Comedian Lewis Black will be retiring from touring after over 35 years. While “The Daily Show” mainstay is still on the road wrapping up his current “Off the Rails tour,” he recently released the dates for his “Goodbye Yeller Brick Road The Final Tour.” During this new tour, he will play events in North America and Europe from January 2024 through 2025.
Black has been doing hundreds of live shows a year for quite some time now, but he is in no way slowing down. He plans to devote his time to writing a new play and book, along with expanding his podcast, “Rantcast.”
Though he may be parking his tour bus for good the comic will still perform on stage “from time to time.” True to form, Black has been telling people of his plans to retire for a while now, but no one thought he was being serious. He now jokes that if anyone asks why he would retire from touring, it would be “after years of being asked” why he would ever embark on such an “exhausting” pursuit in the first place.
But that’s not to say he gained nothing from the experience. Black says touring is a “great joy” and has opened a “world of possibilities.” “I thought the road would go on forever, well I was wrong about that. And the fact is as hard as the road maybe to be on, it’s harder to leave it,” Black said. “I am only retiring from touring. It’s time for me to explore other avenues such as writing, reading your rants, and pitching tv shows that will be rejected. (Which is why I know they are good.) More importantly I can finally give my Fantasy Football team the focus and time it truly needs. And maybe, just maybe I can become the professional golfer I was born to be.”
He added that he would probably have already retired from stand-up tours if it hadn’t been for the Covid-19 pandemic. “Here’s what I learned from all this— that whole thing of five-year plans? ‘Oh, what are you going to do in five years?’ Don’t ask the question anymore,” he jokes. “It’s a stupid f**king question.”
He originally planned to end his stand-up career with two specials, with one “psychotically titled Lewis Black’s Greatest Hits.” Now he intends to put together one special centered around his final tour, where he will also reflect on life “in satirical times.”
In addition to the aforementioned projects Black will also be reprising his role as Anger in Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.”
Tickets for the “Goodbye Yeller Brick Road The Final Tour” go on sale Friday, November 17 at 10 AM local time.
“Goodbye Yeller Brick Road The Final Tour” Dates
- January 18, 2024 – Monterey, CA – Golden State Theatre
- January 19, 2024 – Santa Barbara, CA – Lobero Theatre
- January 20, 2024 – Anaheim, CA – City National Grove of Anaheim
- January 25, 2024 – Modesto, CA – Gallo Center for the Arts
- January 26, 2024 – Brooks, CA – Cache Creek Casino Resort
- January 27, 2024 – Reno, NV – Silver Legacy Resort Casino – Grande Exposition Hall
- January 28, 2024 – Santa Rosa, CA – Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
- February 2, 2024 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
- February 3, 2024 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
- February 4, 2024 – Fort Collins, CO – The Lincoln Center
- February 16, 2024 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
- February 17, 2024 – Detroit, MI – MotorCity Casino Hotel – Sound Board
- February 18, 2024 – Waukegan, IL – Genesee Theatre
- February 23, 2024 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory
- February 24, 2024 – Springfield, MO – Gillioz Theatre
- February 25, 2024 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha
- March 8, 2024 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Center for the Arts
- March 9, 2024 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
- March 10, 2024 – Munhall, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
- March 21, 2024 – Providence, RI – Veterans Memorial Auditorium (The VETS)
- March 22, 2024 – Boston, MA – The Wilbur
- March 23, 2024 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium
- March 24, 2024 – Orono, ME – Collins Center for the Arts
- April 19, 2024 – Chattanooga, TN – Walker Theatre
- April 20, 2024 – Nashville, TN – Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) – James K. Polk Theater: Nashville Comedy Festival
- April 21, 2024 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
- April 25, 2024 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theatre
- April 26, 2024 – Prior Lake, MN – Mystic Lake Casino Hotel – Mystic Showroom
- April 27, 2024 – La Crosse, WI – Viterbo University Fine Arts Center – Main Theatre
- May 2, 2024 – Wilmington, DE – The Grand Opera House – Copeland Hall
- May 3, 2024 – Washington, DC – The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts – Concert Hall
- May 4, 2024 – Richmond, VA – The National
- May 14, 2024 – Amsterdam, NL – Meervaart Theater
- May 16, 2024 – Brussels, BE – La Madeleine
- May 19, 2024 – London, UK – Leicester Square Theatre
- May 22, 2024 – Berlin, DE – Ernst-Reuter-Saal
- May 24, 2024 – Stockholm, SE – Södra Teatern
