- 3 minutes ago
GQ’s Zach Baron sits down for a tête-à-tête with Chris Rock at the GQ offices in New York City. The GQ Men of the Year 2026 honoree talks about his second act, overcoming the addiction that led to his divorce, and breaking past the Eddie Murphy manqué: “all of us were in the shadow of Eddie Murphy.”
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00:00I used to just blame everything on celebrities like oh we're not connecting because I'm this
00:06you know I had a chronic uniqueism you know I mean I thought I was so f***ing unique
00:24Chris Rock you are a comedy legend the most recent special is Selective Outrage I believe
00:30Selective Outrage 2023 on Netflix you are a writer producer actor and director of the new film Misty
00:37Green that leaves out like 95% of an amazing interesting career but maybe we can start there
00:44you know I'm in Poodie Tang that should forgot that one um Chris Rock welcome to one more question
00:51thanks for doing thank you I was preparing for this interview by watching top five your film
00:57before Misty Green which is a movie I love but I haven't watched in a while and was reminded that
01:02the central premise of that film is a kind of annoying journalist trying to get a comedy
01:08legend to open up to her and I was like uh-oh the great Rosario Dawson yes yes um how
01:14much trouble
01:15am I in today oh no no we're gonna be good okay I think you play the comedy legend one
01:20of her first
01:21questions is terrible and your character says why don't you skip the hat questions and get to
01:27something good yes what's an example of a hat question you could ask oh I don't know how
01:32did you get started were you funny in school you know stuff like that okay you know whatever I get
01:42it you guys have a job and I'm not Harry Styles you know sometimes it requires a reintroduction
01:47the Rosario character when met with that her real question is why aren't you funny anymore
01:55yeah why aren't I funny anymore I don't think you've ever had that problem but tell me
01:59um I mean I it's a thing you worry about every day like it's still funny is it yeah yeah
02:07yeah yeah
02:08yeah no like you Chris Rock worries about being funny you don't worry about being funny worry about
02:14being professionally funny you know I mean like like on a world-class level uh-huh you know I mean
02:21like I always had a joke like um if you know if I ever did a talk show I'd do
02:27a morning show
02:28I wouldn't do a a late night show because I would only have to be funnier than Al Roker
02:36you know what I mean like okay and Al's like lovely but I think I can take him uh in
02:42a joke off
02:45the character in Top 5 is kind of living through hell he's got this movie that he loves that he's
02:49trying to Uprise Uprise he's trying to promote and this guy is like trying to talk about his movie and
02:54people are asking him about anything but the film have you had that experience yourself uh yeah I mean
02:59people you know you guys have a job and the job is to get clickbait or whatever the hell and
03:09things
03:10you can turn into controversy and what's the the headline that has nothing to do with the actual
03:17article so I don't know if that's how I think about my job for the record I mean it's it's
03:22your job
03:23though it's not I mean you know I mean you might have better intentions but you think that's where it
03:27that's out I mean that's you know for the record I'm here because I'm interested in you I get it
03:32I
03:32get I'm not saying you're not and I'm I appreciate your interests a lot of what I read is you
03:37know
03:38it's like oh okay so you have had that experience you haven't I'm here to talk about my movie and
03:42they want to talk about anything but yeah people want to talk about your personal life people want
03:46to you know I mean I get it it's we're in a we're in a gossipy culture we live in
03:52a world where
03:53Andy Cohen is Norman Lear and Ryan Murphy is Steven Spielberg that is the world we live in so people
04:04want gossip we're righteous people that follow nine commandments you know and the one commandment
04:13we don't follow is thou shall not spread false witness we are all about spreading false witness
04:19now that is the world we live in just and that's what that's what journalism or at least entertainment
04:26journalism has become not that all the everything's false but it is definitely amplified you know to
04:33create sides and no matter what the issue is well let's just stipulate that how am I doing you're
04:39doing great speaking of top five there's a 12-year gap between the there is a 12-year gap
04:44top five missing what accounts for that what accounts for uh some of it is I got divorced
04:51um which you know even by the way nobody has a successful divorce so that takes time then once
05:00it's done okay you don't you know you don't you're not sitting on the money you had before so now
05:05you
05:05got to really make some money so you go on tour or two tours or whatever so there was a
05:11lot of stand-up
05:12there was a lot of getting my life together there was uh you know you got a pandemic you got
05:17like a
05:18bunch of nonsense going on there I revisited um tambourine which is about the divorce yeah so two
05:26specials two tours yeah you say I was not a good husband I was fucked up I was addicted to
05:30porn now
05:31I've been accused on the show before of taking jokes too literally no no no but I was like that
05:35is a
05:35that's a pretty harsh litany right there I was not a great husband I watched a lot of porn uh
05:41I
05:42don't watch porn anymore I haven't watched porn in five six years the litany is you go on you say
05:47uh I didn't listen I wasn't kind I cheated when you look back at that person now how do you
05:52judge him
05:52um hey it's it's not anything I'm proud of uh but it's you know something I had to go through
05:59it's uh you know it's like um you watch a marvel movie and the guy he has to test his
06:07powers
06:10every marvel movie man or woman they have to test their powers they're assholes yeah they get these
06:18powers and they're assholes and they're racing trains and they're lifting up ocean liners and
06:24they try to go to the sun then they crash down because they realize they're not god and then
06:31they start helping people okay and that was that was you and yeah so yeah I tested my powers I
06:37really I definitely realized I wasn't I wasn't god or anywhere near him you know and I was severely
06:45humbled as I should have been I've heard you talk about a few times this kind of theory of like
06:50people have expiration dates and there's different versions of yourself over time are you familiar
06:54with what I'm talking about I've heard you I've heard you put this idea forward before that's why
06:58I mean I think people with long-term careers yeah tend to be different people at different
07:05points like how long did that guy last and what was the end of him uh I mean that's probably
07:10that guy
07:11you know it's basically bring the pain to what is it kill the messenger so like that guy that's one
07:22guy
07:23tambourine's the beginning of a new guy okay you know what I mean yeah that's the beginning of the
07:28new guy and that guy's like in fucking pain in tambourine that guy is damn near that is like
07:36tambourine's like the blues yeah selective outrage is like okay I'm like I'm no there's some pain in
07:44that one too there's some pain in that one well there's a lot of pain in that one but tambourine
07:49is like yeah like what what have I become you know yeah my deepest go away in the end
08:02shout out nine inch nails um shout out nine inch nails uh johnny cash shout out johnny cash that's
08:08right yeah it's uh interesting my empire of dirt that yeah I'm fucking I'm johnny cash with rick
08:16ruben singing about my empire dirt that's tambourine gets memed a lot it's like does it it's it's cut
08:23up a lot it's good it's it's got a life of its own the other thing that seems to happen
08:27in this time
08:28and forgive me this sort of intimate thing to know about you but you shared it which is like
08:32you were diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disorder if I understand correctly yeah which is
08:37basically that you have trouble picking up on non-verbal social cues yeah yeah uh I'm yeah I'm
08:44I'm not one for a hint
08:49you gotta like tell me exactly what the fuck you want you have to tell me exactly what the fuck
08:59you
08:59mean uh just a friend just told just kind of blurted it one day and I don't know you ever
09:09like
09:09somebody say something like okay let me yeah let me let me get this looked into yeah you know it's
09:16you know it's around it's before tambourine but around that time so I'm already like quitting poor
09:22you know I mean like I'm already like in a place where okay what the fuck's wrong with me uh
09:29and I
09:30got I got what what do they call that cognitive assessment test and you know it's like eight hours
09:37of like testing to basically see you know it's like the kind of thing you would get if you're
09:42bipolar or something you know I mean like so it's it's so it's a lot of testing and that's what
09:47they
09:47came up with were there things about your life that had been mysterious that made sense after this
09:53I mean I wouldn't say about my life just it made me realize how insensitive a lot of my behavior
10:02was
10:03throughout the years because it's weird it's like um I got a friend who always says uh when a
10:11schizophrenic sees a famous person they go huh see told you like mental illness and celebrity so
10:22you know what I mean like it's a weird combination there because you think people are reacting a
10:28certain way because of celebrity you know what I mean because it's like this weird thing that
10:34you can't quantify so I used to just blame everything on celebrity it's like oh we're not
10:40connecting because I'm this you know I had a chronic uniqueism you know I mean I thought I was so
10:50fucking unique do you wish you had known earlier oh I totally wish I'd known earlier I totally wish
10:56I'd known earlier it's funny because comedy is so perception based and you never seem to have
11:01struggled with that well it's but also like okay what are the symptoms black and white thinking
11:10it's pretty it's a advantageous thing to have if you're a comedian black and white uh catastrophizing
11:19great you know what I mean so you know like observing human behavior it works in my yeah but you
11:26know
11:26the thing is people think um you know when you see one of those specials okay the the average
11:37comedian because I you know or even above average probably does 40 shows
11:43before they record a special and maybe they did 20 club things before that so that's 60 times on stage
11:52my average special is over I've gone on stage over 250 times you know I mean like so I'm working
12:02it I
12:02yeah it looks like I'm just oh my god he's got this great insight but it's like yo man I'm
12:10like
12:10grinding this stuff and I'm grinding it you know yeah also it's um because you you you have a hard
12:19time picking up on social cues but I have a weirdly accurate ear yeah I would say so so I
12:28can pick up
12:28on things like in my ear sometimes I can pick up on a cue but I can't decipher it I
12:39don't know what
12:40what just happened for a week and I'm like oh that's what she meant
12:47oh that's what he was trying to say like it's just it's like a week later it's like a week
12:51later
12:52delayed it's like my mind is working on the case it just can't solve it at that moment yeah does
12:59that
12:59make sense yes you've also talked about doing a lot of therapy in this period of time if you put
13:04it in
13:04a way that I wanted to follow up on there's you did a variety interview recently and you said I
13:10don't
13:10want to be one of those people bragging about their therapy I crawled in there like everybody else
13:14nobody struts into therapy you crawl in there on your knees soaked from crying yeah is that really
13:21how you went in well yeah yeah I mean you know I mean yeah we do have this thing everybody's
13:26like
13:26they they brag about their therapy and they was like dude yeah I was like you know put it this
13:34way
13:34my life wasn't my my personal life wasn't what I uh wanted it to be and I'll leave it at
13:43that
13:44and so yeah I and that's what my relationship with everybody so yeah I went in there crying like a
13:52bitch like what the fuck not funny I shouldn't be laughing you know I mean like if you if you're
13:57doing it right if you're going you know I'm not I'm not going in there to get to to say
14:03I did it
14:04yeah how'd you come out or did you never come out yeah you you never come out you it's an
14:11ongoing
14:11thing it's not you know I mean like you're always an alcoholic you're always you know I mean like
14:17you're always you know so it's you know it's a combination of therapy and in in what I have in
14:24BLD nonverbal learning disorder so I have a have a person that helps me with that and I have another
14:31therapist yeah the other thing you say in that variety interview is you say you won't go back
14:37to the Oscars unless you're nominated I mean I'm not like it's not like a threat or I'm just saying
14:44it's like it's okay I would you know whatever happened happened everybody saw it I can't sit here
14:50I don't really like talking about it and yeah I don't I don't see a need for you know by
14:58the way
14:58any award show I'm just like I'm probably you're trying to keep that narrative out of your life is
15:03my guess about what you're saying when you say that yeah I'm like something happened it wasn't cool
15:10and I would like to move on I would like to you know I had a nice career before it
15:18and you know I
15:20know I know there's a part of that that's gonna follow me the rest of my life but uh you
15:26know I think
15:27that makes all the sense in the world jokes I got jokes I got scripts you even got jokes off
15:33I got
15:33jokes I got tv shows I'm writing a book like I'm doing shit I got I have a a plethora
15:40of art I'm
15:41trying to get out and that's what I want you to pay attention to not some crazy night in between
15:50these in this period of time we're talking about you also you did a lot of work you did spiral
15:53the
15:54sort of sauce but not you did you did season of Fargo yeah do you feel like I sometimes I
15:58talk
15:58to people of your stature and you're like what kind of incoming do you get as an actor and they're
16:02like actually nobody sends me anything I'm kind of curious like what you get I don't get a lot of
16:06stuff I honestly don't I mean I probably get more offers as a director to tell you the truth than
16:12an
16:13actor I love when a good acting role comes um it's okay I mean it's it's weird when you're really
16:23famous it works for you and it works against you so you know you got name recognition but you also
16:30have people thinking they know what you can do and thinking that there's a ceiling on your talent
16:37so you you got to fight that like the the hardest thing you can do in show business is change
16:43perception you know reinvention is the hardest thing so it's kind of relatively easy to get famous
16:51in the sense that it's twice as hard to become a new person that is already famous you know what
16:59I
16:59mean yeah because people think of you as in one way the John Travolta that was on you know welcome
17:05back Carter that was probably easy compared to the guy that did Pulp Fiction like wow I gotta change
17:13everybody's perception about who I am yes so I don't I don't get a lot of offers but it's okay
17:19and what are the kind of things that you turned out um I mean they don't even it's weird they
17:25don't
17:26really make comedies anymore yeah they don't really not like they used to uh you know I don't want to
17:32be
17:32the judge I don't want to be the judge I don't know we need Chris Rock I don't know I
17:38don't know
17:39plus I'm like I'm at this weird place people like how old is he you know what I mean so
17:44it's like
17:4561 yeah you know I'm older than I'm older than Morgan Friedman was in Shawshank you know what I mean
17:52I'm older than Danny Glover was in uh Lethal Weapon you know what I mean so it's like we're
17:59you know you know is he the guy or is he like you know Michael Douglas in Ant-Man you
18:05know like
18:05you go get him Annie you know that's not for you oh no no hey I'll do it I'll you
18:11know I'll shine
18:13Michael B. Jordan's guns all right they're ready they're ready I don't give a fuck I'm like if that's
18:21where I am now you know you got to make these adjustments yeah yeah I'm just trying to stay in
18:25the league man so yeah I don't get 25 shots anymore now I'm just uh yeah you get some rebounds
18:32I'm boxing out I'm getting rebounds playing good defense you know I'll come on off the bench yeah
18:37let Michael B and the other you know Donald Glover yeah all right Donald the character Missy Green in
18:49the film yes actress who's had some success but is basically struggling to find roles that she feels
18:57like are worthy of her basically is I think sort of why I was thinking about this I was like
19:00I wonder
19:00if he identifies oh I totally identify I mean I like to say I there's a part of me that's
19:06been every
19:07character in the movie yeah you know I'm her I'm the agent I'm I'm my character I'm you know I'm
19:14Anna
19:14Kendrick even you know I'm everybody in there and yeah Missy's going through what I just said it's
19:24like it is hard when people actually think they know who you are to give you another chance to think
19:32you're worthy of another chance and she has a self-destructive and she's you know and she doesn't
19:36make it easy for herself you know what I mean and it's I wonder if you relate to that part
19:40too I mean
19:40not to that extent yeah but you know here's the thing about self-destructive behavior it's also like
19:49can you be nice while you're doing it because it's like you know I mean like you can see one
19:54person
19:55is a better you know I mean like some some addicts are better than others I guess I've never been
20:00that guy I've never been you know never been like poison on a set you know I mean I'm always
20:08I would even say and I say this about most actors you know 40 50 percent of your work's gonna
20:16be from
20:17friends yeah from people just going hey you know who's really cool to hang out with Chris yeah you
20:23know I mean when people especially a movie it's three months it's three months I gotta count
20:30own on you the just the plot of the movie for people haven't seen it is we have a actress
20:34Missy Green who is had some success as I said basically trying to find her way and she has this
20:41self-destructive streak she's got she's a little self-destructive that's uh is it gonna work out
20:46for her or not and people have talked about is it a Hollywood movie and because it is about someone
20:52trying to make it in Hollywood but I was thinking about top five and some of this movie and in
20:57this movie
20:57she goes on these like auditions from hell they're like these really nightmarish scenarios where she's
21:02really trying to get accepted and and they go very wrong I've been in that audition yeah and then
21:08Kadeem Hardison walked in the room you're like Kadeem and then shout out to Kadeem Hardison shout
21:16out Kadeem Hardison and then you know in top five again like this director is kind of like going through
21:22this nightmarish tunnel basically talking to people like me and he's in hell and there's a
21:27generic like Hollywood has a dark underbelly and then there's the very specific Chris Rock
21:32Hollywood underbelly which is actually I think different and more specific oh thank you and I
21:37wonder what parts of it that you yourself have snagged on because we can talk forever about I mean
21:42give me an example I mean first of all every job has an underbelly yeah yeah well that's kind of
21:46my
21:46every job in the whole world yeah right we're in a building oh right and let's say there's
21:535,000 employees in this building it's a big fucking building and let's say everybody gets paid on
22:00Thursday well three people sell coke in this building and they literally have a job their job
22:08is a front for the coke they sell because it's a big building you can live off of this building
22:13as a coke
22:14dealer it just it's just what it is I guess I'm wondering the parts that you have snagged on
22:22I'm just saying when I write a Hollywood thing and you know I'm not trying to diss anybody I've
22:27actually worked jobs a lot of most of my friends that work in show business have never worked a
22:34fucking real job and if they worked a real job they were working their way through college
22:42knowing good and well they weren't going to be there they don't so they never like really
22:49thought the job was gonna be their life yeah when I write Hollywood I'm still writing the guy that
22:55worked at Red Lobster I'm writing the guy that loaded trucks at the Daily News like I know to be
23:00clear
23:00that's you yeah that's me these are jobs that you had these are jobs that I had right I was
23:05reading an
23:05interview with you from the pre-Mr. Green period and you described working on a script that's like
23:11um it's it's bad lieutenant starring an insane actress and I was wondering were you talking about
23:17Mr. Green I was talking about Mr. Green yeah has that script evolved or was that just the way that
23:20you were describing it then it's she's kind of a bad lieutenant yeah she's kind of a bad lieutenant
23:25because always remember Harvey Kattel is an excellent police officer despite all the other shit that
23:32you know all these other habits he's an excellent cop yeah and that's the thing about Misty Misty's
23:39like excellent she could sing she can fucking act she's like great she just you know she just gets
23:45in her own play by Rosalind Elzar we should say who's played by the genius Rosalind Elzar who I
23:51lucked up and got why'd you cast yourself why'd I cast myself I don't know I just uh I don't
23:58know I guess
23:58I could have given it to somebody I mean I'm sure you thought about it I did think about it
24:02uh I just
24:03it's like it's not that time yet you know yeah I mean it was time to take a smaller part
24:08but you're
24:09still like I'm gonna be in my movie yeah but I'm gonna be in my movie yeah it's you know
24:12I'm not
24:13against like directing like I'm not against not being in a whole movie uh yeah it just wasn't I
24:20don't I didn't think this was the time I ask only because I assume a lot of thought was put
24:24into
24:24this why does your character wear the hat that he does you know what it was it was like a
24:29quick
24:30onset thing it's basically so I'm not the same guy in top five it's not it's a hat he's completely
24:40different well a lot of it's weird a lot of directors a lot of black directors have like
24:44this hat uniform it's like they have a hat and the hat's got the name on it you know so
24:49it's spike
24:50it's you know it's it was the Hughes Brothers it was Matty Rich it's you know what I mean like
24:54there's like this uniform and being a black director sometimes so it's your homage to yeah
25:00it's my homage to Robert Townsend and Reggie Hudlin and all these guys Malcolm Lee all you guys
25:07what were what were the movies that you kind of had in mind when you were making I love clute
25:12oh yeah so I love I love I just like you know you love a 70s thriller I love a
25:1870s thriller I love
25:20a woman that's really doesn't that that really doesn't give a fuck you know what I mean yeah
25:26you're a Francis hothead right yeah yeah I love Francis hot I love Francis she kind of gives a
25:31fuck yeah she does she's trying to be she's trying to she kind of gives a fuck I mean she's
25:36fucking
25:37genius I love Francis hothead I love matchpoint it's a fucking masterpiece you know there is to
25:45die for to die for oh to die for is like it's like a you know before the devil knows
25:51you're dead oh my
25:51god yes you see that one that's like yeah so you you have before the devil knows you're dead it's
26:00fucking there is in the film a sick brother character played by the great Daniel
26:06yeah and I wonder and I I just read about you before I meet you so I can't know if
26:12this is true
26:12but you you have a you had a sick brother you had a brother I had a brother who struggled
26:18with
26:18alcohol his name was Charles passed in 2006 yeah yeah and I wondered if that kind of made its way
26:25into the film I mean a little I mean I it's a lot of other people I've I've met you
26:32know we just have
26:32so much mental illness now um and there's something about it's weird like when you're the sibling of
26:43somebody like that or even my brother your friends everybody around you only sees the drunk person
26:50only sees the manic uh schizophrenic person but you always see the person you grew up with you
27:01you're you still remember this brother that was like your best friend and you don't give that up no
27:09matter what behavior you see you're like you're you're just holding on all the hope in the world that
27:16you can get that brother back and that's that's what Misty goes through a lot of people are like
27:22well just leave him it's like ah man you don't you didn't know him like I knew him and that's
27:27what
27:27you live and that's yeah yeah in preparing for this interview I you know sort of watch stuff you've
27:34done and listen to stuff you've done and you tell a lot of stories and a lot of people in
27:38those stories
27:38are dead I was like Chris has actually suffered a fair amount of loss in his life um yeah yeah
27:45I know some dead people yeah I know a lot of dead people yeah I mean it was heavy I
27:51was kind of
27:51like oh another name another name you'll be there how old are you 44 yeah yeah right yeah I'll give
27:58you about 12 years 15 years that's it yeah I mean yeah it's you look you start losing the people
28:06that
28:06just you know don't eat right just as simple as that it's not even the addicts start going
28:14and it's not even that they OD it's just they're they at some point your body can't fight this fight
28:22anymore so you just you know 50s you start losing people you start losing people to like natural
28:29causes sometimes yeah it's it's crazy well it started early for you you lose your father in
28:3488 I lost my father in 88 yeah yeah I mean that's young for you you're a young man yeah
28:41yeah yeah how do you
28:43think that shaped you uh there's a weird statistic I read a long time ago of the 45 presidents
28:50like 35 of them lost a father or a parent you know early in life like it it it makes
29:00you grow up it makes
29:02you like it'll make you or break you so um yeah it it sobered me up somewhat my father
29:13died in 88 91 I'm on SNL you know what I mean like so it's like get serious you know
29:21figure figure it
29:22out it's time to figure it out well that's an interesting pair of your life because you go on
29:25SNL and it doesn't quite work and then you leave and you go to In Living Color and then In
29:30Living Color
29:31gets canceled and I don't know if you felt like it was working or not or if you had figured
29:36it out
29:36yet or if you hadn't it wasn't even a working or not working thing I mean it's really like okay
29:42what
29:42what I mean I loved SNL I'm still hey I'm shooting grown-ups three right now with Sandler and Spade
29:50and you know I mean like a bunch of guys I've met at SNL it's a great learning experience it's
29:55like the
29:56x-men school of comedy um but I don't know if it's really for my skill set you know Ben
30:05Stiller
30:05was only there for like he quit there's many yeah yeah you know I mean like it's just not
30:10for everybody's skill set Julie Louise Dreyfuss you know I mean like one of the greatest comedic
30:16actresses to ever live but it was an environment that I needed to be in and I'm so fortunate I
30:21was
30:21in the environment because I really learned how to write I really learned how to write on a deadline
30:25I learned how to edit I learned how to produce I learned so much stuff there so you know I
30:32didn't
30:32I didn't get to you know I didn't go to Juilliard or anything like that but I was at SNL
30:37and it's
30:37kind of the best thing that ever happened to me well I mentioned my age to you so it's like
30:41between
30:43uh New Jack City and I'm gonna get you sucker and see before I think my take on you in
30:50that time
30:51in your life was like this is the most successful man alive but I don't know if it felt that
30:55way to
30:55you I mean I was successful I guess I mean put this way but you gotta also remember at that
31:01time
31:03all of us were in the shadow of Eddie Murphy you know what I mean you know like that's what
31:08that's what success was and you were seen as Eddie's God which I don't know if that was a good
31:12thing or a bad thing probably wasn't a I mean you know it worked out I'm here so I could
31:18sit there
31:19and go ah I mean I guess it put a little pressure on me yeah uh but you know pressures
31:24I'm good
31:25under pressure you are you know I'm kind of good under pressure so you are always have been I always
31:30say I saw Beverly Hills Cop like four times the day it came out and then you were in the
31:35second one and
31:35then I'm in the second one so hey speaking of Hollywood experiences you have an indelible one which
31:43is bring the pain 1996 and you have it's like one of those things that becomes an entire
31:48cultural phenomenon like like it's just is as big as anything gets what is your experience of that
31:55like what is that time in your life like um wow it's a crazy time um it's a crazy how
32:03do I explain bring
32:04the pain I mean I bought a house a year and a half maybe two years before bought a carriage
32:11house in
32:12Brooklyn and I couldn't afford it so I just had to get on stage a lot then I had to
32:18work every gig
32:19you ever you ever read the Gladwell book and he's talking the Beatles basically just did more shows
32:25than everybody so it's the Beatles the Kinks you know all these other bands and the Beatles had the
32:31worst boss and the Beatles the Beatles just did way more shows than everybody it was it's like we
32:41try to make it into this like into this mythical this mythical thing yeah so it's kind of the same
32:48thing man I just like I bought a house and I had to fucking get on stage so I ended
32:53up two things
32:55happened I had to get on stage to pay for this house but I also privately anyway I had quit
33:02show
33:02business in a sense I had given up because I'd done CB4 I'd done New Jack City I'd been on
33:09SNL
33:09and I was like okay I'm gonna just be a comedian not that that was any shame to it but
33:15my goal was to
33:16be George Wallace George Wallace is a great comedian and I love George Wallace because all he did was stand
33:23up and he had a real schedule in his life like most comedians have no schedule right George Wallace
33:30works from here to here he goes on vacation these months of the year like oh this guy's my idol
33:37yeah
33:37and I kind of in the back of my mind always wanted a family always wanted kids so that was
33:43my goal
33:44I do this special and it I don't it's hard to even explain the world the world went crazy
33:51and what does it feel like when the world goes crazy it's here's here's a funny story maybe I
33:56haven't told this one so I got bring the pain I have a bc a vcr of bring the pain
34:03I left my agent
34:06and I left my manager but I have bring the pain now no one knows I have nobody knows what
34:12it is
34:13kind of uh it's very similar to Dre and Snoop walking around with the chronic trying to get a
34:20deal it's very similar and it's by the way it's around the same time it's around the same time
34:25so I go to this agent I'm not going to say his name he's whatever he's made up with me
34:31since right
34:32and he handles a lot of famous comedians and so I'm you know I still got a little ego and
34:39I'm like
34:39hey I'd like you to man you know be my agent and I give him the bring the pain tape
34:45he watches it
34:46he says it's okay he goes and I quote I got too many black guys
34:55cut to two months later bring the pain airs and it's like this big thing I'm on
35:01Oprah I'm on 60 minutes and that agent calls me back hey
35:07what did you say I'll I'll handle you for five percent what was your response I thought about
35:13it but then I couldn't I couldn't do it I couldn't do it but I can't do it like I
35:18got too many black
35:19guys yeah that was uh yeah yeah like after that a guy actually said that to me yeah so you
35:25know in
35:25show business like what it's like to have the juice there's like moments where you really have it
35:30do you feel like in retrospect you're happy with what you did with that opportunity um yeah I mean
35:39hey I did bring the pain
35:42I did bigger and black was bigger than bring the pain yeah it's like bigger and black was actually
35:48what it's like what if bad sold more than thriller like bigger and backers is bigger than bring the
35:54pain I don't know I mean part of me is probably I mean I got a nice body of work
35:59I could have taken
36:00it more serious I wish I was more serious about making like I'm fine with head of state I'm fine
36:07with uh I think I love my wife these are films that you directed the two films before uh top
36:12five but I
36:13think I could have been a I could have uh been more serious about directing that's that's the only
36:20thing I would say I'd never let my ego but you know mess up my stand-up you know I
36:27mean like I
36:28never every special I put a ton of work into kill the messenger I remember Mike Nichols calling me
36:36and said said to me I like it but you you got on stage too much it's like it's like
36:43you worked it
36:44too much and I can see I can see uh like at at points you're a little robotic like you
36:53don't
36:53need to work it that hard and you know you know like Mike Nichols we're talking about chapters of
36:59guys how long does that guy last to sort of bring the pain the pain that guy lasted probably yeah
37:06that
37:08killed a metal whatever special I what is it called what I'm in like four countries or whatever
37:13it's probably up to there yeah I was probably like okay I've ran this guy into the ground
37:20yeah yeah Laura Michaels said to me a long time ago it's like everybody loses their first money
37:27but if you're talented you'll make more that's kind of a scary thing to hear actually yeah so
37:33like I knew nothing about money I knew nothing about just the dynamics of fame and how it affected
37:40the people around you and all that stuff so I it was a lot it was a lot yeah I
37:46think that money is
37:47actually one of your great subjects you know it feels like it comes up in everything on the one
37:51hand I guess this is Christopher comedy you know it's like it's always it's always funny like who has
37:55money and who doesn't and uh obviously divorce is like a a way that that you've gotten into that um
38:03but then of course like you do stuff like Missy Green where I'm like well that's not you're not doing
38:08that for money you know so how do you think about that that divide because because because you will
38:13be like oh I had pressure here I had pressure there I mean I'll I'll make more money I'll make
38:18money
38:18off of it but yeah I mean the thing with Missy Green hey man what I realized between top five
38:31I think
38:31I love my wife I what I realized when I did top five it's like this is my lane as
38:38a filmmaker yeah
38:40so I'd love to make you know man on fire you know I'd love to like I would love to
38:48make you know
38:49you know fill in the blank uh big budget movie and have like this big budget rush hour-esque idea
38:57like
38:57you know those guys are really good at that it's not really my thing my I I make uh I
39:04make a tailored
39:06suit you know yeah I mean you know what I mean like yeah my suits are made by hand yeah
39:12by one guy
39:14it's a nice thing to know about yourself yeah yeah yeah it's okay and this is where a little movie
39:20is
39:20what I should probably be doing and it's where my interest is and some of those other movies I did
39:27was kind of me trying to get famous Ben Affleck was on the show and he was talking about the
39:33kind
39:33of unique experience I love Ben Affleck in your world where we did Dogma yeah that's right we did
39:38Dogma with Ben Affleck and I'll never forget we were filming Dogma him and him and Matt you know
39:48whatever we filmed on a Thursday or Friday okay see you guys next week and they came back with Oscars
39:57it was great he was talking about the unique experience because he has a film out now
40:02he's a director as well and it's that kind of a great director when you're an actor you promote it
40:07or you don't you're in or you're not you kind of can watch but when you're a director you really
40:11have
40:11to like kind of be out there with the sign really like selling I wonder are you comfortable in that
40:17role I mean it's the job it's just you know it's the line in the godfather it's the line in
40:25the
40:25shows yeah you know Steven Spielberg's doing press you know what I mean like what am I gonna you know
40:31what am I gonna say no you know I think it is a different kind of thing where you're like
40:35oh
40:35especially we're talking about smaller films it's like it's kind of on you you know yeah put on your
40:39back and go do it that's the weird thing about a smaller film people discovered them over time
40:46yeah yeah yeah so in in a lot of instances your your press launch of your little movie
40:55is bigger than the little movie you know I mean I know hopefully people see this when it comes out
40:59hopefully people get it right away but that's what that's what happens a lot you as we mentioned
41:05before 61 I've heard you talk about expiration dates for characters and we're talking about periods of
41:11guys and this is not me retiring you but I'm curious how you kind of think about Robert De Niro's
41:16like 80 that's what that's what I want to know I want to know how you think about baby this
41:21is my man
41:22he's got like literally it's like a two-year-old the question is do I want a baby yes you
41:30want a two-year-old
41:30yeah um never know I love my kids but I don't like them I have two and that one haunts
41:37me that one
41:37haunts me there's like too much reality in that I can't I'd love to be that giddy that it was
41:41actually a fucking you know that I thought about it I'll tell you that this era how do you think
41:47about it going forward uh I mean I never like plan too much ahead I'm just trying to get as
41:54much work
41:55done as possible having kids that are grown it seems like I got a little more time on my hands
42:03so that's that's uh hopefully that results in more work I'm probably gonna direct more
42:10I'm probably gonna direct more I don't know how much stand-up I'm gonna do I'm not interesting I
42:16mean I got I got like six seven specials man that's a lot of you know I mean like that's
42:21a lot so I
42:21don't know I'm not announcing anything or anything but but yeah but if I do it I'm gonna I want
42:28to do it
42:29right I want to you know in in sports especially in football they always talk about separation
42:36can he get separation you know I mean like yeah he's fast but is he fast in the wide receiver
42:41get
42:41open can he get can he get separation and that's the way I feel like you know as far as
42:46stand-up as
42:47long as I can get separation I'll do it I'm just I'm gonna write that's basically what it boils down
42:53to wake up right that's it just right right right right right get it all out that's right thanks
43:00for doing this thanks for having me GQ GQ magazine