Before I get into this, I need to disclose two things.
First, I'm a Chris Rock fan. A couple of years ago, I was going through some tough times, and while I'd never been a fan of his previously, a friend suggested I watch one of his specials. I did, and it was probably the first time I laughed in days. I went on to watch as much of his other stuff as I could find over the next few months, including stand-up specials, movies, and interviews, and I discovered that he's actually a pretty intelligent guy who offers some great wisdom for life and especially for writers and other creatives. So I'm a little biased.
Second, while he is smarter than your average Hollywood type, in my opinion, he is a big Democrat donor who campaigned hard for Kamala Harris. Not everyone is perfect, I guess. That said, what I do like about him is that he's not afraid to call out his own party for doing stupid things, he doesn't necessarily always bend to the woke mob, and he does seem to possess some common sense, something a lot of liberals lack these days. He's even gone as far as criticizing Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats for wasting time on a Donald Trump impeachment.
Now that those things are out of the way, let's get to his "Saturday Night Live" monologue. Rock isn't one to shy away from controversial topics, and he tends to be an equal-opportunity comedian. Over the years, he's made jokes about both Democrats and Republicans, something I can appreciate. I can laugh at myself, and I don't have to agree with everything someone says to enjoy their art. The problem is that many of those on the left don't really have a sense of humor and take themselves way too seriously, as was obvious by some of the responses Rock received on social media after hosting "SNL."
Rock, who was once an "SNL" cast member himself, hosted the show on Saturday, and he came out for his opening monologue fired up about the state of current events. "There's a lot going on in the news... it's so crazy out there," he said. It didn't take long for him to get into politics, stating that it'd been a good year for Donald Trump.
"Trump, man, Trump had a good year, man. Trump survived an assassination attempt... won the presidency again by winning the popular vote, was just named Time 'Man of the Year.' You know, it could happen to a nicer guy." But he added, "A lot of people are scared... when I say a lot of people, I'm talking about the nine New Yorkers who didn't vote for him."
Rock went on to say that a lot of people are worried that Trump isn't "dignified enough" to hold the highest office in the land, but he went on to point out that many presidents from our past weren't exactly the most dignified people either. "This is not the most dignified job in the world. We've had presidents show up to the inauguration with pregnant slaves... and I'm just talking about Bill Clinton."
He also made a jab at Joe Biden that the left didn't seem to appreciate. "You know, he don't move as fast as he used to, he don't talk as fast as he used to, but that middle finger still works, boy," he said of Biden's decision to pardon his son, Hunter.
Rock made some jokes about illegal immigration, including one about how Trump is teaming up with the "richest African-American," Elon Musk, to deport people by putting them in a "rocket ship — call it SpaceMex." He also joked that "a lot less immigrants would come to America if you stopped paying them $700 million dollars to play baseball, referring to the New York Mets signing Dominican Juan Soto for $765 million last week.
Admittedly, Rock's monologue obviously came from a mostly liberal point of view, and there were other jokes to prove it (I did some cherry-picking here), but as I said before, lefties often have a hard time laughing at themselves if everything doesn't go exactly their way. A quick glance through social media, and you'll find comments ranging from something like "Will Smith should have slapped him harder" to "Chris Rock isn't funny anymore." Rusty Weiss over at RedState breaks some of that negativity down for you, while the Daily Mail points out some of the praise Rock received from the other side.
Overall, I thought it was good. Rock was able to insert his own politics without being nasty toward the other team and kept it pretty balanced, something we rarely see on "SNL." But I'd love to hear what you think. You can watch the monologue here:
And while I enjoyed it, I'll admit it wasn't quite as great as my favorite "SNL" skit ever, starring Rock and Dave Chappelle as a couple of guys at a party with a group of clichéd white liberals who were devastated that Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
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