30 p.m. The show is set up as a court room style debate, during which two comics take topics and put them on trial as the root of all evil, with Black acting as judge, jury and executioner.

Everyone is trying to avoid the evils of the world, and now Lewis Black is here to help.

“Lewis Black’s, Black Root of All Evil,” a new show set to air on Comedy Central on March 12 at 10:30 p.m., is a court room style debate. During the debate, two comics take topics and put them on trial as the root of all evil, with Black acting as judge, jury and executioner.

Topics like Oprah vs. the Catholic Church, Donald Trump vs.Viagra, YouTube vs. Porn and Beer vs.Weed, are taken on by comedians like Patton Oswalt, Greg Geraldo, Paul F.Thompkins, Kathleen Madigan and Andy Kindler.

Black opens each show with a quick monologue about each topic. He then introduces the “lawyers,” or comedians, for each side. Following each side’s opening and supporting argument, Black questions them and then has each one state what will happen if their evil is left unchecked in the “ripple of evil.” With the arguments finished, Black renders a verdict.

“Root of All Evil” is a smooth mix of script and improv that takes comedians out of their comfort zone. They’re not doing stand-up, but rather taking a particular topic and making it funny.

In a conference call on Tuesday, Black spoke about the new show, his career, his new book and why Jesus is his inspiration.

Question: Did you know all of the comics involved with the show before you started?

Lewis Black: “I knew most of them. To be honest, for that show to work it helps a lot to have a chemistry with those people. All you need is a comic there that you don’t think is funny and the shows over.”

Q: How did the writers strike affect the show?

LB: “We had to work overtime because we were working with a smaller staff. We had a deal in place with the Writer’s Guild and were a non-union show.”

Q: If you could pick one comedian to argue one topic who would it be, and what is the topic?

LB: “I have like eight comedians in mind and I’m trying to think about what would piss them off the most. The one that immediately comes to mind is George Carlin and Golf. For any topic really it would be George Carlin.”

Q: So is there only one root of all evil?

LB: “There are hundreds of roots to evil, not one. What would that be, that’s my question to you. [I may make the final decisions] I’m not gonna tell you sh*t. You’re watching comedy. Your not gonna get a biblical revelation out of me.”

Q: So is everyone angry or is it just you?

LB: I’m the lead piss off.

Q: What do you consider to be your credentials for making rulings on what is the root of all evil?

LB: Really none. Zip. Are you kidding me, I really have nothing. The only one that could count is that I was bar mitzvah-ed. And I’ve read the whole Bible; I don’t remember it so I don’t know if that qualifies.

Q: How are the topics not only chosen, but how are they paired?

LB: I came in late to the process because I was touring but it was a bunch of us around a table coming up with things that would make you sick and then Comedy Central came through and weeded some out and then we weeded some out and we were left with about 20 topics. Then we tried to see which worked best against what and then paired them up with a comic that was passionate about it. It all worked, but in the end about 70 percent of what we did came off as well as we hoped.

Q: How did this show come about?

LB: Scott Carter and a guy named David Sacks who had written a number of pilots and I had worked together for a long time on various things. They started working on [Root of all Evil] and brought it to Comedy Central and they wanted to do but said that the only one who could be the judge is me. So I came in and we started working it out.

Q: How exactly do you make your final decisions on which topics are more evil?

LB: “Really I’m just bullshiting. Sometimes I don’t like the way somebody debated, sometimes I’m completely prejudiced against one subject and sometimes I just think one guy is funnier then the other.”

Q: How is this show different from others that deal with social and political commentary?

LB: “We’re funny. I don’t think there are a lot of shows that do social, lots do political. The ones that kinda do it from time to time are a joke. What our show has to offer is two funny comedians every week and it shows comics in a different light. They are not doing their stand-up they are being funny about a certain topic. It’s a totally different way for comics to work. That’s where the uniqueness lies.”

Q: How much of the show is improv?

LB: “We couldn’t do all improv, we would be in hell. We learned a lot from the pilot like adding more me. It’s scripted but I’d say it’s 85 percent scripted, 15 percent improv. As we go along I think we’ll change to 70/30.”

Q: We all know your work from the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart,”is there a chance Stewart will argue a topic on your show?

LB: “I would love to get [Jon Stewart] on the show but he has to keep his show propped up. They desperately need him there everyday.”

“I’ll be back on the Daily Show next week.”

Q: Was the viewer text messaging idea yours?

LB: “That was the idea of Comedy Central to make money. I did all of the [voice over recording] for the text messaging, the ‘yadda yadd or yadda yadda vote now,’ and, ah, I felt like a whore. Like a big whore with lipstick and a bad pink wig and a miniskirt.”

“I wanted the audience to vote at the end and then I would yell at the audience, but Comedy Central disagreed and I wanted to keep my job.”

Q: How do you keep the show from becoming formulaic?

LB: “We keep fudging with it. We have talked about adding another character, a bailiff that I can banter with. We have comics that are so different it should keep us out of the realm of being a clich’eacute;.”

Q: You have done a lot in your career: stand-up, playwright, television, movies, broadway. What do you like best?

LB: “Stand-up is my favorite. It’s just me and the audience. There is no one that can screw it up but me and maybe a drunk in the seventh row. Working for Comedy Central is great but when I walk out on stage no one can tell me what to do. The only worry is, is anyone going to show up.”

Q: You have a book coming out?

LB: “It’s a book called ‘Me of Little Faith.’ It’s a book that, combined with Oprah vs. the Catholic Church will bring an end to what was a promising career. It’s a book about religion and I’m not sure that was the right move for me at this point with everything rolling along smoothly. I will get slammed because it’s not a fire and brimstone critique of religion and also because at points I launch into rants, but it’s basically my personal experience with religion. The only think keeping it out of religious book stores is that I use profanity.”

Q: How does it feel to finally get recognition after 20 years?

LB: “It’s nice to know someone is finally paying attention. It’s also an opportunity to put my work out there that I couldn’t have before. With the book I am probably the only writer in the history of writing that put a play in his paperback because the they wanted 20 more pages and no one would [expletive] publish this play. It’s allowing me to get work out there that I never could before.”

Q: What do you consider to be your biggest inspiration?

LB: “Jesus Christ. Can we get that out, can you publish that as the headline ‘Lewis Black reveals Christ as his inspiration, but I thought you were a Jew Mr. Black?’ If he is going to be in every debate I think I should be able to say he is my inspiration.”

“My biggest inspiration is probably guys like George Carlin, Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor, any of those guys that played it on the edge
. I like to go and push as far as I can but not push so hard that you punch a hole in the air and you lose all the air.”

Q: Is there any topic that you consider going too far or is everything fair game for ridicule?

LB: “I think everything is open. I can’t touch abortion because I can’t figure out how. It’s the impossible joke. There are comics that do and it’s funny. If something becomes way to sacred we’re going to get caught up in something we shouldn’t get caught up in.”

Q: Do you want to focus more on current events or do you want the topics to be timeless [for “Root of all Evil”].

LB: “It’s tough with current events because, it’s rough to think about but with, like, Britney Spears we didn’t know if she would still be alive. You want the nature of the beast to be evergreen.”

Q: What are you least angry about?

LB: “What am I not angry about…wow…um…college basketball. March madness makes me the happiest all year. I could sit in a chair and watch every game and be in bliss, until they come out and say Jesus helped them win the game.”

Ryan McAskill can be reached at [email protected]