Chris Rock Talks to Frank Rich About Ferguson, Cosby, and What Racial Progress Really Means

As Rock prepares for the release of Top Five, a bittersweet film comedy in which he does triple duty as director, screenwriter, and star.

Whats killing comedy. Whats saving America.

The last time Frank Rich had a conversation with Chris Rock was in early 1996, when they and the 1950s teen heartthrob Pat Boone were thrown together in a New York television studio as panelists on Bill Mahers old show Politically Incorrect. This time they had two conversations in a New York hotel lounge as Rock prepared for the release of Top Five, a bittersweet film comedy in which he does triple duty as director, screenwriter, and star.

Weve just come through an election that was a triumph for Fox News and a fiasco for Obama. What do you make of it?

Jon Stewart has said the reason Fox News works better than CNN is because the people at Fox News figured out how to make themselves into victims.

So will it now be harder for Republicans to play victims?

They have no problem playing victims.

Even in victory?

Even in victory. Americanot black America, but America as a wholestarted in England and was ruled by kings and queens and had a class system. Im almost of the mind that thats what America wants at the end of the day. Maybe America wants monopolies.

They always seem to want a Bush or a Clinton.

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Chris Rock Talks to Frank Rich About Ferguson, Cosby, and What Racial Progress Really Means