The billion dollar black 'good hair' industry to the Chris Rock

Emmy winning comedian to a Chris Rock , devoted husband and loving father --but this funnyman it's time to get to know a new side. Meet Chris Rock, hair expert.
It's a detour he took after an innocent carpool ride left Rock with an idea he just couldn't shake.
"I was with my daughter one day, and we're in the car and she's with one of her friends in the back seat, a little white friend," he says. "She was just kind of raving about her friend's hair a little too much for my comfort [saying]: 'You've got great hair. Oh, your hair's so good.'"
Not wanting to make her comments a big deal, Rock says he tried to play his them off. "[I said]: "Oh, baby, your hair's beautiful. Come on,'" he says. "If I would have really reacted, then she would have a complex about her hair."
Still, Rock couldn't let it go. "It sparked something in me," he says.
Oprah.com: Oprah's hair throughout the years!
What Rock discovered is a $9 billion industry that affects the daily activities, wallets, self esteem -- and even the sex lives -- of black women. Because women spend so much time and money on their hair, Rock says men are forced to adopt a hands off policy.
If you've got a weave, your scalp's like a beat up highway--Chris Rock "You cannot touch a black woman's hair. You are conditioned not to even go there," he says. "When I was a dating guy, I dated women from different races. Anytime I was with an Asian or a Puerto Rican girl or a white girl, my hands would constantly be in their hair. Like my hands were thirsty."
One of the first lessons Rock learned on this journey was that women do their hair for one another. "They say it's for the men, but it's actually for the women. Because guys don't care," he says. "There's no point in the history of the world where men were not sleeping with the women in front of them. We take what we can get."
Actress Nia Long, who Rock interviews in the film, agrees. "There's always this sort of pressure within the black community like, if you have good hair, you're prettier or better than the brown skinned girl that wears the Afro or the dreads or the natural hairstyle," she says.
Oprah.com: Oprah's stylist reveals his hair secrets
Rock found the biggest moneymaker in the hair business to be weaves. Black women can spend six to eight hours getting their hair braided into tiny sections. Stylists then delicately attach tracks of hair -- which can be simple extensions or full wigs -- to the braids.
"If you've got a weave, your scalp's like a beat up highway," Rock jokes.
Women who wear weaves stop by the salon for regular washes, conditioning and tightening, but the real expense lies with the hair itself. Rock says he was shocked to learn that regular women spend thousands of dollars on weaves -- and even put them on layaway.
"Janet Jackson spends $5,000 to go to the Grammys on her hair. I didn't know Kiki was spending $5,000 to go to AT&T and answer the phone," he says. "That was disturbing."
Rock discovered the hottest hair on the market is found in India, where human hair is the number two export behind software. "This is some of the worst poverty in the world," he says. "I don't think [people] know they're walking around with $1,000 on their head."
While in India, Rock witnessed a tonsuring ceremony at the Venkateswara Temple. Every year, more than 10 million people cut their hair off as an offering to the Hindu gods. "In India, hair is considered a vanity, and removing hair is considered an act of self sacrifice," he says.
"These people have no idea where their hair is going or how much it's worth. The money made at this temple is second only to the Vatican. The hair collected here is auctioned off to exporters who distribute it around the planet."
Another staple of the industry is relaxers -- also called "creamy crack" by some. While women of other races use perms to add curl, black women use them to straighten their hair. "You name a black woman, any black woman," Rock says. "They've either had their hair relaxed, or they're having their hair relaxed right now."
The active ingredient in relaxer is a substance called sodium hydroxide. The chemical is so strong it can burn a woman's hair off -- which is why Rock is urging parents to stop the relaxing addiction now. "This kiddie perm has to stop, okay? They shouldn't have to worry about that till they're in their teens," he says. "Putting those chemicals in that child's hair is just not cool."
Rock says he tells his own daughters they're beautiful every moment he can --and has only one answer when it comes to questions of having good hair. "Whatever makes you happy is good hair," he says. "Do your hair for you, and you will be glad."

Documentary 'Good Hair' has roots in Birmingham to Comedian Chris Rock's

Comedian Chris Rock's newly released documentary, "Good Hair," has

some good connections in and around Birmingham.

Parts of the movie, which explores the lengths many African American women go through to change their hair, were filmed in Birmingham in 2007. Two Birmingham hair stylists are in the movie, and a Birmingham freelance film producer and a Miles College instructor worked as production assistants on the film.
"It actually puts us on the map," said independent film producer Jana Harris, who worked as a production assistant and showed Rock and his crew around the city during their weeklong visit. "People don't think of Birmingham as an ideal location (for filming.) But, I think having a movie of this magnitude shows other producers what they can do here."
Rock has said he got the idea for the movie, which was released nationally nine days ago, when one of his daughters asked him why she didn't have "good hair," referring to straight, long, flowing hair.
Determined to uncover why she would think that, Rock delved into African American hair culture with a documentary. He explored the multibillion dollar African American hair industry, and how African-American women have turned to relaxers to different their hair texture from overly curly to straight. Women also use weaves for convenience, to achieve different textures or to get a variety of looks.
While many African American women are content with the hair they were born with, there are still many, many others who seek to change it.
Rock interviewed everyday women and men in salons, barbershops and elsewhere in Birmingham, Atlanta, New York and Dallas. He also talked to several celebrities, including Nia Long, Maya Angelou and Raven Symone. Rock used humor to make people think.
"The movie deals with social issues in the black community such as economic empowerment and images of beauty," said Demetrius Newton Jr., a Miles College communications instructor who worked as a production assistant on the film. "Despite the fact that he presents it in a humorous manner, these are serious issues."
Part of Rock's research led him to Atlanta, where the Bronner Bros. hair company puts on an annual hair show competition. Birmingham stylist Tanya Crumel of Pedestals Salon was one of the four contestants.
Rock interviewed her and filmed her as she prepared for competition. Crumel's business partner, Kevin Kirk, is in the movie, too.
"I wasn't selected to be in the movie at first. They came there looking for Tanya," Kirk said. "They didn't actually know me. But, when they met me, and realized the history I had," he said they incorporated him into the story.
Kirk has won first place at three Bronner Bros.' hair shows, including in August when he took home $20,000 and a new Ford Taurus.
Since his third win and the movie's release, he's received requests to judge hair shows and teach classes; and a national magazine has asked him to review a hair product, he said.
Although Kirk and Crumel are happy about the movie's release, it comes at a time when they are in mourning. Crumel's 18 year old son and Huffman High School senior, Jeremy Crumel, was in a car accident on Oct. 25 and died two days later.
To give Crumel a break from everything, Kirk and others took her to see the film three days after Jeremy's death. who has appeared in a couple of episodes of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" to consult with one of the personalities about her wig line, is also in the movie as a contestant.
Harris said that while Rock was in town, they visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and restaurant Niki's West. She added that Rock interviewed Birmingham resident James Armstrong, the man who often cut the Rev. Martin Luther King's hair, but that piece didn't make it into the final cut.
The movie won the Special Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It is showing at Alabaster 14, Summit 16 and Trussville Stadium 16.

has women talking, Chris Rock’s ‘Hair’ documentary

For black women, hair has always been a don’t touch, don’t tell subject.
Comedian Chris Rock turned up the volume in his movie “Good Hair,” pondering why black women spend a fortune for straighter hair, dismissing their natural curl as inferior.
Fallout from the film has sparked a dialogue that brings the controversial subject the costs! the chemicals! out of the salon and onto Main Street.
“I found it a little disturbing,” said Tamara Buchanan, a Suffolk University graduate student.
Buchanan, who is working on a master’s in women’s health, went to look the film expecting Rock “to just make fun of our secret.”
“But I’m a little more educated for seeing it,” said the Roxbury resident, adding she was stunned to learn that the expensive weaves black women spend entire paychecks on are a product of a Hindu haircutting ritual in India.
Buchanan’s pal, Codie Anne Crew, agreed, “It makes you wonder.”
Larry Hamilton, a stylist at Patrice Vinci Salon on Newbury Street, who specializes in relaxers, said hair is a loaded topic for his clients. “It’s a self-esteem issue,” he said. “Coarser, curlier is bad.”
Hamilton, who charges $100 to $120 for chemical straightening, hadn’t seen “Good Hair.” Many of his clients wish they could wear their hair naturally, but get caught up trying to emulate celebrities, he said.
“In some places, if it’s natural, it’s not acceptable,” he said. “There are stigmas to it.”
Buchanan, who currently spent eight hours and $170 on synthetic twists at Helen’s Hair Connections in Roxbury, said the plastic extensions are easy to manage. Her pal, Crew, who had perms during high school, said her current style - natural - is more authentic than ones she’s had in the past.
“You grow into it and you grow into your own self,” she said.
Black hair’s only going to get more attention with the early December release of Disney’s first black-princess movie, “The Princess and the Frog,” and Lisa Price thinks that’s a good thing.

Price is the founder of Carol’s Daughter, a natural line of hair products, and earned Disney’s approval to market the official line of “The Princess and the Frog” shampoo, conditioner and detangler to stores such as Macy’s.
“It’s an honor,” said Price, who counts her 3 year old daughter among the impressionable audience that is hungry for a black princess role model.

Chris Rock's: Twist on a cultural craving

'Hair is a woman's glory," says a wise and worldly Maya Angelou in Chris Rock's greatfully funny, probing coif-doc, Good Hair.
A thoughtful examination of African American women - and African American men - and their feelings about follicles, Good Hair has the comedian and acerbic social commentator trekking from Atlanta to New York to India, asking the tough questions of singers, actresses, high schoolers, and kids, moms, dads, and businessfolk. And business it is: Black Americans spend $9 billion annually treating and straightening - or "relaxing" - their hair, and account for 80 percent of the country's hair-product sales, according to the film.
"You get up and comb your economic exploitation every morning," the Rev. Al Sharpton half-jokes, his trademark James Brown pomp slickly in place for Rock's camera. (And Sharpton explains how the soul singer came to literally shape Sharpton's hairstyle - on a trip to the Reagan White House.)
Good Hair is certainly no arid anthropological study. Rock's queries are loose and quippy, but his instincts are as sharp as an investigative journalist's. If the 1960s gave African Americans a new sense of heritage, a renewed pride that manifested itself in the natural 'do of the Afro, why do so many blacks so many decades later subject themselves to painful and costly chemical treatments to straighten their hair, to make it "lighter and brighter and better"? Implicitly, to make it whiter?
Good Hair, then, is about black identity and self image as much as it's about commerce and cosmetics. Eve, Melyssa Ford, the duo of Salt-N-Pepa, Nia Long, Vanessa Bell Calloway - a host of smart, beautiful African American women muse about their weaves, wigs, and extensions, and their essence.
Speaking of extensions, Rock sojourns to a Hindu temple in India where women shave their heads as a form of sacrifice to the gods, and canny entrepreneurs at the temple's back door scoop up the silky tresses and export them to America, where they're sold in beauty salons and hair supply shops for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.
Rock also heads to the Bronner Bros. International Hair Show, an over-the-top annual trade event in Atlanta, where hair products are on display and a wild and crazy stylists' competition combines technique and artistry with a cheesy Vegas aesthetic.
Although its tone is generally genial and jovial, Good Hair touches on some tricky issues, at times complicitly. When Rock enters a Korean-owned hair-supply shop in California that caters to blacks, his condescending questions point to the friction between African Americans and Asians in ways that aren't altogether amusing.
But Good Hair is better than those few shaky moments; it's a documentary that has a lot on its mind as well as a lot on its, er, head.

American Wildly popular comic hits Capitol on Saturday night

When you ask some of the world's funniest human beings who is their favourite comedian, often the answer is Louis C.K.
C.K. (a replacement of his real last name Szekely) appears at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday night as part of his fall tour of Canada and Europe.
While C.K.'s recentl;y career doing stand up is the stuff dreams are made of, his beginnings sound like that of most comedians: he took advantage of an open-mic night at a bar, stunk the place up and quickly scurried back into the comedic hole out of which he crawled in the first place but only for a couple of weeks before trying it again. And again. And. . . .
Hey, that's how just about everyone in the business got started. Now, with 20 years of experience, C.K. has been nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding writing for a variety, music or comedy special for his second one-hour TV particular Louis C.K.: Chewed Up, alongside the likes of Chris Rock, Will Ferrell and Ricky Gervais.
He'll star in the film The Invention of Lying with Gervais and Jennifer Garner, which opens next month, and has scored a recurring role in the NBC series Parks & Recreation in the role of police officer Dave Sanderson.
At age 41, the Washington born comic, writer and director who also bagged an Emmy for his writing on the renown Chris Rock Gig, is at the pinnacle of his craft.
His own 2006 sitcom Lucky Louie remains a cult favourite, even if it got canned after one season, likely because it went too far with its nudity and language that was at times so rough, it might have made Ricky from The Trailer Park Boys blush.
Next year, C.K. stars in his own series on the American FX network called Louie. He'll executive produce it, write it and direct the series which is based on his own life as a stand up comic and single father of two living in New York City.
In April, C.K. taped his national theatre tour Louis C.K.: Hilarious, his third one-hour particular in as many years. His second one, Shameless, is out on CD and DVD and his first, Louis C.K.: Shameless, is racking up sales on DVD.
He's starred in two HBO One Night Stand particular, a Comedy Central Presents special and on HBO's 25th Anniversary Young Comedians special.
As a film maker, C.K.'s likely best known for his cult classic blaxploitation spoof Pootie Tang, which he wrote and directed.
His first feature film, Tomorrow Night, which he wrote, directed and produced, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998 and his most successful short film Ice Cream screened at Sundance as part of the New Directors, New Films series at MOMA in 1994.
Last year C.K. was seen in Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen and Alan Alda, as well as in Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins with Martin Lawrence, Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer. Often dirty and usually deranged, Just for Laughs presents Louis C.K. at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available for $35.50 at the Capitol box office, by calling 1-506-856-4379 or 1-800-567-1922 and online at http://www.capitol.nb.ca

“Whatever they had in their hair, that’s what I had in my hair”, Chris Rock

“I’m not saying anything about that I’m not saying anything about Kanye (West) and end up on some rap album somewhere,” said Chris Rock laughing during an on stage interview at the Toronto International Film Festival yesterday afternoon. And with that, he launched into a mini-rap, “‘I got money, Chris Rock aint funny…’ There are just too many things that rhyme with ‘Rock,’” he snapped. The Kanye topic came up at a packed auditorium in Toronto which turned out to see the comedian who is here supporting his doc, “Good Hair” and an audience member asked him what he thought about rapper Kanye West’s behavior at the MTV Video Music Awards over the weekend.
But Rock didn’t demure over a range of topics spanning politics, Michael Moore, the Obamas and even the Jacksons (who get a bit of a verbal beating) during the hour-long conversation hosted by TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers as part of the festival’s Maverick series. But it was hair, or specifically, the culture and economics behind black women’s hair, that took center stage. The genesis of his doc, which is screening as a Special Presentation at the festival, began when Rock’s young daughter asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” And in a style reminiscent of a Michael Moore film, Rock mixes humor and investigative journalism to explore the topic, from hair salons to laboratories and even the international trade in Indian and Korean hair, which form a cornerstone of a vast industry in which individuals pay thousands of dollars to maintain a perfect coiffe.
“Before the Obamas, the Jacksons were the first black family in America,” said Rock. “Whatever they had in their hair, that’s what I had in my hair growing up.” Chris Rock said he believed it was in the ‘70s when blacks in America were “finally free,” and it was reflected in their hair. Afros bounced proudly as African Americans turned away from the heavy product and relaxers embodied by Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Junior. Rock laughed, recalling how he was the first black kid in his school growing up. “It was, you know - shitty,” he said of his days at school.
But, turning back to the Jacksons, Chris Rock had no problem tearing in on late pop star Michael Jackson.
“Poor Michael - I wonder if they have hair care products in Heaven, er - or in Hell, or whatever…,” he said, then turning to Powers seated with him on stage, “You know, I think they make him do shows in Heaven, and then they send him back to Hell.”
Though he was a fan of the Jacksons growing up, he clearly has gained their ire now that he’s famous, and with lines like that, it’s probably not surprising. “I met Michael once. He just glared at me… And I’ve met Janet, and she just glared at me… Back when I was a kid, if anyone had told me that one day the Jacksons will want to kick my ass, I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy!’”
Rock reserved compliments, however, for filmmaker Michael Moore who also was in Toronto promoting his new film “Capitalism: A Love Story.”
“I’ve always been a big fan of Michael Moore ever since I saw ‘Roger & Me’ 20 years ago,” said Rock. “I thought, this is funny and smart.” He said the style of filmmaking prompted him back then to consider “Good Hair,” but docs had not hit their stride yet, so he shelved the idea until his daughter brought up the topic years later and Moore and others’ success in documentary prompted him to reconsider.
“At the time [of the idea] Michael Moore was new, there was no ‘Borat’ and I was barely known, but now I have two daughters and I see their hair issues, so the idea came back. It’s a funny thing about hair. Li’l Kim and Michell Obama have nothing in common, but if you just say ‘hair,’ they’ll talk for two hours.” The comedian, who hosted the 77th Academy Awards in 2005, went on to say that he thinks this is his funniest movie to date even though it’s only PG-13 and mostly void of his typically sexually charged and expletive-laced stand up.
“This isn’t a topic about anything controversial it’s hair!”

Chris Rock roots of “Good Hair”

Radio shock jock Don Imus learned the hard way that hair can be off-limits when it comes to black women. The negative comments Imus quipped about the collective coifs of a Jersey basketball team induced a national firestorm. Funny man Chris Rock likewise dives into the warm with his documentary, “Good Hair,” scheduled for release this fall. By getting tangled up in a subject that's taboo only in the black community, Rock gets to the root of the multi billion dollar black hair care industry painting a funny, but painful disclosure of the costs of fitting in.

The cast reads like a who’s who:Ice-T, Salt-n-Pepa, Nia Long, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou. Even Reverend Al Sharpton gets into the mix. Rock credits his daughter, Lola, for the stimulus. The comedian is left speechless when she access him asking why she doesn’t have “good hair.” At a loss to how she reaches that end, Rock sets out to find the answer.Not one shy from controversy, Rock dives right into his project. The result: he manages to wrap humor and disrespect into a remarkably insightful and serious look into the business of black hair. It’s a two year journey that takes him around the globe, with stops in India, Los Angeles, Atlanta and beauty shops across the United States.

Rock avoids being sermonizing or apologetic. Instead he skillfully maneuvers Good Hair into a piece that is as eye opening, sensitive and even shocking as it is funny.Asked at a promotional screening in Tampa if he thought the film is appropriate for young adults, Rock responds with his distinctive chuckle, “I’m Chris Rock. What did you expect?”It’s an answer that’s quite deceiving. Known for his noisy and often expletive-filled stand-up humor, it's true “Good Hair,” is a far cry from Rock’s trademark fare. But beyond the obscenity Rock also gives us “Everybody Hates Chris,” a sit com based on his experiences growing up in New York, which ended its run this year. Rock also voices warm fuzzy characters like Marty, the risk-taking Zebra in Madagascar and the irrepressible guinea pig from Doctor Dolittle. But, Rock says, "Good Hair" may be the best film he’s ever made, He may be right.

AUTO BIOGROPHY OF CHRIS ROCK

chris rock is an American comedian actor, screenwritter, telecision producer, film producer and director. chris rock was born in ANDRCUS, SOUTH CAROLINA at Feburary 7,1965.shortly after his birth his parents settled in CROWN HEIGHTS,BROOKLYN,NEW YORK. A few year later ,they joined in the working class area of BEDFORD-STUYVESANT,BROOKLYN. His father name is JULIUS ROCK, was a former truck driver and delivermanman of the newspaper. Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery. His mother name is rosalie was a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped. chris rock have three brother, his younger brother TONY and KENNY are also working in the entertainment business. His older brother charles is died in 2006due to a long struggle with alcoholism.

Chris Rock, Wife Say Their Marriage Is Solid

Despite a recent story in the New York Daily News that their marriage was in trouble, Chris Rock and wife Malaak are fine, they tell PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

Chris Rock Madagascar 2 Interview

CHRIS ROCKS ON IN MADAGASCAR 2. Chris Rock, Madagascar 2 Interview by Paul Fischer. Chris Rock has established himself as a major comic force for over a decade. Returning frequently to his stand-up roots, Rock is also hoping that change comes to America come election day. Returning to movie screens in the new Madagascar sequel, Chris Rock, who rarely does interviews with the priont media, chatted to Paul Fischer about comedy, acting and politics.

Paul Fischer: What was the most important thing about doing this second movie?

Chris Rock: It was getting back with Ben. We had fallen out and I just thought ....


Paul Fischer: Is he as good as they say?

Chris Rock: He's better than they say.


Paul Fischer: Do you censor yourself when you're doing it?

Chris Rock: It is weird because I don't really curse that much off stage. I throw a couple out there from time to time, but when I'm offstage I don't - yeah it's weird. When I get up there it's "f**k, f**k, f**k, f**k, f**k." It is kind of what the people want though.


Paul Fischer: They expect that from you.

Chris Rock: Yeah, it is a weird thing.


Paul Fischer: Cursing....

Chris Rock: It is not my "thing." I try to write some jokes in between the "f**k, f**k, f**ks." Sometimes my daughters are at gymnastics and people are commenting on how I'm not cursing. Like I would be cursing at gymnastics. "So what's up mother f**ker?" Like that's how they expect me to be.

Paul Fischer: Now on Madagascar, you had one day in the studio working with Ben. How was your one day together? How freeing was that?

Chris Rock: It felt different. He's a funny guy. Ben's funny. We are the same age and we have a lot of similarities in our lives so it wasn't this big thing having to overcome. It wasn't like two guys having to be overly polite to each other.


Paul Fischer: You all had back stories this time. Did you like this turn in the script that we got to know you more as individuals?

Chris Rock: I think this is a better movie than the first one. We know the characters and now its let's make a great story. The first one felt like the pilot and sometimes the pilot is clunky because you've got to get all these people in and all this information. Now we are just doing episodes.


Paul Fischer: Jada mentioned the third one might be in India. What do you think?

Chris Rock: India, the Bollywood version of "Move It, Move It."


Paul Fischer: Do you want to direct anything soon?

Chris Rock: I'm trying to get through this year without doing it, but you never know.


Paul Fischer: Can you talk about what you are going to do on Nov. 5 if Obama wins.

Chris Rock: If he wins - you are always going to make fun of the president no matter what. You are a comedian, like "Oh black brother, I can't tell jokes about this guy." I loved Bill Clinton and I love Bill Clinton to this day, but when he slipped I was right there.


Paul Fischer: If Obama slips would you take him out?

Chris Rock: I'll take him out [laughs].


Paul Fischer: How optimistic are you about the election?

Chris Rock: I wouldn't be shocked if you we don't know who the president is the night of the election. I wouldn't be shocked.


Paul Fischer: You recently had a very good special on HBO with some very interesting editing choices between two different performances. How did that come about?Chris Rock: It was actually Rick Rubin's idea. He called me up one day, paged me actually, and said "you should do your special in three or four countries and cut them as one." That was it. I kind of thought it was crazy the first time I read it and then about three weeks later it was getting to that point that HBO was like "Want to do a special?" and I needed something to motivate me, because just doing it isn't enough motivation. So it was like what could be different? Stand up can get so boring, we've seen the guy in front of the camera, the guy in front of the screen, whatever. I just needed a chance to fail, something to excite me and that idea definitely excited me.


Paul Fischer: Why return to stand up? Is it because that's where your roots are?

Chris Rock: It is because that's what I do, if I was an actor in the theater I'm sure I would return to that from time to time. I'm a stand up comedian and the other things I get to do because I'm a stand up comedian. I just like doing it.


Paul Fischer: Has your sense of humor changed as you've gotten older and now have a family?

Chris Rock: I don't know. I've changed. I try to take breaks in between so I don't - I never want to be one of those guys who is always doing gigs, there is a staleness to that. Like you're in Vegas every week and you know the guy's going to be there. I try to take breaks. I haven't don it in - Zara was - my wife was pregnant with Zara so I hadn't done it in four years. It is almost like I got all the jokes I could out of that guy. Let me go become another guy and then I will tell some more jokes.


Paul Fischer: Was it a different process for you knowing you were going to be taping it like this - were you onstage thinking, "F**ck I didn't say it the same way"?

Chris Rock: No, it was weird. Early on in the tour it was like, "Wow, people laugh at the same things in every country." I couldn't believe it. Lightening struck. Everything worked out.