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Monday, Nov 23, 2009
It's been four long years since Chris Rock took the stage -- and we couldn't need his voice more than we do now.
Apr 17, 2004 | "America is a nation of B and C students."
True to the name of his new HBO special, "Never Scared," Chris Rock is pacing the stage, explaining his take on, of all things, affirmative action.
"But let's keep it fucking real, OK? A black C student can't run no fucking company. A black C student can't even be the manager of Burger King. Meanwhile, a white C student just happens to be the president of the United States of America!"
Chris Rock is back.
And his timing couldn't be better. With an increasingly messy war in Iraq and a contentious election year under way, who better than Rock to slay the sacred dragons roaming around unchecked? He never minces words. He nails every joke. He tackles the stickiest subjects without self-consciousness or self-importance, and delivers his punch lines with the percussive conviction of a master orator. Only Rock can conquer a controversial topic with an insolent remark and a wide-eyed grin, only he can unravel the conventional wisdom on drugs or race relations with one well-chosen metaphor.
Best of all, as outspoken as he is, Rock delights in the absurdity of American life, taking pleasure in underscoring the greed, inequality and hypocrisy he observes. The Candyman of outrage, Rock turns bitterness into rollicking laughter, and takes the subjects that confuse and sadden us the most and spins them into pure entertainment.
No wonder we've missed him. Over the past four years, Chris Rock may have been around -- in movies, on TV -- but nothing compares to seeing him onstage. While his special (10 p.m. ET Saturday, on HBO) features the kind of championship-level stand-up that will make you laugh from start to finish, there's more to Rock's return than just that. His reappearance is a relief, somehow. It's comforting to hear a powerful, painfully blunt voice ringing out over the equivocations and excuses that have dominated the public discourse lately. Entertainment Weekly recently named Rock "the funniest person in America," but the sharpness and brazen honesty of his perspective dictate that his role in American culture goes far beyond that of our most popular comedians.
Like Al Sharpton who, for better or for worse, cut through the political babble during the Democratic presidential candidate debates, announcing that "all of [these candidates] in their worst night's sleep is better than George Bush wide awake at high noon," Chris Rock says what other people won't say.
"If you're black, you gotta look at America a little bit different. You gotta look at America like the uncle who paid for you to go to college ... but molested you."
Most of all, Rock has a sensitive eye for cracks in the cultural pavement -- the little bits of hypocritical reasoning, those gaps in logic that the rest of us treat as a natural part of the scenery.
On the difference between rich and wealthy: "Shaq is rich. The white man who signs his checks is wealthy."
On hypocrisy in America: "White man makes guns, no problem. Black rapper says 'gun' -- congressional hearing."
On pharmaceutical ads: "They just keep naming symptoms 'til they get one that you fucking got. They say, 'Are you sad, are you lonely? You got athlete's foot? Are you cold, are you hot?'"
On gay marriage: "People always say we can't have gay marriage because marriage is a sacred institution. No it's not! Not in America! Not with 'Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire' and 'The Bachelor' and 'Who Wants to Marry a Midget.'"
On the government's hatred of rap: "Tupac was gunned down on the Las Vegas strip after a Mike Tyson fight. Now, how many witnesses do you need to see some shit before you arrest somebody? More people saw Tupac get shot than the last episode of 'Seinfeld.'"
