Chris Rock
In the midst of his fearlessness and ferocity of intention, Chris Rock still manages to add a dash of politeness and decorum to all of his comedy. It’s outrageous, but responsible at the same time. That’s one of the reasons that he’s my favorite.
His comedy, though racial at its core, is also fundamentally cultural as well. His comedy encapsulates the big three: culture, class, and race. He does it in a way that makes you laugh from your belly while you’re simultaneously saying, “That’s just not right.” To me, that’s the classic definition of really, really, really good satire. He’s one of the great masters of it.
All you have to do to see how insightful he is as a person is read his recent article in The Hollywood Reporter about the state of race in the entertainment industry. It’s a wonderful, insightful, and brave treatise on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go as people of color.