Lewis Black doesn't hold back

If you happen to find yourself inviting Lewis Black to Thanksgiving dinner, it may be wise not to offer him a drink.

Black is kind of like that uncle who can't help but impart his political opinion to everyone at the table, albeit in a far more entertaining and enlightened fashion than the average relative on a rant.

"I was in this bar, and somebody called Obama a socialist," said Black, chatting with Charleston Scene from his hotel room before taking the stage in Oklahoma City on his "In God We Rust" tour.

"I was like, 'You know, there are so many other things you can call him that are true.' I said, 'Name a socialist country,' and he goes, 'Cuba.' I said, 'No, Cuba's a communist country you ..." and that's why I can't really drink and talk about this stuff."

Black is a man who rarely bites his tongue. One can assume that, for the sake of publishing an upstanding newspaper, words have been substituted for the crasser language that will be expected when Black takes the stage Friday at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center.

Black's tirades about politics and American society arenothing new. He recently released "The Prophet," an album of stand-up comedy recorded in 1990.

For 50 minutes, Black gives his take on George H.W. Bush, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Dick Cheney.

On one hand, it's old news, like watching reruns of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" 20 years later. But on the other, substitute a few names and details (e.g., the Deepwater Horizon oil spill), and his observations two decades ago are as poignant as ever.

"Nothing's changed. The only difference is that the right is the one polarizing, and when I was a kid, the left was the one polarizing," Black said. "What we've watched is a pendulum swing, and then people calm down and realize that the tail can't wag the dog."

The comedian's most prominent soapbox is a segment on "The Daily Show" called "Back in Black," generally taking the form of a three-minute, foaming-at-the-mouth series of observations about cable news coverage of recent events.

One favorite target? Glenn Beck.

But Black said he can't watch the former Fox News pundit (or his new children's show, "Liberty Treehouse") enough to catch every potentially funny moment.

"('The Daily Show') has this incredible crew of people that put it all together, and I come in and help do the final writing," Black said. "It's truly amazing that those guys can sit through and edit all that."

He also goes after Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, whom he also skewered on his Grammy-winning 2006 album, "The Carnegie Hall Performance."

About 20 percent to 25 percent of the material Black delivers on his current tour is original each night, he said.

The GOP primaries provide plenty of fodder, he said, along with his observations about the regional differences during the campaign.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Black owns a house in Chapel Hill (he checks Tar Heels scores after shows on a game day).

"You guys are in a different realm down there," Black said of South Carolina, referencing Newt Gingrich's primary win. "This country really can't get with the fact that it's a bunch of different countries."

Comics were among the first group to make their living commenting on the news without actually doing any reporting. That's now par for the course.

"News, especially televised news, doesn't seem to have a lot of critical thinking behind it anymore," Black said. "They try to entertain at the same time. A lot of times, by pointing out what's funny, you end up pointing out what's really happening because what's really happening at this point is funny. It's like critiquing fiction."

Speaking two days before the Florida primary, Black was aghast about the back-and-forth between Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

"Here's Mitt and here's Newt, and here's Newt and here's Mitt, and neither is talking about anything," Black nearly yells into the receiver. "The country is going to hell in a hand basket: You've got massive unemployment, and we have to listen to these guys beat each other up! To make jokes out of this, you have to be angry. And to me, I'm funniest when I'm angry."

At 63, Black still works himself into sweat-inducing frenzies on stage, falling back on seven years of theater school to deliver his monologues and tell stories, to the point that just listening to him can be physically exhausting for the audience.

"It's like sitting on your adrenal glands for 75 minutes," Black said. "I talk like this (shouting, again), especially if I've had a few drinks. That's why I don't drink on stage. It gets a little too real."

After his performances, Black slows his pace by taking pictures and signing autographs with the audience, but he said it takes some time to wind down.

"I once had a doctor tell me to do yoga after my shows," Black said. "He's not my doctor anymore."