Release and Reception
Bring the Pain premiered on June 1, 1996 on HBO. Rock's performance included bits about then-D.C. mayor Marion Barry, the O.J. Simpson murder case, dating, marriage and race relations in America. The most well-known and controversial piece of the special is "Niggas vs. Black People" in which he states:
| “ | There's like a civil war goin on with black people and there's two sides. There's black people, and there's niggas. and niggas have got to go...I love black people, but I hate niggas, boy. Oh, I hate niggas. Boy, I wish they'd let me join the Klu Klux Klan . Shit, I'd do a drive-by from here to Brooklyn. | ” |
The special was regarded as one of the finest recorded stand-up comedy performances of all time. Entertainment Weekly called it "groundbreaking" and "a classic". Variety compared Rock to revered comedians Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce and called it "one of the truly remarkable hours of comedy ever to air on television".
In 1997, Rock won two Emmys for this special: Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special and Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program. That same year, Rock also released a comedy album titled Roll With the New. The album combined material from the special with comedy sketches. It won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album. The success of the special prompted HBO to develop a weekly talk show for Rock titled The Chris Rock Show. Rock's acting career was also given a boost. He went from playing very minor roles in Sgt. Bilko and Panther to playing major roles in Lethal Weapon 4 and Dogma.
Rock was surprised by the widespread acclaim the special received:
| “ | I thought, hopefully this will be better than other HBO specials, and I'll get whatever rewards come with that. Maybe somebody will want me to do a sitcom - if I'm lucky. Next thing they were talking about it on C-Span, and I'm, Huh? My only goal was to do a show that was good enough that when I played a club, I wouldn't have to promote it on radio. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Chris Rock: Bring The Pain
Famous quotes containing the words release and/or reception:
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)