“Letting it all hang out”: A Review of Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.
Oh boy! Chris Rock came with it and came with it HARD! And I for one couldn’t be happier. Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage is coming one year after the infamous Oscar slap and Chris had a lot to say.
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage is hilarious, raw, edgy and completely off the cuff…. And we never knew how bad we or he himself needed it till now. This was a year in the making and boy was it worth the wait.
As always I’ll talk about what I liked, what I felt could’ve been improved on and then my final thoughts. Let’s begin!
What I Liked:
Chris Rock’s Performance:
Chris has always been animated on stage but in this special he was on fire. Chris has been through a lot over the past year and you can just feel his energy during the entire show. He had a lot to say and clearly was ready to say it to the world. Rock deftly prepared and honed his material and his performance to a T. You feel the power of the punchlines when he delivers them.
Top 3 favorite sets:
There were a lot of juicy sets in this special but the top 3 choices for me are easily:
- Everyone’s a Victim.
What Chris said about this particular part of our current culture hit home big time and made me laugh as much as it made me cheer. He hit on Meghan Markle, the disingenuous nature of corporate companies and diversity, and paper cuts in the ER.
- How to handle spoiled children.
This set featured Chris talking about how both proud and disgusted he is by his spoiled rich daughters who have both turned out pretty well but were huge pains in the you know what growing up with their spoiled attitudes and rich school going nonsense. He gives a great story about how he handled one particular situation that changed his daughter’s life forever that is both hilariously funny and deeply touching.
- Dating a 20 year-old vs. a 40\50 year-old woman.
This was just classic relatable humor about dating that we all can relate to no matter what age we are. Chris’ stories about being a forty something single man trying to get back out there in the dating world and the types of women he’s gone out with since just hit home in all the right ways.
Entanglements and Oscar Slaps:
Now… I gotta tell you, as someone whose grown up on and has always been a huge fan of both Rock and Smith, It hurt me to hear about and eventually watch what went down at the Oscars 2022. It was something that shouldn’t have ever happened and never needed to happen, but… it happened. And after a whole year of being humiliated and disrespected in front of millions of people watching that night, Chris finally said what has been on his mind for a year. Listen I still got major love for Will Smith and I’m rooting for both him and Jada to get their lives together and end this whole mess of a “marriage”, and take care of themselves and their family, but at the same time I feel for Chris who ended up being an innocent bystander who took the hit for all the folks who Will couldn’t hit. Whether you’re on #teamwill or #teamchris this segment was funny as hell and just plain old true. What was said needed to be said whether you think it was too harsh or not. By the end of the segment as well as the end of the whole show you could see in Chris’ eyes that he got out all that he needed to get out and the look of pure catharsis in his eyes was palpable.
What I Felt Could’ve Been Improved On:
This is hard because this special was so great that it takes extreme nitpicking to find something that needed improvement but I can conjure at least one big point. It really would’ve been great if the special was a bit longer, maybe another half hour or so to flesh out the segments and the jokes even more. It also would’ve been great if Chris explored certain jokes further that he really began to hit on well but possibly dipped out of too quickly.
In Closing:
I’ve said it a hundred times on this thing, but it bares repeating. This was a special that was needed not only for Chris himself, but for all of us who just miss unfiltered and pointed comedy that makes us laugh at ourselves and at society and all its flaws, quirks, and overall craziness. Dave Chappelle started the evolution and Chris Rock and others are continuing to fight the good fight. I found myself really enjoying this show immensely and learned a few things too. Laughing hysterically and getting an education goes hand in hand in any Chris Rock show.
Check out Chris Rock: Selective Outrage streaming on Netflix. Till next time, folks!
