Summary
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage was an hour of one of the greatest to get on the stage hitting home run after home run. It’s a pure masterpiece.
Chris Rock’s first comedy special aired on HBO in 1994, titled Big Ass Jokes. He went on to do four more specials for HBO until 2018 he made his Netflix debut with Chris Rock: Tamborine. Netflix made history as they aired Chris Rock: Selective Outrage live on the streaming platform worldwide.
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage Review
Netflix had a pre-show lined up that was hosted by Ronnie Chiang that had guests ranging from Deon Cole, Arsenio Hall, and Jeffrey Ross, to name a few. It was weird to have so many personalities do this montage saying all these great things. Overall, this was fine; some funny moments and not-so-funny moments (JB Smoove bit), but it did serve as a warm-up.
The show opens with a little put-together montage with Rick Ross playing in the backdrop. Then, Rock comes to the stage in all white, and we can tell how live it is as an overzealous fan gets told to shut up by Chris Rock in the middle of his opening. He opens by tackling the world’s “Selective Outrage” and slays with a brilliant breakdown of how people choose what is or isn’t canceled.
When you watch the special, you can’t help but be in awe of watching Rock completely deconstruct his jokes in a matter-of-fact but simultaneously funny. Sure, you could look at some of the things he is saying as “his views,” but they are never forcefully put down your throats like other comedians tend to push on us now. But when you watch this man craft together a story, slowly putting piece-by-piece together to come through with this massive punchline, my goodness, it’s a work of art.
READ: Where was Chris Rock: Selective Outrage filmed?
Nobody was off limits, from Megan Markle to the Royal Family to the Kardashians. However, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived within his last joke, as we saw Rock addresses the slap.
Throughout the special, he dropped subtle hints like “the last thing I need is a mad rapper,” but everyone knew it had to be coming. So let’s sit back and think about this for a minute. Rock hadn’t addressed this since it happened, so as a comedian and as a man, Chris Rock knew he had to hit a home run.
Rock not only dissected what happened to perfection, but he buried Will Smith and Jada. He didn’t play the victim, and he wasn’t looking for sympathy.
Instead, he tore apart Will and Jada for their Selective Outrage and the real reason he got on that stage and smacked a man for a joke, and that was Jada’s real-life actions. Yes, he made it funny, but he spoke from the heart. I give Rock all the credit in the world for how he handled this.
Is the stand-up comedy special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage good?
Overall, Selective Outrage was a pure comedy masterpiece. It was one hour of one of the greatest comedians ever to grace the stage, leaving you in tears from laughing.
Rock is a master at his craft, and almost 30 years since his first special, he continues to be at his best.
What did you think of Netflix Stand-up Special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage? Comment below.
It was great. I did get a little offended by the amount of times he used the ‘p’ word when referring to women. But when he got to the slap-he was brilliant.
He slapped the shot out of Will and Jada with words.
You have got to be kidding…what show were you watching. the show was horrible.
“There’s a comic nastiness to Rock’s insults, some of which is studied, but other times appeared to be the product of his own bottled-up anger. In this special, Rock seemed more raw than usual, sloppier, cursing more often and less precisely. This was a side of him you hadn’t seen before. The way his fury became directed at Pinkett Smith makes you wonder if this was also a kind of displacement”
Brilliantly real and rudely hilarious
If you think this special is a masterpiece I’m terrified to consider what you might consider “ok”
It’s a C+/B- and that’s being generous.
I’m further to the right than the woke twitter crowd. But wow another cancel culture take how riveting. We’re still talking about triggering?
repetitive yelling isnt a punchline. consistent flexes of his wealth – an obscene fortune built on shitty content – had me rolling my eyes.
definitely moments where I laughed, but this is so far below “really good” that it wouldnt have been in my top 5 of last year.
seesh at least watch the special before you reviewing it. “Masterpiece?” This is a hallow shell of his former work and was frankly disappointing.
Louie CK has recently made multiple specials better than this, Mulaney too, Burr definitely. Sheesh.
Selective Outrage is no more than a stand-up bully that is venting about being called out for said bullying. Netflix paid Rock $40 million for this hypocritical, hit piece – largely against black women. The money would have been better spent purchasing some time on a psychiatrist’s couch for the increasingly, predictable one-note comic.
Selective Outrage is no more than a stand-up bully that is venting about being called out for said bullying. Netflix paid Rock $40 million for this hypocritical, hit piece – largely against black women. The money would have been better spent purchasing some time on a psychiatrist’s couch.
Selective Outrage is no more than a stand-up bully that is venting about being called out for said bullying. Netflix paid Rock $40 million for this hypocritical, hit piece – largely against black women. The money would have been better spent purchasing some time on a psychiatrist’s couch.