November 27, 2022
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Mike Binder
I lOVE CHRIS ROCK
He’s got more class in his little finger than most of us have on our whole body. He’s also easily in the top five of the greatest working comics in the world and has been now for a long, long, time. Once you get to know him you quickly learn the secret sauce. He works his ass off.
Let me do it as Rock; HE WORKS HIS ASS OFF. How does he do it? HE WORKS HIS ASS OFF! (Chris repeats every set up four times.)
Kidding aside, he’s great because he wants to be great. He has no wish to be anything even riding in the same car as average. He has what is common in what I’ve seen from every entertainment master I’ve ever known. A crazy ferocious drive and an old fashioned work ethic. He’s always trying to make the product better. To make the customers happy. To put out new work that pushes the boundaries. You can’t be a master without that drive. Rock has it in an abundance.
He just sold out four nights at the Dolby. He just sold out four nights at the Dolby!! He just. Sold out. Four nights at the ….Dolby!!!
RICK INGRAHAM AND FOUR CRAZY NIGHTS.
It was four wild nights with fans like Paul McCartney, Demi Moore, Anthony Kiedis, and myself, (tee-hee) backstage all wishing him well. It truly felt like a Stones concert or something. His opener Rick Ingraham, a Comedy Store staple, set him up so well every night. Rick is perfect for a big hall like that, which is something you wouldn’t expect as he’s the reigning best crowd work guy in the business. It works in the big room though. You wouldn’t think it would, talking to the front row but I watched from way in the back for awhile and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand non stop from the minute he walked out to the moment he walked off. He couldn’t have set Chris up any better.
Rick Ingraham and ‘Maca’.
ROCK’S NEW SPECIAL
Is going to be electric. He’s shooting this spring I believe in Atlanta and someone said it’s airing live on Netflix. ‘Live’ or not, it will be as good or even better than Bring The Pain which I think is his seminal work. This new set he’s doing is so different than all of his other stuff, yet at the same time sets up as classic Rock. He’s one of the very, very, few comics that doesn’t feel one-note special after special. That’s really hard to do. The reason I think that is, is that Chris, like maybe Chappelle and Gervais, is not working from a level of an angry comic. He’s much more of a memorist, (?), or a philosopher even, it’s not just another special of ‘here’s what I’m pissed about.’ ‘Here’s who pisses me off.’ When you see someone reach the top with an act like that and then repeat it time and time again you go numb. Chris’s new set is so far removed from that. There’s some of it. Don’t get me wrong, but so much of it is about his joy for life and his love of family. His mother’s journey, and his life as a wealthy, successful, single man.
The thing is, and I’ve known Chris a lot of years now. He really is a classy guy. When you’re talking to him, he’s not a bad-mouther, or a bragger, or a put down artist. He’s not picking apart every comic that isn’t in the room. He has no interest in the petty stuff. The class he showed onstage at the Oscars during ‘the slap’ is second to none in an American lesson in how to behave under stress. A human treatise on who to handle a tough moment.
Read my piece; (CLICK TITLE) The upside of turning the other cheek. My thoughts on ‘the slap’ five days in.
Someone raised him right this guy. He did the rest though. He worked hard and long, for years and years to become who he is in the standup world. It’s been a career of some uphill running. People forget that. He was out in the wilderness for a long time. It’s a good story and good for him. He deserves it. Go see him live. You’ll understand what all the fuss is about if you don’t yet.
For Tour info; (CLICK BELOW)
