Comedian Chris Rock caught flak from liberal Twitter for the humor in his new Netflix comedy special, but some of his fellow comedians said he hit it out of the park.
Jamie Kilstein, a comedian and host of the podcast "Advice Not Taken," applauded Rock's "Selective Outrage" for succeeding in making people of all political persuasions laugh.
Rock took swipes at just about every demographic in his hour-long show and hit almost every hot button political issue as well, including race, abortion and the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
"That’s when comedy’s the best… is when, it sounds so cliché, but it’s addressing things that many people are seeing that maybe they’re afraid to say, especially in their own political echo chamber, and just sort of apologetically doesn’t try to take sides and just tries to be funny, funny, funny," Kilstein told Fox News Digital.
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Liberal Twitter erupted over Rock's set, which often targeted "wokeness" and called major companies hypocrites for putting out empty statements in support of left-leaning political causes. He also mocked Meghan Markle for her accusations of racism against the royal family, criticized actress Jada Pinkett for cheating on her husband, Will Smith, and thrilled fans by finally addressing last year's infamous Oscars slap.
Kilstein said the order of Rock's set was especially courageous considering the makeup of his audience. Rock also assailed Republicans as liars and compared the Jan. 6 Capitol riots to the "Planet of the Apes" but didn't lead the show with that material.
"The reality of it is, if you look out at Chris Rock’s audience, that did not look like a conservative audience," Kilstein observed. "It was like a liberal, mostly Black audience in Baltimore… A lot of people less brave than Chris would have opened with the Jan. 6 material, get everyone almost on his side, and then go into the more anti-woke critique of the Left. But he did the exact opposite. He was in front of a liberal audience, as much as Twitter doesn’t want to think so, and he opened by critiquing them."
Kilstein also praised Rock for his "restraint and patience" in waiting a year to address the infamous Oscars slap.
Comedian Karith Foster, however, agreed that Rock needed to be slapped, but for a different reason.
"He was also clearly still VERY angry about the slap heard round the world," Foster told Fox News Digital. "He hasn't processed it, and it came off just as angry."
"Forget deserving the slap for the Jada joke, he should be slapped for making a terrible comedy special, trying to be the genius of Dave Chappelle and wasting 90 minutes of time. Sixty watching it and 30 more marveling over how awful it was."
Foster was among those upset by Rock's jokes about abortion. At one point, he talked about his support for women's rights and that he'd likely paid for more abortions than any woman in his audience.
"In my opinion his entire act was an attempt to both cater to the fragile viewers and reach trying to shock everyone else. Hence his ‘killing babies’ bit," Foster told Fox News Digital. "It was so disingenuous it didn't even come off as funny."
"He was so clearly trying to cover his a-- so as NOT to receive backlash that he kind of sold himself out," she continued. "It's like he forgot the cardinal rules of comedy: you can't do comedy to please everyone and if you're going to ‘go there’ you have to commit!"
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But Kilstein said that portion of the special again proved his point.
"The pro-choice chunk was so pro-choice it even upset some of my conservative friends!" he wrote on Substack. "If you are pissing off both sides this is good! It’s the difference between a comedy show and a political rally which ARE NEVER FUNNY."
Several other comedians tweeted their approval.
"So happy having @chrisrock in the world, for so many reasons," Patton Oswalt said. "Maybe one of the best being as a constant high bar to shoot for in terms of writing, thought & performance. Wow."
"Like most comedians I’m continuously grateful for the existence of Chris Rock," Jim Gaffigan said. "Thank you comedy gods."
"Fox Across America" host James Faila called Rock's show a "huge win for comedy."
"Chris Rock’s special was a huge win for comedy because he focused on the funny and didn’t care who it left furious," Faila told Fox News Digital. "Whether he was bashing the Royal Family, the Smith Family, or even his own family he didn’t hold back. I have to applaud him because it’s long past time that we DEFUND THE JOKE POLICE."
