There’s a lot that goes into a comedy special that many people may not realize. Yes, of course, there’s the countless months of touring and refining the material involved. By the time cameras roll, you’re seeing the best version of the material possible.
But beyond that, editing plays just as crucial a part in any film or TV show, and comedy specials are no exception. There’s a reason why specials are taped over the course of two shows: That way, if something is messed up, you can always swap it out.
With Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, that clearly wasn’t an option. This was more of an event, as it was Netflix’s first ever livestream event. They tapped Chris Rock to do the honors with a stand-up special, filmed live in Baltimore. This was just one reason why all eyes were turned to the special, however.
The second reason was that people have been eagerly waiting to see how Chris Rock would address the Oscars slap. While Will Smith has since going onto do interviews addressing the incident, Rock has stayed silent in the press. If you wanted to hear Rock’s thoughts, you had to see him on tour, which of course would be occasionally leaked to the press.
But Saturday night, Chris Rock was finally going to talk about it, nearly a year after it happened. Of course, it’s the sort of thing you close the show with, leading to an hour long buildup before he finally started talking about it. The result was perhaps the most finely-tuned jokes in the special.
Rock made it clear he didn’t want to be the victim, and he’d never do a somber interview recounting the incident. He also noted the size difference between himself and “Suge Smith”, as he called him.
“Will Smith does movies with his shirt off,” said Rock onstage. “You never seen me do a movie with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.”
For those who missed it, here’s a thread of Chris Rock finally speaking his peace about the Will Smith Oscars slap nearly 1 year later. #ChrisRock #ChrisRockNetflix #ChrisRockLive #ChrisRockSelectiveOutrage pic.twitter.com/Ad05ofvAwR
— All the Latest Entertainment (@AlltheLatestENT) March 5, 2023
There were two specific moments that started trending online. First, Rock did address Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. More specifically, he addressed their highly publicized interview where Pinkett-Smith talks about cheating on Smith. He also joked about how Pinkett-Smith wanted Rock to boycott the Oscars in 2016, when was Rock hosting.
Chris Rock just slapped Will Smith the right way on stage. pic.twitter.com/eHAWXQlIso
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 5, 2023
The other joke that got some heat online was when Rock talked about Smith’s most recent film, Emancipation. “The other day, I watched ‘Emancipation’ just so I could watch him getting whipped,” said Rock.
#ChrisRockLive Chris Rock said he watches Emancipation just to see Will Smith get whooped lmao. I can't wait to see the after effects of this special #WillAndJada pic.twitter.com/G8YWm0XK1N
— iAnalyzeThis (@iAnalyzeThis) March 6, 2023
As far as experiments go, we won’t of course know how well it did or didn’t do, as Netflix won’t release that information. However, if we were to judge its success by how much press it got and the fact that Rock was trending on Twitter all weekend, then we’d definitely say it paid off.