Lewis Black's Root of All Evil

Each show begins with Lewis Black welcoming the viewer to his courtroom and declares who the two candidates for 'root of all evil' will be with a trademark "Which is the root of all evil?" After the introduction finishes Black gives a brief history of each of the candidates and introduces the two advocates. He then chooses one of them to start his/her opening statement which is then followed by the other advocate's opening statement. After this Black asks the advocates to present their case for their respective evil. Like the opening statements these mostly consist of oral arguments occasionally featuring previously filmed video segments. After both advocates finish Black begins his inquisition where he takes turns asking the advocates questions regarding their evil. Most of the time these questions relate to the good or usefulness of the 'evil' or questions that attempt to point out that the other candidate is more evil. After this Black asks the advocates to predict what would happen if their evil continued to grow and be successful in their "Ripple of Evil". The Ripple of Evils usually use absurd and comedic logic and are generally very silly, although they are spoken in a serious tone. After this Black asks the advocates for closing arguments, then asks for the audience's opinion (which he almost never agrees with) and then ends the show with his final verdict along with the loser's sentence.