From the hilariously mad-as-hell Daily Show regular and New York Times–bestselling author comes a ferociously funny exploration of religion and faith.

What do we believe? And in God’s name why?

Lewis Black has the answers. Or at least his answers. He survived Hebrew school and a bar mitzvah (barely), was a sixties college student who saw the parallels between religious rapture and drug-induced visions (even if none of his friends did), explored the self-actualization movement of the seventies (and the self-indulgence it engendered), and turned a cynical eye toward politicians who don the cloak of religious rectitude to cover up their own hypocrisy.

What he learned about the inconsistencies and peculiarities of religion infuriated Black, and in Me of Little Faith they get his full comic attention. In a series of comedic inquiries, Black explores how the rules and constraints of religion have affected his life and the lives of us all. Hilarious experiences with rabbis, Mormons, gurus, psychics, and even the joy of a perfect round of golf give Black the chance to expound upon what we believe and why—in the language of a shock jock and with the heart of an iconoclast.

I never thought Black was that funny on the Daily Show or on standup. I gave this book a try, but I don't think it's funny either.

Title Me of Little Faith
Author Lewis Black
Rating ****
Tags religion, humor

I've loved what I've seen of Lewis Black's comedy. He does the Angry (well, no longer young) Man well, and his use of the f-word less offensive than usual because it fits so well into that persona. In this, his second book, he takes on religion. His trademark comedy is there, but it is actually surprising the religious experiences he has had. Through hallucinogenic drugs, for example, he had profound experiences of the interconnectedness of everything and everyone. He has also had amazing experiences with one particular psychic and after the death of his brother. But he has little use for organized religions, and his trademark humor points up much of the absurdity of them. I'm rather surprised he doesn't seem to know anything about paganism - I'm sure Wiccans and other pagans have educated him by now. Somebody also needs o tell him that there already exist comedy religions, such as Discordianism, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and the Church of Elvis.

Excellent book if you like Black's style of humor, though the play at the end was not as funny as Black would like to think.


Publication Riverhead Hardcover (2008), Hardcover, 256 pages
Publication date 2008
ISBN 1594489947 / 9781594489945

I haven't read the text version so I'm not sure how well his signature rants and forceful frustrations translate to print, but I recommend the audio version since you hear him deliver it in that familiar style you know if you have heard his standup. I think he's very honest from the spiritual perspective and as one who reads a lot of spiritual books, like myself, it's a fresh perspective on religion and spirituality that I'm not used to, but I welcome. Lewis Black will certainly tell you what he likes or doesn't like about religion and spirituality, but he's actually had some very fascinating and supernatural experiences which form those beliefs and I can't help but respect what he has to say about religion, even when I disagree with him. As Lewis Black and others will tell you, if you are easily (or maybe even slightly) offended by off-color remarks about religion, don't read this book. Seriously, it will upset you. But if your particular religious beliefs allow you to laugh at yourself from time to time, this book may remind you why you believe in the things you do, and if your faith is strong, it will reinforce those beliefs.

I've enjoyed almost everything Lewis Black has done. I couldn't wait to read this book. It wasn't as great as I had hoped though. It is funny, don't get me wrong. It doesn't stray from his stand up routine at all. I just found it lacking. I guess I had hoped that the book would be more personal, sort of a memoir and comedy combined. What I found was that it contained far more of his comic bits from stand-up, as well as a few funny bits about the nature of religion in general. I did laugh, but not all the time. There's parts that fall flat, chapters that are thin, and the ending for me was a downer. I still recommend it to read if you are a Lewis Black fan, but I think this book could have been so much more.

Some of the essays are funny but too many not so much. If there is a central idea in all these diverse essays, it is that the fear of death is the root of religion and humor. But too many of the essays seem to stand alone disconnected. For example, the extremely short essay on Islam was the perfect place where Lewis Black could have elaborated in a humorous way, of course, on the complex interplay of fear of death and humor (or the lack of it in this instance) and religion. But no such effort is made to pull this "book" together into a more cohesive whole.