Chris Rock: Bring the Pain

I don't know if Rock will be mentioned in the same breath with Pryor, Cosby, or even Murphy. Where Pryor was all about 'it's a black thing', looking from the inside out, and Cosby is about doing away with the artificial divisions of *color* and focusing on the rightness of *personal conduct*, Rock has found his own niche of effortless race humor, although he is perhaps most closely aligned with early Eddie.

By today's standards, even the tossed salad euphemism is tame. But the key is Rock does have talent at building comic architecture; there's a foundation for all the jokes, the first level follows the shape of the foundation, and so on up. And visually, he knows how lead the crowd by stalking from side to side when changing stances.

Pryor only had one note when acting for a movie, Cosby never really made great film headway, but Murphy blazed the film trail for any comics who dared to follow. Not sure if Rock has what it takes to make a real dent there.

Coincidentally, we watched this for the first time when mayor Nagin made his 'Chocolate City' comments that drew so much fire. Note Rock's skill with this notion, in contrast to a bumbling fool like the mayor of New Orleans.

While he is more popular for his recent concerts like "Never Scared" and "Bigger and Blacker" to his HBO T.V. Show as well as his early work on "Saturday Night Live," this is a must-own for any fan of the brilliant and daring Chris Rock.

This was his first "big" concert for the Home Box Office and it did deserve the Emmeys it got because it is very well written and will cause laughter to ensue every minute!

Rock wisely mixes his vulgar words along with his political views and general beliefs, thus, allowing each act to have a message behind it as well as the punchline getting executed 'no problem.'

While he is incredibly similar to his idol's Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Eddie Murphy, Chris relies less on "shock value" and doesn't repeat himself as often as other comedians do.

Recommended for people 16 and up ( contains strong language and brief sexual humor ).

The much-anticipated feature-length debut special from Saturday Night Live alum Chris Rock. Rock would only spend 3 years at SNL before heading off on his own, eventually reinventing himself as a prominent name in stand-up. He had released an album, Born Suspect, while still a cast member of SNL, and enjoyed some success with his HBO debut, the half-hour special Big Ass Jokes, but his success was limited. However, there was a buzz coming into this night, with a captive crowd just waiting for Rock to deliver big. It's an expectation seemingly shared by Rock, himself. Right off the bat, album covers from stand-up greats (Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Flip Wilson (as Geraldine), Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Pigmeat Markham, Woody Allen and Eddie Murphy) are overlayed on footage of Rock making his way to the stage. Easing in with some material directed to his audience in Washington, Rock takes some jabs at Marion Barry (Note for the kids out there: He's kind of like the black Rob Ford) participating in the Million Man March festivities, which then leads him into a nice little run on crack that easily reels in the audience. From there, he explores politics, prisons, and the OJ Simpson trial before going into his views on the divide in the black community, highlighting the polarizing ways some in the community carry themselves, and unafraid to turn that spotlight inward with some keen criticisms. Once he's done covering these themes, Rock settles in and spends the last 15-20 minutes of his time exploring relationships between men and women, his charisma actually winning women over while he's pointing out their flaws. This isn't surprising as there aren't many who aren't won over by his million-dollar smile. This set turned Rock into a superstar, and it's easy to see why. Years later, it still seems vibrant and vital. Many would go on to emulate his style, but few ever made it work like he did.

Rock repels me when he tries to be in a "real" film. But I have to admit that he is a terrific standup guy.

I assume that's true of him as a person, but what I mean is as a comic. I dive into these things from time to time and am frequently disappointed. Oh, sometimes I laugh but its only a half a laugh until you realize what's happening.

Most standup is insult comedy, usually associated with identity comedy. I'm sure there is an immigrant, Vaudeville history there. But most black comics today do the identity thing.

Rock is sort of a genius in what he does, and since it is so finely tuned it must be conscious.

Here's what he does: he'll take the black community to task for some characteristic or behavior that is taboo to mention in the US. He'll hammer on it until it threatens to catch fire. Then in apparent seamlessness, he'll switch from being outside the group to inside and the switch itself will be funny.

For instance, he'll riff on OJ and violent blacks and how OJ's wife deserved to be killed. People will howl with nervous laughter. Then without missing a beat or change tone, he'll make fun of such an attitude. Poking fun at stupid blacks who think this way. The laughter will not start anew but continue from the old, building layer upon layer. Then he'll switch back, talking about slapping a bitch around, Then another switch about how that's not acceptable. People still laughing. Oh, he'd never, never (many nevers) hit a woman....

But he'd shake the bleep out her, and he caps it off by acting out this violence. Weeping, hurting laughter.

Its because the man knows the precise point at which the boundary can be pushed. When he gets just to that point, just barely there, he pirouettes to the other side and pushes back until the boundary is dangerously close to breaking the other way.

It's brilliant, because no one at all talks about that boundary in the US. Not seriously. So we get a couple things. We get to see a dancing concept master do his stuff. We get to confront something we avoid at all costs. We get to see risk in him and it makes us free to take some risks. Oh, we laugh.

But we love the guy too.

I've seen a few other shows. I think this is the best.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I only saw Chris Rock: Bring the Pain recently, having previously owned the album of the same performance. Although the HBO special shares many routines in common with the album, there is also material not on the recording waiting to be discovered.

Rock's routine is hilarious, with even the most topical bits still funny after fifteen years. Sketches about Marion Barry and the Million Man March continue to draw laughs, long after their expiration dates. Other, politically incorrect lines about race relations in the United States hold up long after the race debates of the nineties. This is in large part due to Chris Rock's energy and skilled delivery of the material.

The last twenty minutes or so of the special drag out somewhat. Rock switches from cutting racial commentary to more standard material dealing with relationships. This material is nowhere near as humorous, and comes as a letdown. Still, the special is well worth watching, and will definitely make you laugh.