Chris Rock, full name Christopher Julius Rock, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, and film director. Rock gained prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s after working as a stand-up comedian and appearing in supporting film roles. He was cast in starring roles in a series of stand-up specials for HBO and movies such as Down To Earth, Head Of State, The Longest Yard, the Madagascar film series, Grown Ups, its sequel Grown Ups 2, and Top Five. He developed, narrated, and wrote a sitcom, which was based on his life called Everybody Hates Chris.
He also starred in the fourth season of the FX black comedy crime drama anthology series Fargo in 2020. Rock has won three Grammy awards, four Emmy Awards and has hosted the Academy awards several times. In a poll conducted by Comedy Central, he was voted the fifth-greatest stand-up comedian.
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Top 10 Best Chris Rock Movies and TV Shows!
10) Saturday Night Live (1990s)
Chris Rock was considered one of the “Bad Boys Of SNL” back in the early 90s alongside other famous SNL castmates like Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Chris Farley, although he was best known for his monologues on the show. He played many characters on the show, among which Nat X and Onski are probably the most famous. His Nat X character always spoke the truth and got laughs in the process, with his massive afro, his fist raised high, and his fifteen-minute segments. His comedy, which should seem dated, still somehow feels a little ahead of its time, and his loud delivery punctuated every comment he had on “the man”.
9) Bring The Pain (1994)
There is a good reason why Bring The Pain is a quintessential Chris Rock performance. Bring The Pain was a television special starring Chris Rock of course, which premiered on HBO. It is hard to believe, but at the time of its release, Rock thought he was on the way out. So, to go out with a bang, he wanted to do one last really big comedy special. He delivered one of his most bombastic and scorching stand-up performances of all time after practicing his routine for two years.
The most famous bit from the show concerns regular black people and the more hood black people, who he suggests mess everything up for all other black people. Even after all these years, it still hits hard today and is the kind of searing comedy that only a black person could ever get away with. He also won two of his Emmys for this show.
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8) Fargo (2020)
Chris Rock starred in the fourth season of the American black comedy crime drama anthology series Fargo. He played Loy Cannon, the head of Cannon Limited, in 1950, who threatens to usurp the Fadda Family, led by Josto Fadda, as the ruling crime organization in Kansas City, Missouri. The groups agree to honor a tradition of trading the youngest sons between the two households to maintain peace.
However, the alliance is jeopardized by the unorthodox actions taken by a nurse named Oraetta Mayflower and the arrival of Josto’s brash brother Gaetano. Meanwhile, Oraetta’s teenage neighbor, Ethelrida Pearl Smutny, gets entangled in the criminal activities of Kansas City after she discovers that her parents are in debt to Cannon Limited.
7) Grown Ups (2010)
Grown Ups is the story of five basketball-loving lifetime friends. After the untimely death of their beloved coach, they reunite thirty years after winning their high school basketball championship. Rock plays Kurt McKenzie in the film, a stay-at-home father with two kids and another one on the way, who also has to deal with his mother-in-law staying with them. While the film was not critically well-received, it was a commercial success and spawned a sequel with Rock reprising his role, it also features many former SNL alums.
6) The Longest Yard (2005)
The Longest Yard follows an ex-NFL star, played by Adam Sandler, who ends up in prison and is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. He must assemble a football team of convicts to play against the prison guards in exchange for his freedom. Amongst an ensemble cast, Rock co-stars as Caretaker, a fellow inmate who helps coach the convicts and procures for them, amongst other paraphernalia, equipment for the game. Despite the high number of remakes made today, The Longest Yard is the highest-grossing comedy remake in the modern era, interestingly.
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5) Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
Madagascar 3 is the highest-rated film in the animated franchise. Rock plays one of the four main characters, Marty, a zebra. To kidnap the penguin and a pair of chimpanzees and bring them back to New York, Marty flees to Monte Carlo with Alex, Melman, Gloria, and the lemurs. The penguins and chimpanzees are planning to use their casino winnings to fly to Africa and bring their friends back to New York. In the middle of all this is an animal control expert on the hunt for the animals, Frances McDormand’s Chantel Dubois.
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4) Nurse Betty (2000)
In this black comedy about a waitress obsessed with a soap opera, Rock plays a hitman. The woman goes into a fugue state and assumes the identity of a character on her favorite show after his character murders her husband. She then takes a car filled with drugs on a cross-country road trip. Eventually, Rock and another hitman catch up with her after chasing after her. Later in the movie, the son of the other hitman kills Rock’s character.
At the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, Nurse Betty won the award for Best Screenplay. The waitress falls into the fugue state after she witnesses her husband’s murder. Rock’s character’s name is Wesley in the film, and his partner is played by Morgan Freeman.
3) Top Five (2014)
Rock wrote, directed, and starred in this 2014 comedy. Rock plays Andre Allen, a stand-up comic who is interviewed by a New York Times reporter, Chelsea, played by Rosario Dawson. This movie proves itself to be in the vein of films such as My Dinner With Herve and The End Of The Tour, as Rock’s character and several real-life comedians espouse marriage and sex.
The experience inspires Andre to return to stand-up comedy for the first time in years. Rock comes face to face with his past and career as a comedian during the interview. The all-star cast list of comedian supporting actors featured in the film includes Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Tracy Morgan, Michael Che, Brian Regan, and many others. Rock has mentioned the possibility of a sequel that would feature a lot of the same cast, as the movie was a critical and commercial success.
2) Good Hair (2009)
Rock starred in and produced this 2009 documentary about the black hair industry. Rock explores the lengths African American women will go to change their hair and the various ways they perceive it. Rock visited barbershops all over the United States to interview customers and hairdressers about popular styles of hair and laboratories to learn about chemical relaxers. He sought to interrogate the internalized beauty standards that were not based on the hair of African American women and was inspired to make the documentary after his daughter questioned by her curly hair was not “good”. At the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the film received the special jury prize for the US documentary.
1) Dogma (1999)
Dogma is a fantasy comedy that follows Bethany, an abortion clinic counselor, who is tasked with stopping two fallen angels who plan to undo creation by exploiting a loophole in Catholic dogma. Rock plays Rufus, who, along with a muse and the prophets Jay and Silent Bob, help aid Bethany. He also happens to be the thirteenth apostle left out of the Bible for being black.
Although the film was met with much controversy, including condemnation from the Catholic League due to the religious subject matter and death threats toward director Kevin Smith, it was a modest critical and commercial success. Bethany is meant to stop Bartleby and Loki, played by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, from reentering heaven and nullifying all existence. They all travel to the New Jersey church where Bartleby and Loki will enact their plan. Rufus convinces Loki to not go through with his and Bartleby’s plan and also reveals that Bethany is a direct descendent of Jesus along the way.
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