DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

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MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

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TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
CHRIS ROCK: TAMBORINE
February 17, 2018  | By David Bianculli

Netflix, 12:00 a.m. ET

 

This comedy standup special, the first in a decade for Chris Rock, is available any time. It premiered earlier in the week, dropped by surprise without advance fanfare like a sassy serving of Beyoncé’s Lemonade – or, more recently, a Super Bowl-night stealth release of The Cloverfield Paradox. But it’s so good, I wanted to draw attention to it anyway, and this is my first chance. (Hey, I’ve been busy. If you want a refund of your annual TVWW subscription, just ask for it. Oh, wait…)  Rock, in every TV special he’s ever released, manages to touch on a topic in a way, and with a fervor and intelligence, I end up remembering long afterward. His solution to gun violence and mass shootings, from a special that must be 20 years old now, unfortunately remains as timely, and brilliant, as ever. (Basically, his argument was this: Don’t worry about curtailing all the guns, just charge $1 million per bullet. People may still use guns to kill people, but not randomly, and not en masse.) In his new special, Rock aims at several new targets, including divorce – he’s had one, since his last special – and himself, in a mode that’s both confessional and almost uncomfortably funny. But in the end – and especially at the end, with a brilliant last round of insights about a meeting between divorce attorneys, Tamborine, despite its intentionally incorrect spelling, is another smart triumph for Rock.

 
 
 
 
 
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