Chris Rock says he "wanted [his] acting to grow." So what did he do? He took a job on Broadway. Alec goes backstage with Rock after a matinee of The Mother F**ker With The Hat to hear about what it was like for Rock to be in his first play. Rock says rehearsal was the hardest thing he's ever gone through in his life.
Chris Rock and Alec talk about the play, the movie business, and Rock's career in stand-up. Alec asks Rock about how the people in his life respond to his stand-up -- which as Alec says, can "filet them on stage." "I'm like a lawyer," says Rock; "it would all hold up in court." That said, he admits that everybody is uncomfortable.
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This is Alec Baldwin. And here's the thing. A few months back I attempted to catch up with Chris Rock. His dressing room in Broadway shown Field Theater was five floors up, no elevator. Chris's show The Motherfucker with the Hat was about a group of dysfunctional friends and lovers where every relationship had gone bad, really bad. Drugs, booze, cheating, No one was loyal to anyone. Chris played a recovering alcoholic who, at first glance seems to be a good guy, but after a few minutes it was clear he was the most self serving of the bunch. Oh man, you do a great man. You want to press that this is something beautiful. Come and stay with me and Vicky Man get on a nutritional beverage program. Man. Before this past spring, Chris might have been the last person you'd expect to see starring in a Broadway show. I mean, Chris can sell out Madison Square Garden. P s they have an elevator. Yet there he us between performances in his attic dressing room at the show Felt Theater. I wanted my acting to grow. Do you have obviously a huge following Black and white in your concerts, and yet when you go out in this audience, how black is the audience? Well, I mean put away. In the old days, they used to have signs up whites only, whites only. Now they have a new thing. It's called prices. You know, some nights it's darker than other nights. I buy tickets every night when this play is over. I spent almost a whole weekly paycheck on tickets as gifts for friends otherwise couldn't come see the show. Otherwise, could not afford to see this show. I tour and I'm normally you know, at the garden or whatever, like sixty thousand seats to give away what I'm normally on tour, and people have gotten used to this. My man takes care of us, and you know I don't. I can't take that away from friends and family. You haven't done a lot of theater. Correct, This is the first play I've ever done. This is the first play you've ever done. I didn't do a play in high school. I didn't go to high school. So so not only your Broadway debut, but your first play period. You're with a pretty cool group of people experience, you know what, and they have held me up. No one ever got frustrated at what I didn't know. You know, this is a bunch of little things that people take for grant. I have no idea. You're never supposed to walk straight at somebody supposed to looke. Just all these weird little thing And my favorite is that you don't give information to the person. So if you're standing here telling them something, you tell it out. You sit there and open, open, open to the audience as much as possible. All that open, open, open, open, open stuff. Yes, even today, I'm working on it. The Chris Rock that I know from your live shows, I don't see much of him in this show because that Chris Rock is like marauding the stage and as complete control over the audience. This is a different Chris I see in the play. I'm really trying to act here. You know. Have you enjoyed it? I'm enjoying it a lot, A lot. A lot. Is the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life. I always tell people it's like having the Empire State Building shoved up your ass, one brick at a time, and to learn they can't believe there's ever gonna be a day when you know what's been the surprise about doing this for you? Honestly, I'm surprised I'm doing it. I mean, I'm surprised that I'm not bored with it already. Are you afraid of that? I'm really that That's what's the that's the biggest fear, to actually be stuck doing anything. Does this change for you night by night day? You know what's weird? I'm figuring out how to make it change now. So I'm actually figuring out how to add lib every night without saying words, how to work eats, seeing a little different in each line, and try to find laughs and places that I didn't find one the night before. So yes, it's to answer your question, it changes every night. Well what I love about this plant? By the way, everybody has loved someone and not too far into the relationship, you say to yourself, not only is this probably wrong, this is definitely wrong, but you can't get out of it. How does this play resonate with you in your personal life? I've been every person in this place, not a person, everything, everything, and it's the one who sucked the other person in response to the betrayal, the revenge fuck every person. It's the kind of play you can't watch without putting yourself in it. When you write your material for stand up, how do the people in your life react to how you fill at them on stage? If you you know what, I'm like a lawyer in a sense. I mean, it's it's almost like a legal document. It's a word. It like it's all our wives and all our you know what I mean. It's like like if you if I gave you the transcript, he'd be like, he hasn't talked about anybody. It would it would all hold up in court. But you do. But you never have anybody in your life. No, No, everybody's uncomfortable. I remember I read a quote Tarantino said, if people in your life aren't uncomfortable, you're not really writing, You're not really hitting it. You know, somebody better be uncomfortable. Did you grow up in a situation that was remotely like this? And then emotionally and most turbulence, My parents plase way, My mother cursed a lot, screamed a lot. You know my father, my mother beat us with a curtain rod. Yeah, well we got beatings with curtain rods and brooms and brushings and hangars or whatever. But me and my father. It's weird. My father, his temper towards my mother was always controlled well else he could lose it. Why do you think it was he wanted to protect that. I don't know. I mean, first of all, I mean guys from that era did not view women as their equals. They did and they were loving and blah blah blah blah blah, but they did not view women as their equals. Therefore they could actually deal with the woman's emotional whatever swings way easier than a guy in my age, because I view a woman as my equal. So if I'm with a woman and she starts crying, I look at her like I'm with you when you start crying, don't go female on me. I'm like something, I look at her life. I would look at a guy that gets emotional. Yeah, I thought, if we were equal, then you can't play that car don't the female. So I'll just say my father and my grandfather's both but we're really delicate with their wives. You know, not a child, but close to a child. That's different for you. My wife's my equal, and you know, you know, any budding of heads is because I I want I'm dealing with you the same way I would deal with myself, or I deal with any guy, and we're both wrong. What are you gonna do when this is over? Do you know how much sure? I think I'm gonna direct a movie? That's what I'm feeling. So this is the time in your life and you do all the things you told yourself you'd never do. Play on Broadway, direct a movie? Why do you want to direct a movie? I don't know? Is your Warren Babby face that? Yeah, I don't know. I put this away. If I can get a great director to direct me, I'll do it. But yeah, once you get to the seilers, you might as well do it yourself. That's what I say. How picky are you about the films you do? Because you don't do a lot of films? Um, I don't know. I mean I turned out a lot, but I don't have a list of great films I've turned. You turned down. Regardless of whether they're great or not. Do you turn them down? Because for you, you always have the stand up thing in your pocket and the concert thing in your pocket. You're not in any hurry to go out and make a living. Most movies suck, man, early suck see I'm I'm messed up because I like to see something I haven't seen or haven't seen what a black person black people in film is still at its really at its infant stage. And why do you think that I don't know? You know what, here's the thing. You know, you hand a studio person of script, and sometimes the studio people are good at a time. When you hand somebody a script, they pick a person in the movie that they identify with. So if you hand a woman of script, if the woman's got nine lives in the movie, the first person who gives your notes about is the woman. And if you hand the boss the script, he's gonna give you notes about the main character. And if you hand his assistant the script is gonna give you notes about some other everybody figures out who they are in the movie. Now, when you had somebody a black script, they don't relate to anybody. Even it's a very good point, I'm serious, even when it's and when you have any secontive who does relate to a black person's script, what does that mean to you? You You struck gold Well, it's it's never really happened. They just they're making a product. All of a sudden, That's what I've experienced. And when you do that, because I mean, there's no black studios or whatever, so you end up you always end up with just a person trying to make a piece of product. They might as well, they might still be making an eye paths kind of in the state of State chip business. But you seem to me, because you're so smart and so clever, that you have as much of a white audience as you do with black audies, don't you think so in spite of the fact your stand up can be pretty tough on white people. Yeah, but I always say my stand ups like Chinese food and what's Chinese food? Well, Chinese food is one of the most popular foods in all of America, and they don't put American ship on their menus. People really want Chinese food. They don't put ripe fries and cheese grilled cheese on the menu of the most popular Restauranese food of people. So I'm just saying when people see people come to Christ's restaurant, think Christmas menu, they want Christmas menue. It's the guy that tries to cross over that gets less white people, I find. Do you think the appeal to you with a black audience is how much you have fun with white et commentary? Do think your black audience expects you to do that when they come see you? They expect me to do it? Yeah? What am I trying to say? First of all, all the materials run by run through black. It's actually it's run through black pission. Actually first is run through Jews. I always work out the material in the West Palm Beach. Out here. I go to West Palm Beach and guess what they show up. I play a little club, so I figured, I'm in front of these people, they're a little older. If I can get them to laugh at this one. I came in front of the black people, They're gonna go zirk. And then I get in front of the black people, make some adjustments here and there. And this is all before I put like the garden or something on sale. So it's these two very different groups. So working out in front of more from my conversation with Chris Rock is coming up in a minute. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. I'm talking with Chris Rock backstage at the Shaunfeld Theater on Street. I'm sixty six man, which means you started and you started. I started probably five seven years before I got on S and O. But I always I haven't been you know, I haven't been poor day since I met Laura Michaels. I never A lot of his stuff sticks with me. What thing he said to me is like everybody loses their first money. Now, if you're talented, you'll make some. You said, that's right. He knows more about Let's take a moment to talk about the wisdom of Lord and Michael. He's always there to remind you how you can lose perspective about this business, at least in my case. He's very good. But how much of things changed in your mind? And not just for you, but for you specifically, but in the business. I don't know about you. I find a business a lot smaller way, less movies, less, I mean less stuff that relates to me, you know what, Less stuff that relates to me. I'll say that for the young people. You know, this whole reality thing, I'm not going to dismiss it. You know, it sound like I'm some old person talking about rap music. It's not gonna last, you know what I mean. But at the same time, I don't get it. Do you think you'd make it today if you came in today. Yeah. Me and SANEA, Well, that's our little tests with each other. We kinda we assessed the stand ups. Yeah, we've still got it. I still got it. Yeah. I keep the wait off a little bit, you know. That's what I'm trying to do. Bon Jovi still doing it. Still doing it, man. Just look hot. Just try to look hot to somebody. You don't have to lie. You still got you. Still Look how many kids you have done to nine? Get Ready nine and get Ready by seven? So what are you worried about raising your kids in this world? I care that they're good with money. I don't even care if they're assholes. When I say good with money, I just mean you've got two dollars and you spend one and you put a dollar. But I don't mean that they run Microsoft or they flip money and buy a house. I just mean does that come from your childhood? Yes, it comes from my childhood. I just mean can they handle their own? That's it? Because to get out it's a tough hole. To get out of, and it's a weird hole for a pretty woman to get out of, and they end up in relationships with guys they wouldn't have relationship with. There's a great line that Anthony Quinn has in Lawrence Arabian where he says, I am a river to my people. Yeah, I'm getting a lot of that. Now. Well, hey, here's the thing. You can only help. Like, I got some family right now, guy whatever, losing his house, whatever, I'm gonna help him move into wherever he's gonna move into. I'm not buying his house because he's never gonna be able to fold the house. So yeah, I my I'm a river. But it's a little river. It's a little river because when you turn down somebody and they know you have the money, this is one thing to go. These kids are kicking my ass or whatever and you don't have the money. They know you have the money. It's so it's almost like a woman. It's like I know you have vagina and you have sex, you just don't want to have it with me. I remember I used to do a movie and they say to mean in whatever way, what would come back was, uh, we don't have the money. For that, And what they really were saying was, we don't have the money for that for you, For you, we don't we have the exactly for Leo, we're gonna sell our houses because remember, for you, we don't have the money. And that's what you're saying to people in your life is I don't have the money for you. I don't have the money for you. You're not going to be the reason I'm doing some bad kung fu movie. I got one last question for you. When you're home and you really want to relax, what do you like to watch? Like, what's entertainment to you? You know it's probably Woody just about any Woody. It's me like, yeah, me too. I'm gonna go do his new movie. I'm going I am a lucky baskets, so lucky you don't want. One of the reasons I'm doing this play is like maybe what do you come? Maybe you come? Maybe any Woody? Just about man? Mean, what is this way? The average great filmmaker Great has about four good movies. R wood he has about twelve like great, and then he probably has about ten more really good finger. I even like the new Ones hey Man match Point, it's a fine motion picture Vicky Christina. I can't. I'm happy. So that's the dream, is to be in a Woody that is really, really, honestly, and this is how I'm fair this world is. I love the guy, and here I am. I don't have one temph to telling you, and I'm off to Rome. I'm off to Rome. I want to rub this in watch me even further. I'm off to Rome to make a movie with Woody. And You'll be here sweating your balls off in this steam room. It's like the scene in the play Today where you say to him you were looking at a picture of her while I was tapping on the real You're gonna be watching Woody and I'm gonna be tapping on the real thing. I'll think we're both going to be happy. It's not too late, of course, it's not too it are you crazy? The entire time we were in Chris's dressing room, a Woody Allen movie played on a TV off to the side, muted. Are you're going to work with Woody Fastard? Dude? I just want to hang on a set. I just wanted, like what happens come to Roman. I'll be like, Chris, what are you doing? Here. What do you know, Chris, When do you guys are in the fall. We'll make it. Chris did eventually make it to Rome, and he did have dinner with Woody Allen. Best of all time. He never called me though. Huh, this is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Four four