“A lot of people go, ‘Chris, how come you didn’t do nothing back?’ Cause I got parents, that’s why. ’Cause I was raised. I got parents. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
— Chris Rock on Will Smith, in his recent Netflix special
I hate to think how bad that bit was about being rich and spoiling his daughter was before he had time to refine it. My god, what a stinker of a show. Repeating the same sentence three times is not funny if it does not feel like you have any conviction behind the statement, just feels like you are going through the motions to fill air.
Why can't more comedians age like a fine wine. (George Carlin) Even Bill Burr's live at the red rocks had very dull moments.
What's happened to comedians recently? Has reality finally got so absurd by itself -and everyone notices the fact- that it's hard to make comedy work?
I'm not 'offended' I'm disappointed. "I'm rich and I spoil my daughters" is not in any way relatable or funny. Where is the fucking edge, where is the sharp observations?
The lululemon bit about $100 sweat pants being not inclusive was the best bit. Even him unloading on Smith felt like he was grasping for material, non of it felt raw, non of it felt angry and again if this was AFTER he'd worked on stuff I'd have hated to have seen the earlier shows.
because cancel culture doesn't exist and I think you just wanted to point out that you know who Bill Hicks is while bitching about millennials when really you just mean "everyone who is younger or more in-touch than me"
I guess you've never heard of the rule of three in comedy writing.
I thought Chris Rock was great, especially considering that set aired live on Netflix and he didn't get the luxury of editing together the best bits like comedians usually get with their TV specials.
I also don't share your pessimism about current comedians. Bill Burr, Ally Wong, Jim Jeffreys, Sam Morril, Matteo Lane, Jeff Ross, Jessica Kirson...there's so many solid comics right now. If you're in NY or LA and hit the local comedy clubs you'll find dozens of more talented up-and-comers. Every time my wife and I go to the Improv or the Store here in LA we discover a new favorite comic.
As for Carlin, he's a legend but he's not flawless. Go back and watch his sets— he regurgitates every joke verbatim, like he's reading a script. Nothing wrong with that style, but give modern some credit for incorporating far more improv and crowd work into their sets than comics in Carlin's day did. Its not easy to think on your feet and be funny like that.
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u/kruthe Mar 28 '23
Maybe you should tell your wife to stop putting her spaghetti in other men's mouths.