Chris Rock schools Tampa Bay with No Apologies

Here are some of the things which occurred to me last night, while sitting through Chris Rock's amazing, near-two-hour 'No Apologies' standup tour at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. (If you like what you see here, bear in mind that last night's show wasn't completely sold out, with 2,235 seats sold of 2,600, so there may still be tickets left for tonight's stand).

Most of the thoughts are mine, in bold. All of the quotes are his. And yes, there's lots of bad language.

"They took Britney Spears kids...man, they take white kids quick. At the first sign of danger. Because Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown kept their kids...Even O.J. Simpson kept his kids, and he killed their mom."

"O.J. got some balls on him. i saw him in an interview and he said 'It's hard being a single dad.' Well, you single 'cause you killed their mom. He said it like they just broke up."

-- It remains surprising to see a comic who is so unapologetically black draw a crowd which seemed at least halfway packed with white people. I think it just shows that., underneath the technical details of white and black culture, we all do the same crazy ass shit. Or maybe it shows how many white people saw Bee Movie.

"George Bush has fucked up so bad, he made it hard for a white man to run to be president."

"You know how I know the government doesn't want you to vote? Because they have elections on Tuesday. You don't hold a party on a Tuesday -- because you want people to come to your party."

-- Here's the definition of fearless: a comic married to a proud black woman doing jokes about how a black woman can never be first lady, Tiger Woods has only succeeded because he has a  white partner and the real reason why black women don't like black men dating white women (because they can't do the same thing; they're not attracted to white men).

"I don't think a black woman can be first lady -- yeah I said it. Because a black woman can't take the back seat in any relationship...Obama needs a white woman; look what it did for Tiger Woods."

-- When will people realize that you can't have a running conversation at a public entertainment event like a standup comedy concert without pissing off everybody around you? I was this close to making headlines for throttling a guy who insisted on talking to his date like he was sitting in his living room watching SportsCenter, instead of watching a live person talking in a way others needed to hear.

"John McCain's a war hero who got captured. I want to vote for the guy who got away."

On Hillary Clinton's seemingly endless campaign: "Nice girls leave the club before the lights come on." And "If you can't beat a nigger named Obama in Iowa, you don't deserve to be president."

"If Hillary got elected, she was going to go to work in an office where her husband got blow jobs? There ain't enough redecorating in the world that can change that. And you know Bill Clinton wasn't coming in there. You don't let a crackhead go back to the place where they last got high." 

  -- If you like George Bush, why would you come to a Chris Rock show and be angrily surprised when he starts tearing the mastermind behind the disastrous Hurricane Katrina response a new one? Isn't that like going to Billy Graham concert and being surprised when he starts talking about God?

On why Obama won the white vote in places where there are so few black people: "Wherever black people are pets, (white people) voted for him. Where black people are THREATS, they don't."

-- What does it say about me that I could hear Rock drop the word nigger about 200 times and not blink an eye -- indeed laugh my ass off -- but when he started slinging the three-letter f-word (think a slur about gay people) and its derivatives, that's when I got uncomfortable?

"We need to learn who we can complain to. People have careers can't complain around people who have jobs. That's like walking up to an African and saying, 'Man, I'm hungry, I haven't eaten in two hours.'

On how you tell the difference between a career and a job: "When you have a career, there's never enough time. When have job, there's always TOO MUCH time." 

-- Why is a guy this funny, who can hold his own hosting the Oscars and keep you rolling for two straight hours, unable to pull off a consistently funny movie that isn't a cartoon?

"Love is a combination of two things: Like, plus need. Ladies, you want to lock a man up? You need to convince him he needs you to do shit he can probably do himself."   

Comments

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

Chris Rock = George Carlin + Richard Pryor.

Biting and *clever* social commentary crosses racial and cultural barriers.

I have heard Black Comedians, some of whom are good, but most of whom leave me (white, male, 55) cold. I can only take so many jokes about materialistic black women and arrogant black men.

Chris Rock, though, is a Comedian who draws on his experiences being Black. This is not the same thing. There are Jewish Comedians whose jokes barely make sense unless you have at least some exposure to Jewish culture and know a smattering of Yiddish, and there are Comedians who have mined their Jewish heritage to expose universal truths.

Note that heroic stories (Roots, Saving Private Ryan, Waiting to Exhale) can also cross cultural lines. There was an amusing stink in Montgomery County, MD, when the school board talked of ditching J.D. Salinger in favor of more "ethnic" writers. It seemed that plenty of teenagers from all kinds of backgrounds identified just fine with white/rich Holden Caulfied in "Catcher in the Rye," and didn't want that book removed from the curriculum.

There's also that Deggans guy who writes for the St. Pete Times. Now and then he writes about being black, but he's a good enough writer, and works across a broad enough cultural range, that he cannot be characterized as a "Black Writer." :)

[Eric Deggans]

Thanks dude. I think the key is to try touching on universal truths, and/or trying to get people to see the same old issues in new ways....

[Sharon]

Great summation Eric!

I was there last night too, and I was infuriated by how people act at a live show. Not just the talking but the constant getting up to make a beer run. We even had people in front of us leave with about 20 minutes to go in the show. I don't think they were offended because they were laughing their heads off. I think maybe they wanted to catch the end of the Rays game. Whaa?

When you pay $80 for a ticket, is it too much to expect people to sit their butts down and be quiet? I had to pee too but for $80 I can hold it.

[Sharon]

One other thing, his set on black people as pets vs. threats is the best summation I've heard of the boutique white vote that all the pundits have been trying to explain. This guy is brilliant.

I has a moment when he talked about Rev. Wright, "A 75 yr old black man who hates white people? Don't they all? Don't you realize the s--t this man has seen in his lifetime?" I wished he had been on Morning Joe or some other pundit fest explaining that POV.

[Eric Deggans]

Thanks, Sharon. And I clarified the reference to the three-letter f-word...

[David Jenkins]

Boy do I hate people that talk through shows. Or sing at the top of their lungs through every single song at a concert.

Was there an audible backlash at any of the Bush-bashing? I hadn't heard that yet. Do tell. I agree though, not sure why somebody goes to a Rock show and not expect him to go after W. It's like the people who got mad at Eddie Vedder during the recent Pearl Jam show for talking about politics between songs. Had they not seen/heard anything from PJ since Jeremy hit MTV's Buzz Bin in '92???

[Chuck Welch]

"What does it say about me that I could hear Rock drop...."

Maybe that you instinctively understand Rock is dropping that term from the outside instead of as someone who has felt the sting of that particular slur.

[Sharon]

Good point, Chuck. Rock should have listened to his own riff on this topic. Since he's black, he gets to use the N word and white people cannot. Since he's straight he doesn't get to use the 3-letter F word that is a slur for gays. That's probably why Eric squirmed when he heard it, too.

[alan]

just another vulgar black comedian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!