Chris Rock Doesn't Care About Your Politics
There was a time when you were allowed to laugh at standup comedy.
That may sound like a hyperbolic statement written by an old man in a cabin but think about it. A comedy special would come out and you would either like it or you wouldn’t.
You didn’t need to check in with your friends to see if the comedian was problematic. You didn’t need to research old Tweets. You didn’t need his or her stance on reparations.
You could just laugh.
This weekend Chris Rock released his new standup special on Netflix. I didn’t know if I would like it. I didn’t know how the internet would react. I didn’t care. I tried to go into it the way I used to. When I would countdown the days till a new HBO George Carlin special so I could tape it to watch over and over again on the days I skipped school. I wanted that feeling when I first discovered Bill Hicks and thought, “Holy shit, you can say that?!?!”
Jokes were not meant to be run through the machinery and approval of whatever political party you voted for, they were just jokes.
Laughing at a joke about abortion didn’t make you a baby killer. Laughing at a joke about Caitlyn Jenner didn’t mean you hated trans people. We laughed at things we weren’t supposed to cause that’s what made comedy so fun.
If you were an actual bigot, you just wouldn’t get laughs. Bad comedians were canceling themselves far before the name Karen became an insult.
If after watching Rock you found yourself trying to figure out if he is liberal or conservative you’re part of the problem.
Touré tweeted, “Chris Rock's set featured an attack on PC culture, said everyone is too quick to be a victim, said wokeness is BS, said abortion is murder, and laughed about how dark Draymond Green is. It's a pretty right-wing outlook on the world. The set would fit on Fox News.”
I don’t want to fall into the trap I’m critiquing but if we insist on ruining comedy with political bingo let’s play….
Chris Rock made fun of white people as he railed against Jan 6th.
“White men trying to overthrow the government that they run!”
Chris Rock talked about the racist monarchy.
“The Sugar Hill Gang of racism”
Chris Rock talked about FAKE corporate wokeness.
“Lulu Lemmon doesn’t hate anyone? They sell 100-dollar yoga pants. They hate poor people!”
This doesn’t sound like FOX and Friends.
The pro-life part of this tweet is the most disingenuous. Rock said he was kinda pro-life because he has two daughters. He then said he wants them to grow up with control over their bodies. He literally said, “I am pro-choice.” (to an applause break.)
After that, he said he should have a punch card for all the abortions he has paid for and you should be able to abort them until they get their first report card! Not exactly CPAC material.
The prochoice chunk was so prochoice it even upset some of my conservative friends!
If you are pissing off both sides this is good! It’s the difference between a comedy show and a political rally which ARE NEVER FUNNY.
Laughter should be used to challenge your beliefs not just reaffirm them.
Rock wasn’t making fun of marginalized communities but the establishment that pretends to care about them.
He is performing in Baltimore, in front of a mainly black liberal audience. Opening with “anti-woke” material isn’t pandering. Getting the audience to open up and laugh at material that they may not agree with is the mark of a great comedian.
A joke that sounded like it was going to defend racism had a punchline that said, “Even black people want to see how black the babies gonna be! Oooh, that babies gonna have a tough life.” THAT’S A PERFECT JOKE.
I didn’t see any outraged commentators mention the story about his Mom having to go to a vet if she needed dental work because of racism. But my conservative friend texted me that it made her cry. (No, not because black people can now go to white dentists).
This is why the special was great. Bringing people on both sides together to laugh at things outside of their echo chamber should not be condemned it should be applauded.