make jokes about the redistribution of income. You can’t even say those words. I would get along better in a crowd of conservatives if I actually took my penis out and walked around than to say the words, “redistribution of income.” That one really drives me around the wall, more than anything else. That and the fact that we’re gonna have to debate health care again. Seriously, what was that about? We’re gonna discuss it again? And you guys are the ones who are gonna get screwed.  So, good luck.  Seriously, the adults are not dealing with reality.

S: What’s the role of comedy and your role as a comedian in sort of confronting this whole absurdity?

LB: Well, my role appears to be that I stand up and basically repeat what I read in the newspaper, and go, “Holy fuck!”  That’s my job. That basically appears to be what I’m getting paid for. It’s a pretty good gig.

S: Your style has been describe as “ranting,” even when what you’re actually saying is smarter and more coherent than what we’ve come to expect from a lot of our country’s talking heads. Is the way you deliver jokes a reaction to the crazier people you’ve heard on TV and radio?

LB: I was doing it way before them. Glenn Beck was not wandering around ranting and raving. That’s come over time. Limbaugh actually for a while talked about the fact that he was an entertainer. Now he thinks of himself as a pundit, which is, really, more psychotic. The one thing you can rely on is that he’s fat. But it’s not a reaction in terms of them, it’s just, I’m funny when I do that. I’ve always been funny because I got upset. I mean, I would get upset about things that were just stupid. You know, really meaningless almost. Like this Droid. Like tonight, I’ll talk about … I’ve now had an iPhone, and I’ve got a Droid, and am as well versed as you guys are in technology. They made the iPhone, which is not a phone, but a really great computer, and then the Droid, actually, is a really good phone, but it’s a piece-of-shit computer. And then I get upset about that, on a simple level. I’m funniest when I’m angry. That would’ve been the answer to the question in the beginning. You can cut the rest of that crap out.

S: The state of New Jersey itself is usually a prime target for visiting comedians. I know you’ve performed here several times. Is there any joke about New Jersey that hasn’t already been made?

LB: My opening act, John (Bowman), will be making a few. But he likes it. I’ve never had a problem with New Jersey. I think it’s an excellent buffer from Delaware.

S: Well, we should tell that to Delaware.

LB: We’re gonna need it when they elect that psychotic down there.

S: Christine O’Donnell?

LB: Oh yeah. You know what her average salary was last year? This I didn’t know until today. I don’t get this information fast enough. Do you know what it was? She made $5,800 last year. Isn’t that unbelievable? A fucking monkey in a suit could’ve made $5,800 in Delaware. Seriously. Shave a simian and put a suit on it and let it interview, and do some sort of dopey work. How do you … and then you run for the senate. And people vote for you. How is it a state? How is Delaware even allowed to be a state after that point?

S: Your comedy is forthright, to say the least. How do you find college audiences respond compared to any typical audience?

LB: They’re great, you know? First off, they can deal with paragraphs, which is exciting. That’s always a thrill. I think the only thing that separates college audiences from a regular audience is, most campuses still have that political-correct thing that’s floating around. So you say something and there’s this, “ooh, I can’t believe he said that!” That is the only part, and it’s really kind of appalling. I think that a college is a great place to have a discussion about political correctness, but you’re allowed to laugh at a joke. Okay? And when political correctness gets into what people deem to be humor, unless it’s denigrating, or offensive, or mean-spirited on a sick level, most of the time, what happens with political correctness is they don’t really get what the joke’s about. If you make a joke about Alzheimer’s, chances are the joke’s not about Alzheimer’s, you fucker.

S: In November, you embark on a seven-day comedy cruise.

LB: Yeah I know, that’s weird, isn’t it?

S: Is there such thing, in your opinion, as a “cruise person,” and are you one of them?

LB: Well I am kind of. I’m not a cruise person, per se, in the sense of, “Oh, boy, let’s go down and cha-cha. I can’t wait to do a merengue.” No. And I’m not near-dead. However, what is great, since I travel all the fucking time … I’ve been on a few cruises, and part of the reason I did it is … I don’t want to be on a plane. I’m spending 150-200 days a year on a tour bus traveling from place to place. The nice thing about a boat for me, or about going somewhere and just staying somewhere for a week, is the boat is the place. You get there, and I don’t have to deal with anything, I don’t have to unpack, pack. And I go see St. Petersburg, or Stockholm, or Oslo, and what’s nice about that is you see it and then you go, “Wow, I don’t have to come back to this shithole,” or “Wow, this was really great.” St. Petersburg being kind of a shithole. But they’re working on it. And I’ve been on two transatlantic (cruises), and those are really great because, at least for me, nobody can get to me. There’s no way they can get out there. Especially if I have an iPhone, there’s absolutely no way.

S: In the movie “Accepted,” a couple years ago, you played a college dean. Do you have any advice for real-life college kids, as somebody who’s been doing what he likes to do for a while?

LB: I had an argument with a friend of mine recently about the fact that I believe everyone, I think, at a certain point, actually has something that they really wanna do. And if they don’t, chances are it’s because either their parents or a teacher or somebody told them it was insane for them to do that. I don’t care how stupid or idiotic whatever someone’s idea of what it is they want to do is, I think that you have to pursue it. If you pursue what it is you think you want to do, whether you’re qualified for it or not, you’ll end up doing what you wanna do. As opposed to going, “Gee, I have to make this kind of money,” or “Gee, my parents won’t be happy if…” You can fill in all the blanks. You’re still going to have to see a shrink eventually. All of you. So in order to get rid of two-thirds of what might be the problem, do what you wanna do, ‘cause you don’t wanna wake up at my age and go, “Gee, I could’ve been.” That’s the worst. I think that’s what it boils down to.