Chris Rock Seen Working Out Oscar Material in LA Clubs
Chris Rock is working it out.
One of the great equalizers in comedy is that no matter who you are, you need to make sure your jokes work. You can write for hours on end, but until you see how a crowd responds, the material is untested. Chris Rock has been living proof of this as he has been seen hopping around LA mics the last two weeks, working out and fine tuning jokes for his return as host of the Oscars.
A fan tweet to Rock on Monday referenced a drop in at The Comedy Store, and last week he was the special guest on a Judd Apatow event at Largo. It’s clear that Rock understands his role this year comes with added pressure. There has been much hullabaloo surrounding the #OscarsSoWhite movement online, the exclusion of African-American efforts in the nominees and the choice of Rock as host. The comedian explained why he wasn’t abandoning the ceremony, considered how Martin Luther King might react to the issue if he were alive and riffed on the absurdity of one particular boycott. The bit has been reported as a little too lewd for the Oscar broadcast, but most of the juicy details are being kept under wraps until reveal at broadcast.
Rock hasn’t hosted the Oscars since 2005, but his performance was a perfect example of his intelligence and willingness to throw direct punches at people that are in the room. It is one thing to master taking shots at people who aren’t there, it is another thing entirely to guide a room full of ego’s through an onslaught of truth in comedy. Rock made it look effortless in 2005 “The only acting that goes on at the Oscars is when people act like they aren’t mad that they lost. When Halle Berry won the Oscar, Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide she should’ve gotten an Emmy, for her performance at the Oscars”
While there are many controversial issues to handle at this year’s ceremony, I don’t think there is a more capable comic t handle the task at hand than Rock. The 2016 Oscar show is being produced by Reginald Hudlin and David Hill. The Oscars will be held February 28 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
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