Well, the verdict is in. Chris Rock, the greatest young comedian of our age, famed for 'working blue', is hideously, painfully unfunny when working out of his element. Without the racy language and racial jokes there's just not much left. Only a few minutes into the Academy Awards I was yearning for David Letterman to show up and say "Oprah, Uma - Uma, Oprah".
I've seen Chris Rock's act on cable several times in several different versions. He's funny, subversive and very clever. He manages to be politically incorrect in ways that only a black man can really get away with. Like Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx updated to a more modern context. Yes, he swears a lot, and says things which would be absolutely unacceptable for a primetime audience, but for the most part it works.
What doesn't work is Chris Rock reading from cue cards and wincing as he tells lame jokes which someone else wrote for a primetime audience. Remember Saturday Night Live? Chris Rock was not good at sketch comedy. For that matter, consider his films. He's not a good actor. He's really only good at being Chris Rock and being sharp tongued and offensive. The reason that his standup act works is that he doesn't try to be anything other than Chris Rock. Well, at the Oscars he was trying to be the urbane host, and while he did have a nice tuxedo, he just doesn't have the personality for it.
Why do they keep changing Oscar hosts? They were happy with Johnny Carson for many, many years. In his aftermath they found a couple of truly worthy successors. Billy Crystal and Steve Martin were both just fine as host. They were quick on their feet, urbane and well spoken and could be funny without being offensive. Neither of them has a booming career right now, so why not get one of them back? Even Whoopi Goldberg was bearable. She was goofy looking and most of what she said wasn't at all funny, but she kept things moving along and didn't do anything horrible. How hard is it to host a three hour parade of gowns and tuxedos? They've got people to walk the presenters to their positions, the whole thing is orchestrated. All you have to do is hit your mark every few minutes, make a harmless little joke and then introduce someone. Maybe this is a job for a talking head from one of those entertainment magazine shows? How about Mark McGrath for the next host?
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tom
Chris Rock was pretty terrible, but then, ever since they announced the whole deal with the presenting-awards-onstage/in-the-audience/in-the-limo/on-Hollywood Boulevard, I was expecting a disaster.
Rock's not to blame. He's an angry young man in a tame, Billy Crystal universe. The blame falls, as it has much of the last 16-17 years, on Gil Cates, the producer. First he inflicts Billy on us. Then Debbie Allen's choreography, straight outta Fame. Then Bill Conti, and his rotten Rocky-lite orchestra. Now, he thinks the way the show gets shorter is by humiliating people through forcing them to have their loss in Best Art Direction played out on stage. Fact is, if Oscar shows had smart-and-edgy (not merely "edgy", or what the older generation thinks is "edgy") hosts, and cut down on the crappy film segments, ridiculous "themes", and lame and unnecessary comedy bits, and showed a little heart towards the winners and their big moment speeches, they wouldn't be the flaming wrecks a Gil Cates production seems to be.
To paraphrase a wag on Debbie Allen, when it comes to Cates, fire him or shoot him. Rock never had a chance.
2 - Dave Nalle
I think Cates efforts to save time did work, and I didn't mind them that much. You can look at them in a positive way. Getting on stage and getting on camera for 2 minutes while not getting an award is all the exposure people who do some of these jobs are ever going to get at the Oscars. I also didn't mind presenting from the audience. Anything that cuts out the endless reaction scenes as someone traipses out of the audience to go to the stage is a good thing IMO.
Dave
3 - Rodney Welch
I don't know which Oscar telecast you guys watched, but I thought Chris Rock was hilarious. In fact, I thought the monologue set a standard the rest of the show didn't really match -- which is typical, of course.
4 - Dave Nalle
The monologue was painfully awful. I literally cringed during it to see him so clearly uncomfortable with his material.
The one thing that was actually funny was when Chris Rock went and interviewed African American movie viewers who all apparently thought White Chicks was the best film ever and hadn't even heard of any of the nominees. It was very funny and says a lot about the relevance of the Oscars as well.
Dave
5 - monica
I think that Chris Rock did a really good job presenting the Academy Awards. i was very proud of him.Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman won!! It was a great night for black actors.
6 - Rodney Welch
Rock was great. I watched the show with a crowd at a downtown theater, and everyone there was laughing hysterically, sometimes so much so you couldn't hear the set-up to the next joke. If I had been alone, I would have laughed just as long and as loud. Rock was a good choice as far as pure entertainment goes, but I suspect the stiff and humorless Sean Penns of the world will make sure this is his last ride; they'll go for a safer, industry-approved choice next year, like Steve Martin or Billy Crystal -- someone who can be guaranteed not to say that Colin Farrell is no Russell Crowe.
7 - Pete Blackwell
Bah! Chris Rock was brilliant. His monologue was hilarious and subversive. I mean, celebrities exist to be made fun of. I agree with Rodney: What telecast were you watching?
8 - Dave Nalle
How anyone could think Chris Rock was funny is completely beyond me. It's like you guys were watching a different show. I just replayed the monologue on my DVR and had to stop it after about 2 minutes it was so awful.
Dave
9 - Larry
As far as Chris Rock is concerned, NO comedian is funny to everyone. It depends on the type of sense of humor that you have. If you like polite and politically correct, you might not like Chris Rock. Sometimes he was funny and sometimes he was not. No one mentioned the wonderful performances by Beyonce. Overall I think that the awards went to the right actors.
10 - Dave Nalle
If you read the article I did point out that I actually LIKE Chris Rock when he's doing his standup act. It's just that Chris Rock the Oscar host wasn't really the same guy.
And I did mention Beyonce, but I mentioned her bad performance rather than her 2 good ones.
Dave
11 - Comixchick
Sorry, Dave, but I thought he was funny. I watched Letterman, too, and I'm wondering how drunk you were if you wanted "Uma, Oprah" back. NOTHING would make me make that wish.
12 - Oscar_Watcher
dave is a pompous ho....
13 - Matt Egan
No big shock that Dave didn't like Chris Rock, since he offended his precious conservative sensibilities with quips about Bush.
That was Chris Rock's act last night, PG-13 for the network and FCC. YOu either think its funny or you don't. Count me in the former.
14 - Dave Nalle
Ok, comment some more without reading the article, please. I fucking LIKE Chris Rock. I didn't like Chris Rock's hosting style. There's a difference, you morons.
I actually missed his quips about Bush. From what I've seen Rock skewers the left as much or more as the right, so I'm not particularly politically offended by him. Though I'm surprised that Democrats aren't up in arms about some of the comments in his regular stage show.
Dave
15 - Gord
Chris Rock ... please award him the Oscar for worst host ever. He was a total misfit in a gathering of some of the most talented artists in the world. His style of delivery, i.e. non-stop yelling in his harsh voice, is sadly indicative of over-compensation of volume for lack of substance.
Compared to previous hosts like Johnny Carson or Billy Crystal, he was a total embarrassment.
16 - Phil
I thought Rock was funny and with comments like, and I'm paraphrasing here, "star of the long awaited sequal Catwoman 2, Halle Berry..."
Come on; you're telling me that wasn't funny in the context of Halle Berry attending the same venue with Rock?
But like someone else said, funny to me isn't funny to you and thats the point of blogs, one person's opinion, however much I might disagree.
17 - Rodney Welch
"He was a total misfit in a gathering of some of the most talented artists in the world."
Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Mr. Penn.
18 - AF
Dave, I don't see how you can like Chris Rock but not his monologue last night. It was pretty good material. The main criticism I can see is that it was too much a typical Chris Rock stand-up act and not quite appropriate for the occasion. Billy Crystal and Steve Martin might be a little more in tune with the audience as it currently is, but that's why and because nobody like me (young straight males) watches the Oscars. The whole point of getting Chris Rock was getting people like me to watch it and it worked.
19 - sydney
Well I think chris rock is great and I liked some of his jokes. But, mostly, oscar jokes are lame anyway.
However, I think it's inappropriate to cut actors up at a ceremony that is meant to celebrate them. I mean, in a night club or on a PPV special that's fine because it's what comedy is about but he could have used a more appropriate humour given the situation and he probably would have got some laughs.
As it was, he was offending the audience in which he was looking for laughs. Naturally, alot of the jokes came off flat..
In lettermans case.... well he's never been good at stand-up. Dave is brilliant at unscripted interviews but pretty amature in standup. At least he acknowledges that he was 'the worst host in its 70 year history'.
20 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
i was very much hoping to see Chris Rock's performance, but then the BBC didn't have the rights to broadcast the show this year. But how did Kirsten do? did she hand out the award and did folks say "holy shit, that was the best award handing-out ever!"
And i must say, with all the talk of billy crystal, his performance at last years awards was without doubt one of the most wretchedly embaressing things i've ever seen. I thought i was gonna puke during the big song. I didn't. i turned it over. aw well
21 - Debra
Funny how everyone dumps on Dave but forgets his Oscar show boasted the highest ratings in 12 years. And everyone brings up the Uma, Oprah bit (which really didn't last that long), but no one mentions the "Do you want to buy a monkey?" auditions? God, that was really funny.
22 - sydney
Ya I love dave, didn't mean any disrespect.
By the way, can anyone figure out Dave's politics? I've found it unbelievably difficult, although lately i gather he's a conservative (despite which party he may or may not vote for)--- I dont mean to change the topic.. just curious.
23 - Eric Olsen
Kirsten was sweet and petite but her hair was weird, sort of plastered on her head helmet-style - there are pics of her at Oscar.com
24 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
oh now, i thought her hair was nothing short of perfect, having just browsed through dozens of google links to find said images. the one i eventualyl found hidden away on the site you mention, was pretty small, and when i clicked on it, thinking, reasonably enough, that surely larger kirsten will follow, i get a picture of gloria fucking estefan. what the hell?
25 - Eric Olsen
not a transformation even the most resolute Cuban would nod at approvingly