Lewis Black’s onstage persona as an angry, frustrated cynic is so well-honed that Pixar hired him to provide the voice of the living personification of Anger in Inside Out—so it should come as no surprise that his live performances regularly feature rants. In fact, a recurring highlight of Black’s recent shows has been a feature called “The Rant Is Due,” in which fans submit suggestions for things to rant about, and Black gives them exactly what they’ve asked for.

Black recently signed a deal with Audible to turn The Rant Is Due into an audio series, with the first nine episodes making their debut this week. Vanity Fair spoke with Black about the new gig, what topics he’s hitting in his act these days, how his audiences have changed in the Trump era, and why he doesn’t have his own TV show—and is tired of trying to get one.

Vanity Fair: When Audible opted to pick up The Rant Is Due, did they give you any particular guidelines, or did they just say, “Go forth and be Lewis Black”?

Lewis Black: Well, I’ve been doing these “rants” every night at my shows for awhile now. We began this about 200 shows ago, so we’ve got about 200 or so stockpiled.

So there wasn’t any sort of Audible Standards and Practices team checking out the material to make sure it met their guidelines?

No, they’ve been good about it. They’ve given me certain things that would really help clean up the recordings for their purposes, things they need so that they can cut it up and edit it properly. But it’s nothing that would interfere with content. If they had, then I wouldn’t have done the deal.

These days, you must have more material than you know what to do with.

Yeah, but some of the stuff. . . I mean, it was the dumbest election in the history of the country—or at least the dumbest in my lifetime—by leaps and bounds.

When we talked to Adam McKay, he said, “The comedy world’s a little confused with this, because he’s already such a cartoon. It’s almost like there’s no room for satire.”

When I talk about it, I actually say, “How do you satirize this? How are you supposed to make this funny?” I treat it as if it’s fiction. We’re living in fictional times.

What’s the makeup of your audiences?

Well, they’re more against Hillary. Some were for Hillary. But there were more who were against Trump. And I think there are some pro-Trump people who show up, who still have a sense of humor. But they do seem to have the least sense of humor of any group. Even the Reagan Republicans had a sense of humor, but these guys. . . Wow.

Some comedians have said that they felt a shift in their audiences when Trump started being taken seriously as a candidate.

Yeah, I’ll get some people who go, “Do some Obama jokes!” It’s like, “You know, when Obama was running, I was doing stuff on him, you fucking idiots!”

Trump must be a primary target, but what are some of the other topics covered in your act these days?

Well, I talk about mental health, and I talk about leaving comedy and starting a new career. I won’t give the whole thing up, but I talk about opening a gun store, because it allows me to actually express what I feel about the gun laws in this country and still make a hefty profit. Because it does seem to be the one thing that sells itself, you know? It’s a lot easier than sitting around trying to come up with a late-night TV ad!

Is there any topic that you consider off-limits for comedy?

Nah, not really. Not if I can find a way at it. I mean, that’s the thing about it. I’ve talked about abortion, but the bit about it was that I’d just say the word and you could feel every anus in the room tighten up. You didn’t have to talk about it.

How many days a year do you spend on the road now?

I do about a hundred and some odd shows on the road a year.

It’s so funny to listen to your stand-up material and then hear you as one of the lead voices in a Pixar film.

I know, isn’t that something? When they called about Inside Out, I flipped out. I said, “O.K.! This is really it!” I was really excited about it, because it was Pixar. It was kind of funny: my voiceover agent, who’s really had a lot of patience, because I didn’t get all that much voiceover work. I was getting stuff, but there was, like, seven years where nothing happened, probably longer. But then he called and said, “You know, Pixar was wondering if you were interested . . . ” “Yes!” [Laughs.] It was nice of them. I would’ve been upset if it wasn’t me voicing Anger. That would’ve been one of those that I wouldn’t have gotten over.

You’ve had your own TV series in the past: Root of All Evil. Have you thought about taking on television again? Or have you been trying and it just hasn’t panned out?

I’d been trying. I was throwing out two or three ideas a year. But about three years ago, I just went, “Enough’s enough.” Because they were approaching me and saying, “We really want to work with you!” And then I’d come in, and they’d say, “Oh, boy, we’re really interested!” And then they’d turn it down!

Awhile back, I had an idea for a show. I was a pot-smoking college theater professor who’s a drunk and who has a D.U.I., so I’m riding my bicycle around campus and screaming at kids about the amount of blowjobs they’re gonna have to give to really get ahead in the business, and then you find out at the end of the thing that I’m living with my mother. FX—which has now gone on to do Louie—turned to me and said it was too funny for FX! [Laughs.] And IFC, they’ve since done Maron, they said it wasn’t quirky enough! So I got tired of what their reasons were. I mean, how can something be too funny? Just say it sucks!