Chris Rock, Unfiltered at the Comedy Cellar

New York City is never short of surprises. One of them was sprung on the unsuspecting patrons (myself included) of the Comedy Cellar — the club on MacDougal Street that famous comics often use to work on new material — on Tuesday evening, who were attending the nightly 9:30 p.m. show. After a few up-and-coming acts had run through, the emcee announced a celebrity drop-in: Chris Rock. Apparently, he’d been passing by and wanted to take the stage.

In that small basement holding an audience of around 55, Rock put on an unfiltered and impromptu stand-up performance for a full half hour. Off the record, his act laced into some of the most controversial subjects and public figures of the moment – e.g., gun violence and the Uvalde shooting, Elon Musk, Congress, the Kardashians, Meghan Markle, and transgender issues, among others.

Based on my recollection, what received the best applause were his broadsides at the Duchess of Sussex. Recall her year-long journey of self-pity from England back to the United States, royal husband in tow, trying to become a celebrity by bashing the Royal Family – reaching its peak with her blockbuster Oprah interview, where she accused the royals of racism. Markle has been, rather appropriately, criticized as a Marie Antoinette–like figure – bemoaning her gilded life while bashing the frail royals as Queen Elizabeth and her late husband were in ill health. Rock, joining the chorus, didn’t hold back.

“There are three ways to get famous in America – being excellent…being infamous…or being a victim,” he said. “Elon Musk is famous cause he’s excellent. Whenever he sells a Tesla, he gets his d*** sucked. . . . Shooting up a school will make you infamous . . . and then there’s Meghan, a victim,” Rock added.

Rock thrashed Markle’s claims to victimhood and also her attempt to throw the Royal Family under the bus by apologizing for its past role in slavery, saying that this was already well-known.

Rock seemed to speak for many in mocking Markle; in the U.K. for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, both Harry and Meghan were booed as they entered St. Paul’s Cathedral for a prayer service. Rock even claimed that “Meghan Markle ain’t really black,” tearing into her lack of exposure to “black culture” as a child, but also said that she wasn’t really white, either. “What’s left?” he asked, leaving the room in splits.

Then came the gun-control jokes. They were far from conservative, but I found them objectively funny — and one must learn to laugh at oneself, especially in politics. “These shootings are a problem of term limits,” he began. “No retiring dudes in Congress are gonna vote against gun control.” This is debatable, of course, but Rock was still hilarious in making his case, stressing that only “sex and survival” motivate any man, thus term limits would help here.

Putting aside their possible implications on the gun debate, term limits for Congress seem increasingly attractive for keeping curmudgeonly incumbents (i.e., the Democratic Party’s congressional leadership) out of the chamber. Republicans in both chambers already have internal term-limits on conference leadership positions, while Florida has constitutional limits on the service of its legislators. Even as Rock makes us laugh, he makes us think about what can improve our system.

Thereafter, Rock kept the audience laughing, tearing into wokeness by bashing Lululemon for its signage against “racism,” “sexism,” and a host of other “isms” and urging the company just to focus on selling pants. He rounded out the evening with a pelting of the Kardashians and Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner’s  transgenderism (à la Dave Chapelle).

Then he left the stage. The absence of jokes on Will Smith — save for one line about being “punched in the face” — and the backlash for his infamous Oscars slap was a bit disappointing. But perhaps we’ll hear more of that incident in the future. As somebody wise once mentioned, comedy equals tragedy plus time.