Heroes of Black Comedy: Chris Rock

With its month-long celebration of Black History Month, Comedy Central’s Heroes of Black Comedy sets out to feature some of the more notable figures in black entertainment. The five-part series begins with Chris Rock, detailing his trek from Brooklyn to the box office and all the crap he put up with along the way—most notably his traumatic tenure on Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, the special plays a little hollow. The few noteworthy interviews come from the likes of Bill Maher and Jay Leno, but even they shed little light on why Rock is so important. (Oh, he makes fun of whites and blacks. OK…) Still, the sage-like insight from Rock’s New Jack City co-star Ice-T, who notes that it takes “balls to challenge the sensibilities [of the audience],” helps liven things up. The Original Gangsta has spoken. Listen up.

Heroes of Black Comedy schedule (all 10 P.M. ET):

Monday, February 11, “Episode II: The Original Kings of Comedy”
Monday, February 18, “Episode III: Whoopi Goldberg”
Monday, February 25, “Episode IV: Hip Hop Comedy”
Monday, March 4, “Episode V: Richard Pryor”