Comedian Lewis Black’s Secret Passion: Wine

As published by Vanity Fair

Lewis Black arrives at Brooklyn Winery a little after two P.M. on a Tuesday. I introduce myself and explain that we’ll taste a flight of some of the urban winery’s best products, get his thoughts on each, and perhaps learn a thing or two about him in the process. “Yeah, you’ll learn that it’s too early for me to be drinking,” he mutters as he removes his coat. “And that spitting thing is bullshit.” The Grammy Award–winning comedian, New York Times best-selling author, and Daily Show contributor has one résumé credit few are aware of: amateur wine connoisseur.

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The Budget Guide to Single Malt Scotch

As published by Men's Journal

We all dream of amassing a Scotch collection worthy of Ron Burgundy, but the required cash is cost prohibitive for most of us. Fortunately, one need not sell a kidney to enjoy some of the finest whisky on Earth. Single-malt producers in each of the five major Scotch regions put out legitimately top-notch spirits that retail for $50 or less. Here are our favorite affordable options from the Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Islay, and Islands. Pick up all five bottles for a tour of Scotland that lays out the different flavors and character that define each. 

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An International Guide to Humor

As featured in Travel + Leisure

As a touring comedian, I travel more than a fugitive flight attendant. And if you get around even a fraction of as much as I do, you know that when arriving in a new country, few things are as jarring as that first encounter with local television programming. Flip on the TV in your hotel room, and bam!: you're barraged with an overwhelming stream of incomprehensible foreign inflections and vocalizations. Americans aren't the only funny ones out there (remember Gérard Depardieu in Green Card?), but without the context of a nation's unique culture, a Yank will have difficulty understanding the comedic references in any sitcom, stand-up show, or casual conversation while abroad. Thankfully, at long last, one need not speak a foreign language to bust a gut while traipsing across the globe. That's because I've taken the time to compile a comedic road map of the brands of wit and clowning that Americans can expect to encounter when visiting various different travel destinations. Prime yourself with the International Guide to Humor below, and you'll be laughing along like a local on every voyage to come:

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Happiness is Eating Foie Gras From a Styrofoam Container

As published by Travel + Leisure

As a touring comedian, I ate terribly on the road for years. Pre-show dinners at university mess halls regularly consisted of frozen veggie burgers, pizza, veggie burgers, and veggie burgers. But following one especially disruptive on-stage emergency ("Let's all take a bathroom break, folks!"), my comedy partner Dave and Ifinally decided that we needed to take better care of ourselves: as a single concession of comfort from the grueling traveling that was slowly taking its toll on our ragged bodies, we made it a policy to enjoy a nice, quality meal before every show whenever possible* (*in some far-flung American food deserts, it just ain't getting much fancier than Applebee's). Since making this decision, we've enjoyed some of the finest meats, vegetables, and shellfish (don't tell Dave's rabbi) nearly every continental U.S. state has to offer....

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Number of the Yeast: The Rise of Heavy Metal Brewers

As published by Food & Wine

Usually when people talk about metal's effect on beer, it's in the context of discussing canning versus bottling. And while some of you out there are surely turned on by "under lid gassing" and "seam calibration," there's another metal influencing the brews we drink that most will find much more interesting than aluminum. All around the country, brewers are finding inspiration from and collaborating with legendary metal musicians – and the results are often exceptional.

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Here's How You Get Shia LaBeouf In Your Cannibal Music Video

As published by MTV News

Rob Cantor, the man behind the "29 Celebrity Impressions" viral video, has struck again with another multimedia masterpiece – this time, with the help of an actual celeb. His new live performance video for the original song "Shia LaBeouf" recounts a horrific story involving the "actual cannibal" Hollywood superstar through interpretive dance and choral singing, and features a cameo from the actor who has recently been in the news for some…shall we say, "touchy" behavior. I sat down with Cantor for an exclusive interview on how -- and why – this production came to fruition.

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What Pitch Perfect Is About, by a Guy Who Hasn't Seen It

As published by Cosmopolitan

So, my wife was watching this movie on TV the other day called Pitch Perfect. You might have seen it? Well, I haven't. I left the room after witnessing 20 seconds of some sort of gender-based West Side Story-inspired a cappella sex-song battle. But if you don't have the time to watch it, or simply aren't interested in committing to a 112-minute screening, I can still fill you in on what this film is probably all about.

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