The lights went out in Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The conversations dropped to a dull murmur and audience members frantically got into their seats. Kanye West's “Ultralight Beam” blared through the arena and the screen behind the stage displayed two letters in a cloister black font: CR.
The crowd cheered as though at a rock concert and it pretty much was. Chris Rock — actor, comedian and host of the 2016 Oscars ceremony — strutted onto the stage and looked around. The floodlights behind him casting a long shadow on the stage as he greeted the crowd. The words “comfort is the poison” in blood-orange flashed onto the screen behind him. The Vancouver show of Rock's Total Blackout Tour had just begun.
He cozied up to the Vancouver crowd with a quick dig at Surrey, as well as some comments about the lack of black people in the city. Then — as expected in the current political climate — he turned his attention to the presidency of the United States of America. He was a little bit optimistic. For him, if George Bush could have been followed by Barack Obama, then perhaps President Trump would be followed up by Jesus.
The comedian — who's Oscars opening monologue focused on the lack of diversity in Hollywood and the #oscarssowhite controversy — switched it up and talked about how prices are the “new Jim Crow.” He explained how although segregation by race was no longer a thing, black people were still excluded from places like Whole Foods with “$7 dollar oranges.”
He pivoted to talking about fatherhood and the difficulty of preparing his daughter – who is going into high school – for a cruel world. He jokes about priming her for the “white man,” by making everything that was white in their household “hot, heavy or sharp.” Their toilet seat would be hot, child onesies would weigh a ton and vanilla ice cream would be sprinkled with glass. “Next time, choose chocolate,” he said to the roar of laughter.
He talked about the shooting of black teenagers in the United States, saying: “People always say that the black teenage boy is an endangered species. I say, nah, thats not true. Endangered species are protected by the United States government.”
A bit about faith and religion was highlighted by his mantra, “I am trying to find God, before God finds me.” Rock has started doing some good, albeit when everyone, especially God, won’t stop hearing about it. He mentioned a time when he gave a homeless man $5 dollars, which is a nice thing to do. But then he pointed out that he had more than $300 dollars in his wallet at that moment and that he had to scroll through 50, 20, and 10 dollar notes to even find a $5 dollar note.
Rock also touched on the topic of how people say that God never makes mistakes. He said that it’s not true. “God made Surrey.” The crowd cracked up.
Rock is arguably the most important funny person of his generation. But one thing that makes him stand out is his honesty and vulnerability when discussing his mistakes. “I didn’t listen. I was a bad communicator. I cheated,” he said while talking about his marriage and divorce. You could hear the audience stop breathing and take a quick double-take. The way Rock reckoned with this topic took the audience by surprise.
Rock had a bone to pick with comfort and dove into topics that many might have found disturbing or even “too soon” to joke about. One constant the entire show was the audience being unsure if it was okay to laugh at a joke.
While he often played it too safe with his discussions of race and then sometimes clumsily resorted to profanity for cheap laughter, the combinations of his frenetic style of humour, his honesty and self awareness, and his surprising vulnerability made the Vancouver show of the Total Blackout Tour an emotional but delightful rollercoaster that was worth the ride. Chris Rock is a comedic rock star and a treat to see live.