MONDAY

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Local Showtimes
• Past Shows
• Blogs
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Mr. Rock's official site
• Q & A with Mr. Rock
• Everybody Hates Chris
• I Think I Love My Wife

E-mail a friend

Chris Rock jokes with Tavis about the State of the Black Union.
 

Director and star of the new film, I Think I Love My Wife, reflects on his priorities, role models and goals. (22:01)
 

Tavis: Pleased to welcome Chris Rock to this program. The award-winning comedian is also a writer, producer, director, and actor. In fact, he holds all four of those job titles Pleased to welcome Chris Rock to this program. The award-winning comedian is also a writer, producer, director, and actor. In fact, he holds all four of those job titles (laughs) for his latest movie. You're so cheap you don't wanna pay nobody else?

Chris Rock: No, not at all.

Tavis: You just do it all, doing everything.

Rock: Everything.

Tavis: (Laughs) The movie's called "I Think I Love My Wife." He is also the creator and executive producer of the popular CW series "Everybody Hates Chris." Earlier this year in Las Vegas he was honored at the HBO Comedy Festival with their second-ever comedian award. Back to the new film, though. It hits theaters on March sixteenth. Here now a scene from "I Think I Love My Wife."

[Film Clip]

Tavis: So back to what I was saying earlier, do you have to do everything on the movie?

Rock: I don't, I didn’t have to. I kind of wanted to play a grown-up in a movie. Like, a grown man with grown man problems? And nobody was gonna cast me in one of these type of movies. (Laughs) I like grown-up movies. No one was ever gonna cast me, so I had to write one. So I wrote one. Hm, I still could have wrote it and not been in it, so I put myself in it. (Laughs) It's like, I started to hire a director, I was, like, what if this director don't want me in it? (Laughs) So, maybe I should direct it.

Tavis: We're being funny about this, but I suspect, though, it must be a good thing, though, to have ascended to the heights in this business, where you can, in fact, assign yourself to all those roles and still get the thing done. That's a very rare thing for a brother.

Rock: It is a rare thing, but I would rather - I'd rather be Matt Damon. I'd rather somebody hand me "The Bourne Supremacy." All right, let's go.

Tavis: Yeah (laughs).

Rock: Learn my lines and lift weights and beat people up. But I don't have it like that, so I have to create.

Tavis: What, to your point - because there's so much we're gonna talk about in the half hour we have here. To your point, what is it…

Rock: So much. Anna Nicole (laughs).

Tavis: Yeah, exactly. So much to talk about. We will not be talking about - I refuse - I got asked a thousand times to comment on her, and I wouldn’t do it in February, I am not discussing a White woman in Black History Month. March is Women's History Month. I'll talk about Anna in March, but not in February. I just wouldn’t do it.

Rock: I had a problem talking about - 'cause I didn’t really like her body of work (laughs).

Tavis: Yeah (laughs).

Rock: So let me get this straight. The "Naked Gun" movies, is this why we're here? (Laughs) The Guess ads? Were they that good? She was only fine for six months, a year. She was like the Gayle Sayers of fine. (Laughs) She was a real quick fine run.

Tavis: This is not gonna be easy for the next 20 minutes.

Rock: She's a one-(unintelligible) wonder.

Tavis: All right, let me try to get back to what I was…

Rock: I'm a comedian (laughs).

Tavis: …trying to talk about. Since you had the opportunity to do all this stuff now, is there anything that you still find elusive in this business that you haven't had a chance to do yet that you really wanna do?

Rock: I just want to - the things that are elusive are not elusive because of racism or anything. I just want to actually just work with better people, per se. I'm like, ooh, man, I look at Bernie and "Ocean's Twelve," I'm like oh, man, I would have tore that up. So I'm just…

Tavis: You had Glover and Gibson.

Rock: Yeah, I'm just - I wanna do more of that.

Tavis: Yeah, more of that, okay.

Rock: I'd like to do more of that. So yeah, I just wanna work with great directors, Alexander Paynes and the Steven Spielbergs of the world. That’s what I wanna do.

Tavis: Tell me about this particular movie, 'cause as I was reading about it, this was actually a drama that you came across, and you tell the story of how you came across it, and turned it into a comedy.

Rock: Yeah, it's based off an old French movie called "Chloe in the Afternoon" by a director named Eric Rohmer. And it won the Cannes Film Festival I think in like 1969 or something. And it's a drama, it's a drama about a guy going through a seven year itch with his wife and a woman walks in his office. And now he's gotta spend the rest of the movie trying not to cheat on his wife.

And the way they have it, it's really dramatic. And I watched it, me and my writing partner we like, you know what? This could be really funny. This could, and I'd never seen a movie like that, that had that much drama and a lot of comedy. So, even while I was directing, I was, like, trying to make, like, a funny, Adrian Ly movie, you know what I mean? Like "Fatal Attraction" and those movies. So, I think we pulled it off. We'll see what happens.

Tavis: I think it's funny. It's funny.

Rock: Thank you.

Tavis: Not that what I think matters, but.

Rock: Oh, it does, you are a trendsetter. (Laughs) People are sitting there waiting for…

Tavis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rock: Ooh, let's go.

Tavis: Speaking of trendsetter, I did think about - this is way too inside baseball, but since you cast her, I you'll appreciate this. So it occurs to me that maybe you should have cast Kerry Washington as your wife, 'cause you know what's happened to the last two guys who she played wife to?

Rock: I know. They won the Oscar.

Tavis: She played Jamie Foxx's wife in "Ray," he wins the Oscar. She played Forrest's wife in "Last King of Scotland," he wins the Oscar. Maybe you put her in the wrong…

Rock: I'm sure she'll play my wife someday. (Laughs) I'll figure it out somehow, some way.

Tavis: I thought that was funny. I was, like, she's on a roll for people who she plays opposite.

Rock: Yeah, yeah, she's got - she's Steve Nash. (Laughs) She gives assists. Here you go, get that Oscar. Kerry Washington with the no-look Oscar pass. Here you go. (Laughs)

Tavis: Speaking of the Oscars, what did you make of your friend - we've talked any number of times, and everybody who knows your history knows how much you appreciated, and I don't wanna say idolized, but really looked up to Eddie Murphy.

Rock: Eddie Murphy's my idol. I would not be here…

Tavis: (unintelligible) nominated this year, what'd you make of that?

Rock: I thought it was long overdue. I thought, hey, man, you watch "Bowfinger?" Come on. There's a Oscar. "Nutty Professor I?" Come on. What - who's better than "Nutty Professor I?" Is Tom Hanks better in "Forrest Gump" than Eddie Murphy is in "Nutty Professor I?" (Laughs) He played five people - they should have gave the Oscar to one of the five people he played. (Laughs) So, it's long overdue. Yeah. They robbed my man.

Tavis: (Laughs) Well, he was in the hunt this year, though.

Rock: Yeah, but when he left there, he had holes in his pockets. He (unintelligible). They cut holes in my pockets. (Laughs)

Tavis: He has amazed me because a lot of people didn’t realize that he had that in him until he played that kind of role. Are you getting people who are starting to say the same thing about you, that they didn’t know that you could play stuff that's different than just the comedian stuff?

Rock: With this movie, it's like making people remember. 'Cause you gotta remember, I'd started out like "New Jack City." So I started out cracking it up. So it's making people, "Oh, yeah, maybe we should call Chris for this dramatic thing." And the right movie, I would do it. I would do it, yeah.

Tavis: Let me put you on the spot right quick here.

Rock: Put me on the spot.

Tavis: All right. So we were talking before you walked in…

Rock: T.S.

Tavis: Yeah, yeah, on the spot. C.R. On the spot. So we were talking before you walked in, and everybody had, like, we were trying to figure out our top three Chris Rock lines. From movies, not from your stand-up. Top three Chris Rock lines. What would you want to put on that list? I said, for example, you gotta go "How much for just one red? One red?"

Rock: One red would probably be, (laughs) one red. I'm talking about it like it's a big hit song. When I, when I wrote "One Red…" (Laughs) Like I'm gonna be at a piano bar. This next line I dedicate to all the red addicts out there. (Laughs)

Tavis: One red would be on your list though, right?

Rock: Yes, one red would be on it.

Tavis: All right, what else? Give me a couple more that you put on your list.

Rock: People always, "It's calling me, man, it's calling me." From "New Jack City." I don't know, what else is there? "First the Fat Boys break up, now this." (Laughs) That was a good one.

Tavis: That was a good one, yeah.

Rock: That was a good one. I don't know.

Tavis: That was good, that was good.

Rock: Yeah, that's three.

Tavis: I like - that's good, I like that.

Rock: I haven't had a good one in 10 years. (Laughs) (unintelligible)

Tavis: That's not true. Speaking of the stuff that you have done over the last 10 years, what does it - when you have these HBO specials that become, like, hugely successful, what does that do, like, for a bounce in the career? It's not acting - it's stand-up, but what does it, when you have these specials and they hit, what does that, like, mean? What's the impact of that?

Rock: I don't know. It's weird at this point. As you know, as a man who deals in excellence, hey, Jordan gets 40. So?

Tavis: So what, yeah. (Laughs)

Rock: It's almost a bigger story if you fail.

Tavis: Exactly.

Rock: So I don't know, I like doing stand-up. I don't really do it for a bounce in the career, but it does get certain people excited, and magazines call, and people want you on their show. And it generates some excitement, but I do it 'cause I just wanna see the people. I wanna experience the audience.

Tavis: Speaking of magazines, I just happen to have this. I think I've lost track for how many times you’ve been on the cover now of "Vanity." Somebody at "Vanity Fair" really likes you.

Rock: Oh, Oprah owns "Vanity Fair," she ain't telling nobody.

Tavis: Is that what it is? (Laughs) That would explain it.

Rock: She's wants to keep that on the hush.

Tavis: That would explain. That's a nice cover, man.

Rock: Oh, it's a lovely cover.

Tavis: It's a very nice cover.

Rock: Yeah, Jim Carrey didn’t show up, so they called my Black ass at the last (unintelligible). (Laughs)

Tavis: Hey, take it any way you can get it.

Rock: (unintelligible)

Tavis: And this year, you actually made this side as opposed to the fold-out part.

Rock: Oh, you know what? When they called me I said hey, no flap.

Tavis: No flap, yeah, exactly. (Laughs)

Rock: I'm not getting up and don't flap me. (Laughs) Put the brother in the flap.

Tavis: Yeah, I'm saying you made the actual cover, so that's…

Rock: Yeah, yeah, that's the cover.

Tavis: That's a good thing.

Rock: Yeah, I wouldn’t (unintelligible).

Tavis: You said something a moment ago that I want to go back and get. What, for you, is a project not succeeding? A project failure? And I ask that because we all have our critics, and you were joking about that a moment ago. And sometimes you put stuff out, the critics say "Ah, not Chris' best stuff." But you keep coming back.

There are some other - I'm not gonna call any names, but I was just in a conversation the other day about a couple of comedians in town who I think, as talented as they are, don't take enough risk. They put a project out once every three years; it's a sequel to the last…

Rock: Who?

Tavis: I ain't gonna call no names. Sequel to the last project, which is a sequel to the last project, but they don't take any risk to try things that might not succeed but you gotta get out there. So you do that, and when you do that the critics say, "Ah, not Chris' best stuff." How do you read that?

Rock: I've never had a sequel. But I never had a big, hugongous movie that would probably (unintelligible)…

Tavis: But you're taking the risk, though, trying different things.

Rock: I like risk. With me, I don't have a high overhead. A lot of cats get into this…

Tavis: 'Cause you don't hire nobody. You do the executive producer, the director, the writer.

Rock: That, but guys have 12 houses and six Bentleys, and they got four bodyguards and ice, ice, ice. And you got this big overhead, and now it's time to work, you can't take no chances. (Laughs) You got big bills to pay, and you got four child supports. (Laughs) And then you got your little honey on the side. You got this one over here, and she's my uptown girl.

My wife's here, then my side, and then I got my Puerto Rican one over there. (Laughs) And pretty soon you gotta do the safest thing that they give you. So I don't have no overhead. I've been wearing these shoes for four years, come on. (Laughs) So I can just say no to anything.

Tavis: Since you went there - this is the dumbest question I've ever asked. So what does Chris Rock spend his money on?

Rock: What do I spend my money on?

Tavis: What do you spend your money on?

Rock: My wife. (Laughs) My kids. Some travel. But I really, I don't - I had two cars when I got on “SNL,” I've still got two cars. I got one house that - I just, it's not my thing. It's not, 'cause you don't own nothing, you know what I mean? You get older and you start getting into life and get philosophical about it. Somebody asked me the other day, what's your most prized possession? I was like, we're renting everything. 'Cause that's…

Tavis: (Laughs) I don't own nothing.

Rock: I don't own nothing. This is God's junk. You know what I mean? All this manmade stuff, what do I own? I don't own my wife or my kids, this is just - I don't own nothing. So why I'm gonna spend all my money on it?

Tavis: You and I were talking, as I mentioned earlier, when you got that HBO - thank you for asking me to come to Vegas and…

Rock: Thank you for (unintelligible).

Tavis: No, I was happy to come moderate. I went to Vegas to moderate a…

Rock: A brother's not gonna turn down a free trip to Vegas.

Tavis: Well. (Laughs)

Rock: (unintelligible) brother ain't going to Vegas?

Tavis: And I didn’t. So I went to Vegas…

Rock: Vegas is the original Brokeback. (Laughs) Vegas is Brokeback for straight people.

Tavis: Yeah, so, I took (unintelligible) self to Vegas and spent the weekend with Chris for this HBO comedian award, and I was fascinated, 'cause I mean a lot of - I know a lot about you, but I really wanted to be prepared for that conversation, so I read and read and read everything I could get my hands on. And I have just found your journey that we know bits and pieces of, but your journey from where you started to where you are has been so fascinating.

Rock: Yeah, born with Down's syndrome, and to be able to talk to you right now. (Laughs)

Tavis: See, now you're busting my chops, man, come on, now. (Laughs)

Rock: Go to the tape right now. (Laughs)

Tavis: Being beat up on and Black kids in an Italian neighborhood.

Rock: Oh, it was horrible. (Laughs) Horrible. But hey, it made me who I am. It got me here on the "Tavis Smiley" show. Everybody can't say that.

Tavis: How'd you find the comedy in those experiences?

Rock: See, it's weird. I found the comedy in the fact that it happened a long time ago. At the time, it wasn't…

Tavis: It wasn’t funny then, yeah.

Rock: …like, "Ooh, man, I'm bleeding. This is kind of funny." (Laughs) "I should write this down in blood." That never happened.

Tavis: You kill me.

Rock: I have never, oh, Tavis.

Tavis: This show on the CW, I saw the young kid that plays…

Rock: Tyler Williams.

Tavis: Tyler, won the Image award the other night.

Rock: He won the Image award.

Tavis: So that was good for him.

Rock: And good for me. (Laughs) It's good for me; I can tell people hey, I need you to do a show for me. You might win something.

Tavis: (Laughs) What's making that show work, you think? What's making it work?

Rock: What is making that show work? That show's working because it's a real family with real situations. It's like a lot of the TV shows are like made-up premises. Like, he's single and he - they just have premises that only exist on television shows. But this can look back to, like, it's not really like the "Cosby Show," it's more "Good Times." It's that kind of feel and that - people with money problems, like real people. They're in the real world.

Tavis: On my radio show, I think it's this weekend…

Rock: You got a radio show, too?

Tavis: Yeah, I got a radio show.

Rock: How many shows you got, man?

Tavis: I'm working like a Jamaican.

Rock: Oh, man. (Laughs)

Tavis: I got five jobs.

Rock: Oh, man.

Tavis: So my radio show this weekend, we just recorded this…

Rock: And you do them summits too, with the…

Tavis: Yeah, I got a…

Rock: The Black People Listen summits. (Laughs) I love watching the Black People (unintelligible). You get them all in, man. It's like the Black superhero thing? (Laughs) And it's like, it's weird, like, the people change, but the people don't change. 'Cause it's always a brother that just has all the statistics. "Nine out of 10 Black men wear green shoes." There's always one brother.

Tavis: But I figured, though, at least one day a year we should be able to…

Rock: What's the guy that talks real fast? Michael Eric Dyson. He's always quoting rap lyrics now. "Just like Tupac said." (Laughs) "Like Wutang said, "(unintelligible) everything around me. Please put the (unintelligible) .'" Okay?

Tavis: (Laughs) I figure one day a year, though, Chris…

Rock: No matter what you say to Michael Eric Dyson…

Tavis: He's gonna quote a rap lyric.

Rock: Yeah, he'll quote a rap lyric, 'cause he's trying to get hip now. (Laughs) "How do you feel about Barack winning?" "Well…"

Tavis: "As Biggie said…"

Rock: "As Biggie once said…" (Laughs)

Tavis: "Mo' money, mo' problem."

Rock: "Mo' money, mo problems."

Tavis: Yeah, I got you.

Rock: "My brother."

Tavis: But I figured, to your point…

Rock: I love it.

Tavis: But one day a year, we should be able to bring all the smart Black folk together for TV just one day a year.

Rock: Yeah, no, it's the best show of the year. I watch it, and it's on for 12 hours. It's amazing.

Tavis: Exactly. (Laughs) It's a pretty long show.

Rock: I go to the store, I come back, they still talking about Black people. (Laughs)

Tavis: If Black folk only get one day to talk, it's gonna take a few hours. If you only get one day.

Rock: People are clapping. It's like.

Tavis: I forgot where I was going with this before you…

Rock: Cornel West is just sitting back. (Laughs) Like his Afro's weighing him back. (Laughs) And he got a heavy Afro, Mr. West. I love that show, man. That's my favorite - I wanna produce that show. (Laughs) Come on right after my show, man.

Tavis: I don't know where I was taking this conversation before I got sidetracked by Chris Rock and the Black show. (Laughs) I think what I was going to say was…

Rock: What you were gonna say.

Tavis: I think - what was I gonna say?

Rock: As Jay-Z would say, "You a hustler, baby." (Laughs) "I just want you to know."

Tavis: (Laughs) Tell me about your writing process. And I want to get to - that's kind of inside baseball too, but I met Louis C. K., who wrote this - he helped write you on this…

Rock: Yeah, yeah, we wrote this together. The two guys that wrote "Pootie Tang." (Laughs)

Tavis: That's what I wanted to get to.

Rock: See, you could write whatever you want. We get together, I have an office in the city, and we go there, we meet around 11:00. It's a disciplined thing. You get there and you go over your notes, and you put in movies like the one you're trying to write, and you're trying to see what the masters have done. And with writing, especially writing a script, the most important thing is to get that first draft done. And know that it's gonna suck, you know what I mean? A problem people make is they think they're gonna write this great thing right away.

Tavis: First time out, yeah.

Rock: No, and it's gonna - no, you gonna write a piece of crap the first time out, and then through the process of elimination and going over and over it for another six, eight months - whatever, a year, then it'll get good. So we, a lot of writing is just us sitting around talking it out, going to lunch or whatever. But then the rewriting is the real writing.

Tavis: I raised that 'cause I wanted to connect it to where I was gonna go a minute ago, which was on the radio show this weekend, there's a guy who has a new book out. Darryl Littleton I think is his name. A book about Black comedians on Black comedy. So he's interviewed, like, a hundred…

Rock: Oh, the guy, (unintelligible).

Tavis: Exactly.

Rock: Yeah, he's a good guy.

Tavis: Exactly. He's written this book about Black comedians on Black comedy, and I wanted to ask you before our conversation ends, what for you is Black comedy, or is that a misnomer?

Rock: I think it's a misnomer.

Tavis: Is funny just funny, or?

Rock: Hey, put it this way. When you were a kid, all your friends thought Rodney Dangerfield was funny. We never said "that funny White guy." He was just funny, you know what I mean? So, I don't think - stand-up's never been segregated like music, per se. I know White people that are loving Katt Williams right now. Loving him. "You seen this Katt Williams guy?" So, Black comedy is just the Black experience told by Black comedians.

But the Black - everybody can relate to the Black experience, so I don't think of Black comedy as Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, the greatest comedians that ever lived. Do you really of them as Black comedians, per se, or just the greatest comedians to ever live?

Tavis: Well, their comedy, though, certainly is infused with the Black experience.

Rock: It is infused like James Brown. James Brown - who's Blacker than James Brown? But at the same time, who's more American than James Brown, you know what I mean? So, that's what Black comedy is. James Brown's what Black comedy is.

Tavis: Did I read somewhere the other day that - was it you? I thought I read a comment you made about this vote in the New York City council chambers about the use of the N-word? Did you comment on this?

Rock: What did I say?

Tavis: I forgot what the quote was, but they - and I think it was you. In New York City, they passed a piece of legislation that they didn’t want the N-word used in the city of New York.

Rock: It's funny when you say that…

Tavis: Did you see this story?

Rock: I saw the story, but it's like as if they were using it all along.

Tavis: Exactly.

Rock: Like the judge was like, "Eight years, nigger." (Laughs)

Tavis: Yeah, that was you.

Rock: Like, (laughs) are they using nigger that much?

Tavis: You kill me. All right, so what…

Rock: "My client is a nigger, Your Honor." (Laughs) What? Are they really using this, that they have to pass a law?

Tavis: I'm sorry I asked that question.

Rock: And they're like, they have nothing else to do. No one else could have got help. They spending all their time on nigger.

Tavis: I'm sorry I asked that question.

Rock: Ice Cube don't spend that much time on nigger. (Laughs)

Tavis: You got 30 seconds. Tell folk why they should go see your movie.

Rock: Go see my movie 'cause it's funny, it's hysterical; it's the best movie I have ever done. (Laughs) It is better than "Pootie Tang," it is incredible. There's sex, drugs, rock and roll, niggers in it. (Laughs)

Tavis: There you go. Chris Rock, I love you.

Rock: Thank you, sir.

Tavis: Nice to have you on. (Laughs) And that's our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. You can access our…

Rock: And the Black show, too.

Tavis: Yeah, on C-SPAN.

Rock: See him on tour with all the Black leaders. Fighting Black crime. (Laughs)