Chris Rock: his comedy and entertainment career, and earlier encounters with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

Hollywood performances

One of Rock’s best performances is as the voice artist for Marty the zebra in Madagascar (2005) and its sequels. He also voiced the other zebras in the film’s sequels, which were his accidental or modified recordings.

Bad Company (2002) is notable too. Rock played a CIA agent and his twin brother. The film also starred Anthony Hopkins. Critics didn’t think too highly of the film’s plot — some called it derivative — but found Rock’s performance to be effective, even if some of his comic monologues and one-liners seemed oddly timed.

Rock has also starred in The Longest Yard (2005), Down to Earth (2001), and Grown Ups (2010).

Rock’s comedy career

Rock’s career as a comedian started in 1984 in a comedy club called Catch a Rising Star in New York. His popularity landed him his debut role in the TV series Miami Vice (1984-89). He played Metro-Dade Records’ Clerk Carson, who used computer bulletin boards to learn about UFOs and alien abductions in an episode.

From 1990 to 1993, he was a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and was known as one of the “Bad Boys” of SNL (along with Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and David Spade). Rock’s sketch was called “Dark Side with Nat X”. He has mimicked MC Hammer, Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and Eddie Murphy on SNL.

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In 1995, he made a guest appearance in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the TV series that propelled Will Smith’s career. In an episode titled “Get a Job”, he plays a dual role, as a comedian named Maurice and his sister Jasmine, the latter role in drag.

Rock is also notable for his comedy shows such as “Black People Vs N****s”, a social commentary in which he was able to bring out the manner in which blacks are often perceived. His other shows have often included subjects such as relationships and cheating, political choices, and friendships.

The Chris Rock Show

Rock’s Emmy-winning late-night talk show ran from 1997 to 2000. The weekly show had Rock sit down with some of the most popular celebrities from that decade. The show won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program in 1999 (his television work landed 3 Emmys and 15 nominations for Rock overall).

The guests included Tracy Morgan, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary J Blige, Jay Z and Beastie Boys. In a December 1997 episode, Rock sat down with Jada Pinkett Smith to chat about her movie roles. Rock famously opened a bottle of wine for her because she did the interview without mentioning her husband’s name.

Hosting the Oscars

Rock has hosted the Academy Awards twice in his career, in 2005 and again in 2016. His digs at Jude Law and the Oscars itself (as a show that is not meant for heterosexual men) did not go down well with audiences and Academy officials.

In 2016, Rock was announced as host, but there was growing pressure to decline the offer as the nominations did not include racial minorities. Rock decided to go ahead with the hosting anyway.

He was notable for discussing the lack of diversity in AMPAS and ended the show saying Black Lives Matter. However, other black celebrities boycotted the show, including Pinkett Smith. Rock had taken a dig at it while hosting, saying, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”

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