Chris Rock

A Motor Mouth stand-up comedian, actor and producer of the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, Chris Rock is generally considered to be the successor to Richard Pryor as the most prominent black comedic actor and stand-up. He got his break on Saturday Night Live in 1990 and left in 1993 (in protest over the lack of good roles on the show) and became a frequent guest star on In Living Color during its final season.

He really broke into the mainstream with his second HBO stand-up show Bring The Pain in 1996, and, in particular, his controversial assessment of the state of black America: 'Niggas versus Black People'. Several more acclaimed stand-up tours have followed as have numerous film roles and a sitcom based on his childhood.

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Chris Rock provides examples of the following tropes:

• Angry Black Man: He seems to be this in his early stand up years but has changed. He has played an Angry Black Man on SNL named Nat X who had his own talk show (The Dark Side with Nat X).
• Black and Nerdy
• Book Dumb: Dropped out of school, but did get a GED ("Good Enough Diploma").
• Bumbling Dad: Attacks the lack of respect 'real dad's' get.
• Catch Phrase: "Yeah, I said it!"
• Celebrity Voice Actor: He has done many voice acting roles in animated shows like King of the Hill, The Moxy Show, and ChalkZone, and he played a Jiminy Cricket Expy in the Pinocchio episode of HBO's Happily Ever After Fairy Tales for Every Child. He also played the titular character in Osmosis Jones, Mooseblood the Mosquito in Bee Movie, Rodney the Guinea Pig in Doctor Dolittle, and a Zebra named Marty in the Madagascar film series.
• Dead Baby Comedy: Once joked about going to pro-abortion rallies to pick up women. "You won't find no virgins at an abortion rally. You might even see some clear heels!"
• Everything Is Racist
• I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: On Bill Clinton's extra-martial affair: "A man is basically as faithful as his options!"
• Informed Loner: Mocks the Columbine gunmen and the 'Trenchcoat Mafia': "I saw the yearbook picture. There was six of them! I ain't have six friends in high school, I don't have six friends now! That's three on three with a half court."
• Ink Suit Actor: Marty the zebra from the animated movie Madagascar looks alot like his voice actor .
• Mistaken for Dying: He says that when he got tested for HIV, he had to wait 5 days. He spent those days thinking about all the nasty stuff that he's done ("I'm Itchy, the stripper from Miami") and then calls up those women to see if they're still alive (to make sure they didn't die of AIDS): 'Hi, can I speak to Tammy.' 'Tammy died. She got hit by a bus.' 'Thank the Lord!'
• N-Word Privileges: Does a whole routine explaining when it would acceptable for non-blacks to use the n-word. Long story short - only under very specific circumstances, with a police report.
  • He's also outlined the "Dr Dre rules," where white people are allowed to say the n-word if they're singing along with a rap song, because "they lean into that shit" when they're on their own.
  • However, it's important to note that he denounced his "Niggas vs Black People" rant when too many actual racists used it to justify themselves.
• Parenting the Husband: Thinks married men become their wives' pets.
• Playing Against Type: In Nurse Betty were he played a Hitman named Wesely .
• Plucky Comic Relief:Detective Lee Butters in Lethal Weapon 4 and the Guiena pig Rodney in Doctor Dolittle .
• Porn Stash: Every man's got one. "Not an illegal amount, just enough to get you by".
• Prison Rape: Invoked when talking about an HBO jail special.
• Racist Grandma: He says that the most racist people are old black men, because they've lived through real racism. "Fuck that 'I can't get a cab' bullshit, old black men were the fucking cab! A white man would just hop on their back and say 'Fifth and Broadway!'"
• Raised by Grandparents: Discussed: "If the kid calls his grandmama 'Mommy' and his mama 'Pam', then he's going to jail".
• Running Gag: Dropping the mic at the end of his comedy routines.
• Sit Comic: Everybody Hates Chris. Quite a few of the jokes come straight from his special Bigger and Blacker.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: One of the main points of 'Black People vs. Niggas'; everything white people don't like about black people, black people really don't like about black people. Rock retired the skit when he realised white people were taking it at face value.
• The Stoner: Played a crackhead in New Jack City.
• Third Person Person
• Where Da White Women At??: Mentions that even a plain-looking white woman can find a black man, but no black woman would want Danny DeVito.
• White Wife, Black Wife: Discussing Barack Obama's first lady, Chris says that Obama cannot be president unless he has a white wife because a black wife would be too controlling.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight, but only after saying that "Nobody's above an ass-whooping".