 |
Chris Rock is
undeniably one of the funnier comics to
make the big time over the last 15 or so
years. His material is often edgy and controversial
and I love the fact that he makes fun of
everyone, no matter their race, creed, color,
or sexual orientation. He was able to parlay
his talents into film roles, but he never
looked comfortable playing characters and
was much funnier being himself. It was only
a matter of time before someone gave him
the opportunity to helm a talk show, and
while it was short-lived, it was definitely
memorable.
"The Chris Rock Show" debuted
on HBO back in 1997, and being that it was
on the cable giant as opposed to one of
the major networks, censorship was never
a problem. But leave it to Rock to not allow
the show to be pigeonholed as a talk show.
Instead of spending the entire time with
opening monologues and talking to guests,
he opted to add in sketches, commercial
parodies and hysterical man on the street
interviews in the unlikeliest of places.
|
For example, he might show up in a black neighborhood
in New York to see how people were affected by
the death of Princess Diana. He even went so far
as to pose as a Taxi Driver so he could mess with
the fares in an homage to the popular HBO series,
"Taxicab Confessions." Not every sketch
worked, but those that do are often brilliant.
And again, being on HBO there were no taboos keeping
rock from going over every edge he could. Expletives
flew with a vengeance and no topic was off limits.
During the run of "The Chris Rock Show",
there seemed to be no end to the guests who wanted
to be on his show. The first two seasons alone
gave us very candid interviews with the likes
of Whoopi Goldberg, the late Johnnie Cochran,
Jesse Jackson and Arsenio Hall (who in all fairness
was trying to get interviewed on ANY show that
would have him at the time…). He was also
able to book some of the top acts of the time,
though admittedly most of the musical guests didn’t
play styles of music that I liked. He even had
the multi-talentless Puff Daddy (um…. P
Diddy… Cocoa Puffs… I C U P…
whatever he's called now…) in an incredibly
embarrassing performance.
Previously you could only get episodes of "The
Chris Rock Show" on some 'best of' compilations,
but this month HBO is releasing the first two
seasons in one DVD set. 17 episodes are presented
on 3 discs, all of them completely uncensored.
Surprisingly there aren’t really any extra
features aside from commentaries from Rock. Admittedly
the commentaries are all extremely funny and self-deprecating,
but I would have enjoyed some straight out interviews
with Rock.
If you aren't easily offended, I definitely recommend
this set to you. The interviews are better than
average and most of the skits are as shocking
as they are funny. In many ways, they remind me
a little of "The Dave Chappelle Show",
only without the constraints.
Epsiodes:
Series Premiere - Johnnie Cochran
Jenifer Lewis / D'Angelo
John Amos / Cake
Tyson Beckford / Maxwell
Tracy Morgan / Erykah Badu
Arsenio Hall / Puff Daddy
Conan O'Brien / Wyclef Jean
Whoopi Goldberg / KC & JoJo
Viveca A. Fox / Missy Elliott
Bryant Gumbel / LL Cool J
J. C. Watts / Busta Rhymes
Chris Spencer / Bobby Brown
Jesse Jackson / Rakim
Reverend Al Sharpton / Mary J. Blige
George Carlin / Usher
Roy Jones Jr / Salt-N-Pepa
Jada Pinkett / LSG
Extras: Commentaries by Chris Rock
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: HBO
Release Date: 9/19/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: TV-MA
Website
We'll give The Chris Rock Show: Seasons 1 &
2 a B+.
|
