As Augustine described the low, middle, and high styles in book IV of "On Christian Teaching," I couldn't help but think of Comedy Central. Occasionally, watch "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show" or a comedy special, and I'm starting to realize what an important role low, middle, and high style play in the delivery of comedic lines.
Lewis Black's style is characteristically 'high'. He spends most of his routines and appearances on the daily show using caustic language (with ornamental figures) along with bombastic delivery. Much of his comedy concerns social justice issues: the War in Iraq, poverty, political imbroglios, so you might say that his comedy is primarily exhortative or dissuasive. His ‘call to action’ is often fantastic or overblown, but it is nonetheless indicative of an action he wants the American public to take.
I saw another comedian a few years ago who tried to copy Black’s style, but he applied it to every day issues: problems with his family, his wife, his neighbor, his job, etc. His routine really didn’t work because his paradigms were too idiosyncratic. The mixture made him seem kind of bratty and jerky. Every-day-life subject matter would seem to demand a middle style (to delight), but he, for whatever reason, decided to go the route of rant. So, I turned the show off after a couple of minutes.