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Comedian Chris Rock makes a raucous return to his stand-up roots in this HBO special filmed at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater. Despite his manic and profane delivery, Rock's comedy is often rooted in traditional subjects for comedians: family relationships, misunderstandings between men and women, and observations on how childhood has changed. But he takes his material right to the edge, proving himself to be a sharp-eyed satirist. Serious and timely issues, such as school shootings or children being neglected by partying parents, are tackled by Rock, who's not afraid to slip in a serious point while being hysterically funny. His defense of President Clinton against his accusers is a good example of how Rock's material is almost always bound to offend someone: he slices through the self-righteous rhetoric of the impeachment spectacle, but even the behavior he defends comes in for ridicule with jokes that are extremely funny as well as extremely coarse. The pace of this one-hour show is uneven, and some viewers will no doubt find Rock's penchant for using profanity as punctuation tiresome. But those who like intelligent comedy with a hard edge will find much to laugh at inChris Rock: Bigger and Blacker.-- Robert J. McNamara
This **** is hilarious!!! Not that quick kinda jerk, "Like...(thwack, thwack, thwack)...Did you hear something?!"
This is Chris Rock at his very best. If you know of another DVD by him that's just as funny, let me know!
I will definitely be buying this because some of what he says, is SO true!
A modern classic Rock is perhaps the sharpest stand-up working today (though Carlin is still trenchant, to say the least), and this is his peak. Crafting a well-nigh perfect performance using his pissed-off ghetto persona, Rock hits the bull's eye again and again here. His delivery is razor-sharp, the material pretty much flawless; this will still be hilarious in fifty years. I've seen hundreds of stand-up routines; this is the only one I've watched over a dozen times. It never seems to grow old...I don't know how it's always funny, but it is. When I've got to either laugh immmediately or die of post-modern deconstructivist meta-ironic brainache, this is the pick. The cd is nowhere near as good, different takes on the same material but without the edge. Five stars, no doubt. Better medicine than Robitussin The Doug E. Fresh intro perfectly sets the mood for the frantic and energetic Chris Rock. Bigger&Blacker is an HBO production filmed in the Apollo Theater and is brilliant satire from the perspective of an African-American.
Rock lays the smack down on topics such as school violence, gun control, irresponsible parents, neglected fathers, infidelity, bigotry, and the poor state of health care. His assertions are blunt, bold, and are fired from point-blank: "A man is only as faithful as his options", "Men lie but women are much bigger liars", "Blacks and whites have little to complain about, consider the state of Native Americans".
All of Rock's material is solid and most of it is intelligent and thought-provoking. He slips into crudeness only briefly as he suggests that the blind be assigned to midgets instead of seeing-eye dogs and when he mentions his contempt for women that don't provide oral servicing. Also, he picks on white people a little, but it is not really funny like when Richard Pryor teased white people. These minor flaws are certainly not deal breakers.
Rock is providing a solid hour of comedy here. He has a superb rapport with his audience and his delivery is very good overall with only a couple instances of repeating himself or otherwise stalling as he gathers his thoughts. This is an adult show and profanity is used liberally, but not quite what I would consider gratuitously. Overall this is a very good show that all fans of standup comedy, should consider viewing. Chris Rock deserves to go home to the big piece of chicken (inside joke-watch the show).
