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I had the pleasure of watching Chris Rock perform live stand up this New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden. It was raunchy and ridiculously politically incorrect, but also entertaining as hell. Rock was on fire and he did a lot of really strong topical material about the electoral process, the top contenders, and a lot of other major 2007 stories. Here are a few highlights:
On Elections: "Why would they have Election Day on a Tuesday? Would you hold a party on a Tuesday? No, cause you want people to come. They obviously don't want you showing up."
On Bush: "He's made it hard for a white man to run for president. People are saying, 'After Bush, I'm not sure we can take another chance on a white guy."
"He just doesn't give a fuck about you. In the history of not giving a fuck no one has ever given less of a fuck."
On Bush Voter's Remorse: "Bush is like Hammer, nobody admits to buying the album now."
On Hillary: "I think America is ready for a woman president, but does it have to be that woman?"
"Hillary keeps going on and on about her experience as first lady making her qualified to be president. Being married to someone doesn't make you experienced enough to do their job. I've been married to my wife for ten years and if she was up here right now y'all wouldn't laugh once."
On Hillary and Bill: "Hillary is the greatest forgiver of all time."
On Obama: "Sometimes I feel like Barack forgets he's the black candidate in the race. He's running like he can win this shit fair and square."
"That motherfucker's calm. He's always talking in measured tones."
On Post 9/11-Iraq: "Bush was like, 'You think you know how to kill Americans? I'll show you how to kill Americans!"
On WMD: "There turned out to be more WMDs in T.I.'s trunk!"
On Barry Bonds: "I've never seen so many mad white people in my life. He took pills? So what? The whole country is on pills!"
On Giuliani: "He's kind of like a pit bull. Great if you have burglars but if you don't, he'll probably eat your kids."
"People say he was great on 9/11, but what about 9/10, 5/21, 12/13, hell, pick a date, any date, the guy wasn't shit."
Also, very striking to me--this was a very mainstream, diverse, youngish crowd. Yes, it was New York but there was no reason to assume this would be a crowd that was particularly progressive or solidly behind any particular candidate. So I was intrigued that when Hillary Clinton's name was mentioned, there was a mild smattering of applause and then a big chorus of boos. Meanwhile the very mention of Obama's name brought wild applause and approving shout outs from the crowd. Isn't Hillary supposed to be a popular New York senator? This doesn't bode well for her, should she become the nominee. If a New York crowd feels this much animosity towards her, this early, it perhaps proves the point that Edwards and Obama have been making--that she's already been rejected by the electorate at large.
The cacophony of boos that greeted Giuliani were far less surprising and yet nevertheless still heartwarming for me. It made me wish the whole thing was being broadcast nationally so Americans outside the Big Apple could hear the large Madison Square Garden crowd booing this man who has so shamelessly used the city and it's tragedies and successes to burnish his massive ego and political aspirations. If Giuliani (unlikely) or if Hillary (possibly) were to become the respective nominees of their party they will be hard pressed to explain why their constituents seem to dislike them so intensely.
Unfortunately, Rock never lampooned or lauded Edwards, Kucinich or any of the other candidates which only served to highlight further the mainstream Hillary vs Barack narrative, mixed with Giuliani madness that has consumed the public's thinking on this race. Still, it was a wonderful show and great fun to ring in the new year with this great comic who was unafraid to tell it like it is. Without The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on the air these days, it was a breath of fresh air.
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