If you don’t believe that Lewis Black is at the very top level of standup comedians, than you and I don’t really like each other anymore, do we?

Black’s always been a brilliant writer, and his onstage persona – that of the curmudgeonly old guy whose attempts to explain the idiocy of the human race are delivered in a fashion that guarantees he’ll stroke out by the end of the show – is wonderfully distinctive.

At the opening of his latest special, “Tragically, I Need You,” Black is ALREADY frustrated in anticipatory fashion of audience. He says, “What’s gonna happen is I’m gonna say some things and you’re not really gonna hear them. What you’re gonna feel I have challenged your basic belief system. You’re going to (obscenity) feel I have (obscenity) insulted you on a level you have never imagined. (Applause and laughter.) And all I said was a joke.”

Having thus warned us what’s about to happen, Black goes forth into hilarious territories that makes us deliriously happy and at the same time feel horrible about the world. See (and laugh) for yourself Sunday when Black performs in New London at The Garde Arts Center.

Lewis Black, 7 p.m. Sunday, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $55-$85; gardearts.org, (860) 444-7373.