Deemed by Comedy Central as one of the top five stand-up comedians of all time, Chris Rock’s rude and hilarious outlook on the world has shocked audiences for the past decade with a career filled with brilliant comedy concerts and film cameos. Enduring a ridiculous number of restrictions placed on him between his outrageous stage routine and censored screen presence, Chris’ current film career simply won’t justify how funny he really is. A wisecracker all of his life, Chris was born in Andrews, South Carolina to a couple of blue collar parents that later moved to Brooklyn in order to raise him. With aspirations to be a comic ever since he was a kid, Chris dropped out of high school and took his routine to the New York comedy club circuit to try his luck. While shopping his talent around the city, veteran comedians Eddie Murphy and Sam Kinison took Chris under their wings, using their influence to cast the young funnyman in a number of small parts on television and film, including episodes for “Miami Vice” and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” as well as Murphy’s own “Boomerang.” Chris received the chance of a lifetime in the early 90’s when he became a writer and cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” appearing in even more SNL-related comedies as he continued to build up a reputation throughout the years.
After leaving the late-night show to pursue cinematic fame, Chris quickly discovered that the roles he did manage to receive wouldn’t make exceptions for his well-known explicit humor, and so he scored bigger success with his own HBO sketch show, “The Chris Rock Show,” as well as a number of comedy specials in 1997 (“Bring the Pain) and 1999 (“Bigger and Blacker”) that catapulted him up to the ranks as one of the funniest comedians alive. Earning two Cable ACE awards for his work on “The Chris Rock Show,” Chris used his newly-gained international popularity as a means to control his own film projects. While most of his recent films have been total flops, Chris has continued to make audiences laugh with hosting gigs on the MTV Movie Awards and his latest comedy concert, “Never Scared,” which nearly abandons his race-obsessed routine in place of a much funnier commentary on the world. Don’t think Rock is softening up though, he continues to “Bring the Pain” as the funniest Black-American comedian since Richard Pryor, with Dave Chappelle hot on his heels.
In 2021, Chris starred in “Spiral.”
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Chris on the Screen and Stage
Chris Rock hasn’t exactly posted the most impressive film career in the past decade, but don’t count poor script decisions against his comedic brilliance. As one of the most talented comics in history, Chris has made-up for such bad films like “Bad Company” and “Head of State” with hilarious HBO comedy concerts (2004’s “Never Scared” and 1999’s “Bigger and Blacker”) and his short-lived sketch comedy show, “The Chris Rock Show.” Starting out like most famous comics on “Saturday Night Live,” Chris wasn’t nearly as popular as co-starring giants like Chris Farley and Adam Sandler. Surprisingly, Chris still made quite an early jump into film, appearing in a number of hip-hop dramas like “New Jack City” before unleashing his own satirical material in “CB4” and “Pootie Tang.” Aside from other low-rate flops like “Osmosis Jones” and “Down to Earth,” Chris did appear in the critically acclaimed “Nurse Betty,” “Lethal Weapon 4” and has become a staple actor in director Kevin Smith’s gauntlet of View Askew performers with a bit role in “Jay and Silent Strike Back” and an incredibly enjoyable performance in “Dogma.” While Chris has the talent to make it big in a wounded Hollywood aching for talented comedians, it won’t be easy to win over uncertain audiences who haven’t seen him rock the stage.
Chris Rock Quotes
On the world:
“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is a Chinese guy, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn’t want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are name ‘Bush,’ ‘Dick’ and ‘Colon.’ Need I say more?”
On drugs:
“I don’t get high, but sometimes I wish I did. That way, when I messed up in life I would have an excuse. But right now there’s no rehab for stupidity.”
On sports:
“Black people dominate sports in the United States. 20% of the population and 90% of the final four. We own this shit. Basketball, baseball, football, golf, tennis, and as soon as they make a heated hockey rink we’ll take that shit too.”
On women:
“If a woman tells you she’s twenty and looks sixteen, she’s twelve. If she tells you she’s twenty-six and looks twenty-six, she’s damn near forty.”
On taxes:
“You don’t pay taxes – they take taxes.”
On music:
“I love music. Music is the soundtrack to the crappy movie that is my life.”