72 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chris Rock, black conservative leader?, June 16, 2004
I've been hoping to get my hands on a copy of "Bring The Pain" ever since college, when my friends and I would occasionally sit around getting drunk and listening to this performance on CD. Well, I finally have it, and even as a married man watching it sober in my apartment this DVD still cracks me up. Since this performance was recorded in the mid-'90's and it's now 2004 I was worried the material might seem dated, but Rock's insightful and colorful discussions of human failings are not only universal, but timeless. Much of what he discusses here may not be in the news anymore, but you could substitute any number of current happenings and his remarks would fit just as well. The man's animated style and frequent use of profanity are certanly entertaining, but beneath the shouted profanities is a razor-sharp wit backed by a lot of common sense and deep feel for irony. With his knack for cutting through rhetoric and hyprocrisy to get at the underlying truth, Rock could even be called one of America's leading black conservatives.
Rock bursts out of the gate with a bitingly hilarious bit on Marion Barry, musing that Barry managed to get reelected as mayor of Washington after being convicted of behavior that would get you fired from McDonald's. Discussing a slightly more respectable figure in the form of Colin Powell, Rock highlights the low expectations whites hold for blacks by pointing out that an educated black general can be praised merely for speaking well. This being the mid-90's, there was the obligatory bit on O.J., but Rock manages to go deeper than most comics in analyzing what the case said about the nature of fame and America's racial divide. The real high point of the performance, though, is Chris's discussion of the divisions within black America itself, exemplified by the distinction he draws between black people and, well, a word I can't use on this site. At any rate, Rock's penetrating look at this country's black underclass and its pathologies is hilarious, thought-provoking, and deadly accurate at the same time.
There a few more good bits here, including an off-color riff on platonic friendship, but it's Rock's look at racial issues that makes this DVD for me. He may occasionally drive home his points crudely, but Rock also advocates old-fashioned ideas like responsibility and self-respect which are all too lacking today, black or white. A true equal-opportunity offender, Rock deserves a shot from all thinking people.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best stand-up routine of the 1990s, February 20, 2000
This review is from: Bring the Pain [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Not being a fan of Chris Rock's brand of comedy, I initially watched this with an understandably less-than-enthusiastic attitude. However, after the first few minutes, I couldn't stop laughing at his annoyingly high-pitched and rough-sounding delivery, in addition to his raw and honest assessment of the world we live in today. He works the crowd like Eddie Murphy did in the early 80s, and hits on such controversial topics as O.J. Simpson, crack cocaine, religion, education, politics, and what has to be one of the funniest bits ever, capital punishment vs. the Tossed Salad Man. One word of warning, though: it's definitely raw, filled with every four-letter expletive in the dictionary spoken many times over, but if you can handle it, this is one of the most satisfyingly funny stand-up routines ever.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT COMEDY !!, October 16, 2002
WOW!!! I'd first seen this in 1996. I believe it to be the best work Rock has done in stand-up. It was innovative and extremely funny. It dealt with social/political issues of that time on a true, but intelligently approached level. I haven't seen anything funnier since. If you are a Chris Rock fan... then you will love this..
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