Early film pitches for Pixar’s Academy Award-winning “Inside Out” named comedian Lewis Black to illustrate how an iconic voice like that belonging to the “King of the Rant” could bring an emotion like “Anger” to life. Black went on to voice the character in both the 2015 film and its 2024 sequel — now the highest grossing animated film of all time; a fan of all things Pixar, Black has called the opportunity a career-defining role. Now, the Chautauqua favorite returns to the Amphitheater stage with his “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” directors Pete Docter and Kelsey Mann, respectively, to discuss the intersection of humor and the heartfelt. Their conversation opens a Chautauqua Lecture Series week co-curated with Black himself, and in partnership with the National Comedy Center.

Pete Docter is the Oscar-winning director of “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up,” “Inside Out” and “Soul,” and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He has served as a member of the National Comedy Center Advisory Board since 2019.

Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio’s third animator, Docter collaborated and helped develop the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also was supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life,” and wrote initial story treatments for both “Toy Story 2” and “WALL-E.” Docter also executive produced “Monsters University” and the Academy Award-winning “Brave.” Docter has won three Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature for “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Soul,” and has received nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature for “Monsters, Inc.,” and Best Original Screenplay for “Up,” “Inside Out” and “WALL-E.” In 2010, “Up” also was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Kelsey Mann first came to Pixar Animation Studios in 2009 and was the story supervisor on the 2013 feature film “Monsters University.” In this capacity, he oversaw a team of story artists through the process of storyboarding the film. He also contributed ancillary material during the production of the Academy Award-winning feature “Toy Story 3.” Mann was soon tapped to direct the “Monsters University” short film “Party Central,” and he also worked as the story supervisor on “The Good Dinosaur” and “Onward.” Most recently, Mann directed Pixar’s feature film “Inside Out 2.”

Mann launched his animation career as an intern at Reelworks, a small Minneapolis-based commercial studio. From there, he moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and went on to hold a variety of positions including animation, storyboarding and directing for companies such as Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and Lucasfilm Animation.

Known as the “King of the Rant,” Lewis Black uses his trademark style of comedic yelling and animated finger-pointing to skewer anything and anyone that gets under his skin. He’s made audiences across the world laugh at the absurdities of life, with topics that include current events, social media, politics and anything else that exposes the hypocrisy and madness he sees in the world.

In 1996, Black was tapped to create a weekly segment for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” The segment, a three-minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into “Back in Black,” becoming one of the most popular and longest-running segments on the show.

In his comedic career, Black has released more than a dozen albums — receiving six Grammy nominations and two wins for his work — and has filmed two specials for HBO, including “Black On Broadway” and “Red, White and Screwed.” The latter was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. His most recent stand-up specials are 2020’s “Thanks for Risking Your Life” and 2023’s “Tragically, I Need You” — his 15th stand-up special.

This program is made possible by Week Two Presenting Sponsor AHN Westfield and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. This program is also supported by The Kevin and Joan Keogh Family Fund and The June and Albert Bonyor Lectureship Fund.

Actors Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub, who have appeared on screen together a number of times since their 1992 marriage, help close Chautauqua’s exploration of “Comedy Now: A Week Curated with Lewis Black — In Partnership with the National Comedy Center” in conversation with longtime Chautauqua and NCC collaborator Kelly Carlin on the relevance and timeliness of comedy.

Born in New York City, Brooke Adams began acting at age 6 in her father’s summer theater in Michigan. Her stage credits include “The Heidi Chronicles” on broadway, “Key Exchange” at the Orpheum, “Split” at the Second Stage, “The Old Neighborhood” at A.R.T., “If Memory Serves” at the Pasadena Playhouse, “The Philanderer” at the Yale Rep, “The Cherry Orchard” at the Atlantic Theater Co., and most recently “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett in Pasadena, Boston, and NYC.

Her film credits include “Days of Heaven,” “Gas Food Lodging,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Dead Zone,” “Cuba,” “Tell Me A Riddle” and “Key Exchange.” She produced and starred in “Made-Up,” written by her sister Lynne Adams. She collaborated again with her sister, creating the web series “All Downhill From Here.“ On television, she appeared in “Thirtysomething,” “Moonlighting,” “Family,” “The Lion of Africa,” “Special People,” the miniseries “LACE” and “LACE II,” and “Monk,” starring her husband Tony Shalhoub.

In her early 20s, Adams lived in Spain for four years, where, with no training, she painted everything she saw in watercolors. When she returned to the States and started working as an actress again, painting got away from her. In 1993, after the birth of her second daughter, she stopped acting and decided to take art classes — her passion for painting was reawakened. After nearly 30 years away from filmmaking, the 1981 film “Haunted,” now renamed “Vengeance is Mine,” was re-released at the Film Forum with a review in The New York Times that was a love letter to Adams, which prompted a retrospective of her work at the Harvard Film Archive. In all of her art, whether it be acting or painting, Adams brings liveliness, familiarity, and heart to all.

Tony Shalhoub is a Tony-, Golden Globe-, and four-time Emmy-winning actor with a diverse and extensive resume. Recently, he returned to the iconic role of the beloved obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in Peacock’s critically acclaimed “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” receiving Best Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Awards.

Shalhoub was born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father emigrated from Lebanon to the United States as an orphan at the age of 8. Shalhoub spent most of his early career in the theater after graduating from Yale Drama School in 1980. From 1980 to 1984, he was a proud member of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before moving to New York.

On the Broadway stage, Shalhoub starred in “The Band’s Visit…” as well as Arthur Miller’s “The Price.” Other Broadway credits include “Act One,” “Golden Boy,” “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Conversations With My Father,” “The Heidi Chronicles” and “The Odd Couple” (Female Version). Shalhoub’s film credits include “Play Dirty” on Amazon Prime, “Flamin’ Hot” directed by Eva Longoria, “Pain & Gain,” “Men In Black” 1 and 2, “Galaxy Quest,” “The Siege,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Linoleum,” “Big Night,” “A Civil Action,” “Spy Kids” 1 and 2, “Final Portrait” and “Barton Fink,” as well as voicing the character of Luigi in “Cars.” Television credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Monk,” “Braindead,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Wings,” HBO’s “Too Big to Fail” and “Hemingway & Gellhorn.”

Kelly Carlin is an author, storyteller, depth psychologist, transformational coach and television producer. Her solo show, “A Carlin Home Companion,” was expanded and then published as a memoir by St. Martin’s Press in 2015. Her television work includes being a producer of the Showtime show “The Green Room with Paul Provenza,” and in 2023, she won an Emmy Award as executive producer of the HBO documentary “George Carlin’s American Dream.” Her 20-plus years of study and practice in Zen Buddhism, Co-Active Coaching and Imaginal Psychology are the foundation for her creative work, and for her transformational programs through her Humans on the Verge coaching community. She is proudly involved with the National Comedy Center as an Advisory Board member, and proud to be a Chautauquan since 2017 when she helped to launch the first-ever “comedy week” here.

This program is made possible by Week Two Presenting Sponsor AHN Westfield and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. This program is also supported by The Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Endowment Fund for Adult Programming and The Ethel Paris and Theodore Albert Viehe Lectureship.