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Chris Rock
Chris Rock began performing in Manhattan comedy clubs as a teenager and was taken under the wings of such comics as Sam Kinison and Eddie Murphy. By 1987, he had made an early TV appearance on the HBO special "Uptown Comedy Express." That same year, Rock made his feature film debut as a parking valet in "Beverly Hills Cop II." But Rock's "big break" came with "Saturday Night Live," on which he lampooned black leaders, impersonated figures like Michael Jackson and created comic characters like the militant talk show host Nat X and the rapper I'm Chillin'.Feeling stuck and pigeonholed in only black roles, Rock left the series in 1993, jumping to Fox's "In Living Color," but that show was in its waning days and Rock chose to concentrate on other avenues, appearing in only nine episodes. In 1994, he had his first HBO special, "HBO Comedy Half-Hour: Chris Rock - Big Ass Jokes."
Rock co-executive produced, wrote and starred in his second HBO special, "Chris Rock: Bring the Pain" in 1996. The special featured a routine entitled "Niggas vs. Black People," where Chris took aim at the gangsta lifestyle that seemed to symbolize the black experience at the time. The special earned Emmy Awards for writing and as Outstanding Variety, Music and Comedy Special. He was in competition with himself in the writing category, though, as he had also been cited for his work covering the 1996 political convention on Comedy Central's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,"... [MORE]
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