Reasons why Gothamist is sad to have missed Chris Rock's comedy show (playing through early next week, but sold out, natch, at MSG), after reading Kelefa Sanneh's review :
– "If you're black, America is like the uncle that paid your way through college but molested you."
– On Roy Horn being mauled: "That tiger didn't go crazy. That tiger went tiger."
– Krispy Kreme donuts' secret ingredient: crack
Chris Rock and the Weitz Brothers' take on Heaven Can Wait (which was a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan), Down to Earth, is actually better than most would think; Wanda Sykes and Jennifer Coolidge (the MILF from American Pie) costar. And check out Rock's directorial debut, Head of State, which has Bernie Mac, Stephanie March, Dylan Baker, and Lynn Whitfield.
And Chris Rock was brilliant at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.
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Chris Rock is our nearest approximation to Richard Pryor in the 70s at the top of his game.
I really don't see the same talent in Chris Rock as so many others do. I have felt this for a long time.
The three jokes Jen wrote are funny, but completely derivative and no different than all of the jokes Chris Rock EVER makes. It's almost always being black, being black, and being black. It's tiring for me.
Last summer, when I was like nine months pregnant with our daughter, my husband and I saw Chris Rock, who has an infant daughter himself. The most memorable (at least for us) thing that he said that night was to be a good parent to a girl all you had to do was to keep her off "the pole". I laughed so hard that I thought that I could go into labor right there. To this day my husband still alludes to keeping Sydney off the pole. Of course it was way more hysterical coming from Chris Rock.
I thought Rock's Bill Clinton impeachment jokes were hysterical, and his riffs on Columbine and "the yellow bus" had nothing to do with "being black" but totally worked.
I love Chris but actually I think Dave Chappelle is a truer heir to Pryor.. an assessment based on Dave's standup more than his TV show, which is hit-or-miss (though occasionally brilliant).
I find Dave's material a little more subtle and insightful, a little sharper. He also has more poise as a performer than Chris, who often looks to me like he feels awkward on stage, and compensates by overacting his routine.
That reminds me, Richard's old TV show, which was similarly hit-or-miss with flashes of genius, is soon to be re-issued. A must-have for any Richard Pryor fan (and how could you not be a Richard Pryor fan??)
I think that Chris is actually a riot - I saw him at my little college in NJ a few years back, and probably 80% of the materials was right up there with these three jokes...
While I'm not sure he's the new Richard Pryor, he's definitely pretty funny - and has the same acquired taste that a lot of people said Pryor did - I'm a little young to remember him so much in the true prime of his career....
Chris ROck is brilliant in stand up, but there is no defense for his HORRIBLE movies.
He is bad in EVER movie he appears in and he cannot helm a film if he is actually onscreen.
(He may have a future in doing animation voice-overs in features tho, ala his work in doctor do-little and in Osmosis Jones)
i loooooooove chris rock. my friends saw him on his current tour but at the show in chicago. they said he was really really good in the beginning but lost momentum towards the end.
So *this* is where all the Chris Rock hang out...
Does anyone know if his MSG gig will be on TV? HBO?
no cholly -- this is where the people too lazy to read the NYT arts section hang.