Director: Bo Burnham
Netflix
In Chris Rock’s first comedy special in a decade he runs across the same ground he always has: race and politics, relationship and sex. And it’s a long time since Rock was funny, or relevant.
Here he has a few okay-lines early on, but it’s well-worn, you don’t feel Rock even believes it so much. He’s a man going through the motions.
This comedy special has received praise for its second half – where Rock suddenly gets real; fronts up to his infidelities and his divorce. He’s a fucking asshole (his words). And he’ll school you on what it takes to make a relationship work. You know, his failed so he knows best.
It’s funny to think that this is the bit that has resonated and earned praise. It’s absurd to take advice from a miserable, rich, bored celebrity.
His awful movies and repetitive comedic shtick earned him a whole heap of money, some kudos and a safe, successful path. He used that to jerk off at computer porn and ignore his wife.
That he admits it on stage makes him some sort of living legend of comedy?
I must have been listening to a different special. I heard was a bitter, bored hack.
There’s no question that Rock was an influential comedian, a firebrand even. But that was a long time ago.
Banging on in the way he does here with Tamborine doesn’t suggest he’s conquered anything or is on his way back.
And when Prince’s song “Tamborine” plays out as the special dwindles to its end, you wonder if Rock even recognises that it’s a song about masturbation. If he does it’s the perfect soundtrack. But there’s little promise of awareness. There. Or anywhere in this not-so-special special.
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