Chris Rock

By BRUCE HANDY

Chris Rock's voice is a marvel in and of itself, an unlikely fusion of gravel and pipsqueakitude. Always shouting but miraculously never hoarse, he's the bastard vocal son of Redd Foxx and Rosie Perez. And when it comes to American Bestness, Rock may be this project's least controversial selection. After all, TIME has already labeled the 35-year-old comedian "the funniest man in America" in a previous issue. His professed admirers include peers such as Woody Allen ("I'd love to work with him"), Richard Pryor ("Does he remind me of me? I'm afraid so") and Jerry Seinfeld ("It's the yelling that makes [his style] special").

Then again, Rock may be one of this project's more controversial selections. Just last month, The New Republic devoted 4,000 words to explain why he and fellow African-American comic Chris Tucker were "reactionary" and to decry Rock's "reliance upon minstrelsy and coon comedy." The criticism echoes a frequent complaint that Rock's politically incorrect humor gives cover to racists--most infamously his "Niggas vs. Black People" routine from the Bring the Pain HBO special that helped revive his career in 1996 after three years in the wilderness that followed his underutilized tenure on Saturday Night Live. As the heart of the bit went: "Every time black people want to have a good time, ign'ant-ass niggas f--- it up!... Can't do nothing! Can't keep a disco open more than three weeks! Grand opening! Grand closing! Can't go to a movie the first week it comes out! Why? Cause niggas are shooting at the screen!... I love black people, but I hate niggas, brother. Oh, I hate niggas!"

As a lifelong white person, I would normally be reluctant to parse anyone's use, aside from David Duke's, of what my people now refer to as "the N word." But since I'm being paid to grapple with the subject, I would wager that Rock is making a point about how street culture celebrates boorish behavior, and how that can feed racist stereotypes, and how dispiriting that is. As with all great comedians--which is to say, as with all original thinkers--Rock's insights are beyond tidy labels such as "black," "white," "left," "right," "offensive" or "as harmlessly amusing as Friends." Unlike many of today's allegedly political comics, whose insights go no deeper than poking knee-jerk fun at Bill Clinton's appetites or George W. Bush's intellectual dullness, Rock at his best lays bare society's underlying fault lines. And there's no one he won't take to task: last season his HBO talk show featured a parody instructional video, How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police. "Follow these easy tips," Rock said. "First, obey the law!" Rock knows the most cathartic laughter springs from a masochistic impulse. (Sadistic laughter, on the other hand, is the junk food of mirth.) Bring the pain--please.