Chris Rock is the level of famous where people are just thrilled to be in the same room as him. Normally when I am going to a comedy show, I have to explain to people who the comedian is and where they might know him from. When I went to this show, I simply told the babysitter, “I am going to see Chris Rock.”

Because of his fame, Chris Rock doesn’t really have to crush it on stage for the audience to be satisfied. He’s 57. His girls are almost grown and he no longer has to work to keep them off the pole. It’s natural to think that his best work might be behind him and we are watching a farewell tour. We’re just happy to be there.

But Chris Rock, no matter how many movies or TV shows he has been in, no matter how many hit comedy specials he has released, and no matter how many famous slaps he endures, is a comic to his core. When he gets on stage, he is there to kill. And kill he did.

Chris Rock has material for days. And it isn’t filler, crowd work, or garbage. He has well north of an hour of tightly-crafted expertly written bits that don’t even need a live audience to crush. His jokes are laugh out loud funny while watching them solo on Netflix from your couch. That is a rare thing indeed.

Having spent close to 40% of the cost of my mortgage to sit in the fifth row, I don’t have to wait for Netflix.

Chris Rock opened by joking about violence in Chicago and how we all had to decide it was worth it to get shot to see Chris Rock. He referenced the slap to get it out of the way. We all cheered in support of him. This was the extent of his local jokes, which is what I mean when I say he didn’t engage in filler or garbage. A lesser comic could start by making lame, easy jokes about Chicago, traffic, etc for 5-10 minutes to fill time. Rock didn’t do that. He had material and damnit he wanted to get to it.

In the first chunk of material I remember, Rock talked about companies going woke. He picked on Lululemon, in particular. As he described Lululemon’s proud declaration in their window, promising non-racism, and non-hatred, the black guy next to me grumbled under his breath “who cares”. At least in this theatre, audience members of all colors hate this shit. When Rock said “If you charge $100 for leggings, you hate somebody,” the audience roared. Rock’s joke about $100 non-racist leggings compared to $20 racist leggings killed as hard as any joke that night.

Other topics Rock covered included:

-Elon Musk, how frequently he gets laid, and why he looks so weird

-Showing sexts from Candace, a woman back home (his weakest material, in my opinion. I doubt this makes it to netflix)

-Dating. Rock is single and “dating women his age, which means women 10-15 years younger than him.” He talked about dating a single mom and how they are the most sexual beings on the planet. His best one liner of the night came from this chunk.

-People complaining they don’t know what is in the COVID vaccine and why that’s a silly reason not to get it

-The slap. This material was actually hilarious and not just pandering to the audience, who obviously wants to hear about it. He talked about the fact that Will Smith is actually much bigger than him, weaving in movie parts they each have played to highlight their size difference to hilarious effect.

-There are three ways to get attention:

1. Be great (Serena Williams)
2. Be infamous (stab Dave Chappelle)
3. Be a victim

He spent a lot of time talking about #3 and how he refuses to play the victim after getting slapped.

-Raising rich black kids

-He closed with Beyonce and Jay Z, comparing their looks.

Chris Rock murdered for over an hour and half at the Chicago theatre. He performed like a 41 year old comedian who has been toiling away in clubs for over a decade and finally just got famous enough for his first big theatre tour. He was I am here to prove myself funny.

Random thoughts:

•Chris Rock’s opener for this world tour is Rick Ingraham, a crowd work genius who sort of lives on the shelf at LA’s Comedy Store and relentlessly barrages Gen Z for being easily offended and obsessed with their phones. We got to see him multiple times when we went to the Comedy Store four nights in a row last February and fell in love with him. He’s absolutely perfect to open for Chris Rock. He’s edgy, offensive, and confrontationally asks asian people in the audience to state who the worst asians are. God bless Rick Ingraham.

•Chris Rock makes use of Yondr bags, requiring all audience members to power down their phones and put them in a locked bag where they cannot access them during the show. This is only my second Yondr bag show (Ali Wong) but I find that they always make the show better. The audience is more focused and present, which leads to more laughs and enjoyment of the show.

•It’s official! Rock kept his oldest daughter off the pole. I loved this reference to an old extremely famous bit. If I had to guess, I’d say the average age of an audience member at this show was 47. You better believe we know his old material. It was a nice little call back.

•Along with the aforementioned Rick Ingraham, we hit the comedy lottery at the Comedy Store back in February. We were sitting in the front row of the Original Room, which accommodates maybe a couple hundred people and is the best comedy room I have ever been in, when Chris Rock stopped in to do a surprise 15 minute set. Rock was as far from me as your friend when you’re sharing a table at a coffee shop. I bring it up because this was as different a way to see Rock perform from the 3600 seat Chicago Theatre as you can get. All of the material he did at the store, we ended up hearing at this Chicago Theatre show. Rock was a little more understated at the Store and a little quieter. It’s a completely different, much slower experience performing in a club than in a theatre. But it was nice to see the same material in two completely different settings just to witness how totally Rock excels in both venues.

Here are some pictures I got that night:

•I am retiring from attending shows at the Chicago Theatre and probably any large theatre larger except Thalia Hall until my girls are older. Comedy is best in a comedy club and it is isn’t even close. The drive to Chicago is such a pain in my ass that it has to be worth it, which means the intimate setting of a comedy club. It’s the Comedy Vault Batavia, Chicago Improv in Schaumburg, and Zanies Rosemont for me! I will never see comedy in an arena unless someone gives me free tickets. The exception is Louie. I will see him in a field covered in cow shit if it is within a three hour drive.