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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6303
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2008 - 06:47 pm: | 
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Rock Is Back. Give Him a Cookie.
By KELEFA SANNEH
January 2, 2008
Comedy Review
“That’s right, New Year’s Eve,” Chris Rock said. “I’m a little nervous. I haven’t done this in a while.” These were just about the first words he spoke all night, and this was definitely the last time he sounded hesitant.
Monday’s show was among the early dates on his new tour, and it was a big one: His job was to entertain a sold-out crowd in Madison Square Garden during the last hours of 2007. He had booked an impressive opening act, the soul singer Jill Scott, whose set nodded at hip-hop, jazz and opera, none of it a stretch for her. And before he took the stage, big screens displayed work by two mischievous African-American painters, Michael Ray Charles and Kehinde Wiley. All of this helped set a mellow, grown-up mood, especially since the arena was full of nattily (or at least neatly) dressed couples sipping Champagne from plastic flutes.
So what? People hadn’t just come to laugh. They had come to laugh harder than they had ever laughed in their lives. They had come to laugh until their eyes and bladders welled up, laugh until they were struggling to breathe, laugh until they were dry-heaving, then laugh some more. Mr. Rock + New Year’s Eve = beyond-high expectations.
But meeting his fans’ expectations doesn’t seem to be Mr. Rock’s first priority these days. And who can blame him? Over the past decade he has established himself as arguably America’s most beloved — and most quotable — stand-up comedian. His high, braying voice has come to seem like a cultural institution. And his corrosive, minimalist approach — no props, no physical comedy, no long stories, no impersonations — has turned seemingly innocuous phrases (“Want a cookie?”) into catchphrases.
Along the way, though, Mr. Rock has also developed a tricky reputation: He is an African-American comedian beloved by white people (among others), and sometimes it seems as if his routines give white people permission to laugh at black culture. In an episode of the NBC sitcom “The Office,” Steve Carell, playing the ultra-insensitive boss Michael Scott, gets into trouble after regaling his employees with a rendition of Mr. Rock’s routine about the “two types of black people.”
Looking plaintively at the camera, he asks, “How come Chris Rock can do a routine, and everybody finds it hilarious and groundbreaking, and then I go and do the exact same routine, same comedic timing, and people file a complaint to corporate?”
And so in recent years Mr. Rock has shifted his approach. Where once he held forth conspiratorially, flattering fans by sharing taboo insights with them, now he is more likely to hold forth confrontationally, as a way (perhaps) to acknowledge the Michael Scotts in the crowd. Where once he was mainly descriptive, now he is prescriptive too. Monday’s set included a long bit about when it is permissible for white people to use his favorite racial epithet (there is only one hypothetical occasion, and it involves extreme suffering); advice to women with careers not to complain to their nannies; and an explanation of why no one should have been surprised when Don Imus made his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.
Conscious of the weight on his shoulders, Mr. Rock now seems a little less roguish and a little more righteous. Almost out of the blue, he asked, “Do you know how much better Seabiscuit’s life was than my grandfather’s?” And a riff on Regis Philbin built to a climax that was shocking and amusing in equal measure.
He also generally refrained from commenting on the paradoxes of ghetto life, a former favorite topic. As he mentioned, he now lives in Alpine, N.J., and his act was full of observations about marriage, suburban life and shopping at Wal-Mart. Some of his insights seemed a bit shopworn, but he often pumped them up with sudden explosions of anger or profanity; part of the humor is the contrast between the twitchy, irritable guy onstage and the comfortable life he seems to live.
One of his best bits involved a sideways reference to his personal life. While discussing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, he mocked the notion that she had presidential experience, explaining that marriage doesn’t confer professional expertise. By way of example, he mentioned his own marriage.
“I’ve been with my wife for 10 years now,” he said. “If she got onstage right now, y’all wouldn’t laugh at all.”
Mr. Rock is probably still tweaking his material. Occasionally he stumbled over a word or phrase, which mainly served to remind everyone how precise he is. In his jokes there is never a wasted or extraneous word; if ever an extra syllable sneaks in, you notice it. And he found a pleasingly obnoxious way to celebrate 2008. As Rihanna’s “Umbrella” blasted through the speakers, he announced that he had a special guest. Jay-Z? No: the veteran hip-hop prankster Biz Markie, who toddled onstage and did his best to sing along.
If Mr. Rock is facing a dilemma, don’t think he doesn’t know it. During his discussion of Mr. Imus, he laid out some guidelines: White people aren’t allowed to mock black people; rich people aren’t allowed to mock poor people; skinny people aren’t allowed to mock fat people; and so on. The more stuff you have, the less stuff you’re allowed to say. None of this makes life any easier for a brilliant — and hugely successful — comedian. But keep watching. Now that he has formulated these rules, it shouldn’t be long before he finds a way to turn them to his advantage.
Chris Rock’s tour moves to Britain before returning to the United States in February; chrisrock.com.
The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/arts/artsspecial/02rock.html?ref=arts |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6304
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 03, 2008 - 09:44 pm: |
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Damn!
We'll have to catch you in New Hampshire niggrahs!
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11052
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 04, 2008 - 07:08 pm: |
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Now that Chris Rock has succumbed to the politically correct syndrome, he will lose his edge. He will no longer be mischievous and impish or - funny. Comedians sacrifice a part of their charm once they start taking themselves too seriously and want to be commentators instead of comics. IMO. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6057
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 11:45 am: |
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Now that Chris Rock has succumbed to the politically correct syndrome, he will lose his edge etc etc etc
(My God. I can't believe you wrote this. Please come on here and tell me some nut came on and used your name and password.
Please. Please) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11071
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008 - 02:10 pm: |
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Will it ever register on your lame brain that I do not say things to win your approval, chrishayden? In fact, I relish the idea of saying things that will meet with your disapproval. Get it? |
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