Oct. 8, 2026

Chris Rock on how "Bring the Pain" would have to be like Shane Gillis

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac covers comedy news led by Chris Rock’s New York Times interview: he discusses post-COVID therapy, insecurity, his film Misty Green, why he won’t give a “Hollywood is bad” speech, and says Bring the Pain would be bigger today because it would be less mainstream-lauded; he also says he’s moved on from Will Smith’s slap and critiques the Times’ lack of nuance, citing Bill Burr not being reviewed after selling out MSG. Bill Burr tells Variety he wouldn’t lunch with Mark Zuckerberg because friendships can limit satire, which some read as a Rogan dig. Nate Bargatze discusses exhaustion, being a Ford spokesperson, and his vehicles. Pete Davidson comments on NYC Mayor Mamdani and Staten Island politics. Leslie Jones recalls starting comedy in Colorado and reviving old jokes. New projects include podcasts Jokes on News and Great Job News, Marianne Ways’ zine Stories from the Room, and Vulture’s spotlight on comedian Grace Johnson and her goals.

00:12 Chris Rock Therapy Talk
00:37 Hollywood Reality Check
01:21 Bring the Pain Today
01:42 Times Versus Comedy
02:15 Will Smith Slap Update
02:30 Bill Burr Rogan Dig
02:55 Nate Bargatze Ford Deal
05:16 Pete Davidson Staten Island
05:47 Leslie Jones Early Jokes
06:31 New Comedy Podcasts
08:08 Marianne Ways Comedy Zine
09:11 Grace Johnson Spotlight
10:38 Wrap Up and Goodbye

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Hi there, I'm Johnny Mac with your daily comedy news.

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Chris Rock did a really interesting interview with the New

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York Times. Chris said, He named names. Adam Sandler, Rick Rubin.

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You're like, how many things are you doing right now?

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And some people are better with their kids than me,

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but I think I'm a good dad. He is the

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director of the new movie Misty Green. The Times said

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the movie makes Hollywood look very appealing because of the

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talent there and the love people have for doing what

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they do. But it also makes Hollywood seem awful. Racist, sexist,

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chipping away at your soul. Has that been your experience,

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Chris Rock? Chris said, you're not going to get a

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how bad Hollywood is soliloquy from me. I always say

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every generation laughs at their children's racism. So my kids

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are like, this is racist. And I roll my eyes.

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And what I would call racist, my mother would laugh at.

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Are there bad parts about Hollywood? Yes. Clean that up

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a little bit. Apparently, Chris mentioned that he didn't think

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he'd be able to make Bring the Pain today. The

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Times was curious if he really believes that. Chris said,

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You're right. I'd be able to make it. As a

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matter of fact, I'll go even further. Bring the Pain

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would be bigger today. You know why? Because you wouldn't

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be able to report on it. The New York Times

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wouldn't be able to say it was great. It wouldn't

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be on Netflix. It would be like the Shane Gillis thing,

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which was actually elevated. You know, the New York Times

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has got a weird thing with comedy. The Times is like,

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what's the weird thing? Rock said the Times Journal, they

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ignore the nuance. So it's like this is the manosphere

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conservative thing or this is the wokey woke thing. And

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then all the people in the middle, they kind of ignore.

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I remember five, 10 years ago, Bill Burr sold out MSG.

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At that point, maybe eight comedians had sold out the garden.

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I wake up the next day. I want to read

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the review. There's no review because Bill Burr is this

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guy that walks a crazy line. Is he conservative? Maybe.

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Wait a minute. He's got a black wife. Oh, he's sexist.

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Wait a minute. There's a lot of women here. You

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guys aren't with that middle. So anyway, bring the pain

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would be bigger today because it would be less lauded. Interesting.

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They asked him about the slap. You may recall he

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was slapped one time by Will Smith. Rock said, I'm good.

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That was so long ago. I wish everyone well. I've

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moved on with my life. We'll pick at that article

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for the next few days. Chris Rock is also on

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the New York Times interview podcast if you want to

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listen to it. Did Bill Burr shade Joe Rogan? Some

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people think so. Bill Burr was on the red carpet

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at the Social Reckoning premiere. Burr told Variety he would

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not sit down for lunch with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

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Why not, Bill Burr? He said, nothing's free. You don't

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want to have a relationship. That's why you never have

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any of these people on your podcast, because then all

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of a sudden you have a friendship and you can't

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make fun of them. Some people think that was a

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dig at Rogan. Controversial mega comedian Nate Bregazzi caught up

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with the Detroit Free Press. He said, I don't even

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know what time it is. His handler said that it

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wasn't yet noon. Nate has a handler. Nate said it's

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not noon. It could be four or five o'clock. I

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don't know. We got in here late last night because

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I had a show in Mississippi and then it was

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four hours sleep. But I feel great. It's been fun.

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We're told that Nate's met with a small group of

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reporters donning black docker like pants. That was Nate's not

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to the reporters. We're all wearing dockers. I don't know

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what they were wearing. Nate also wore a black sweater

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and a casual gray zip up jacket, an outfit he

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could have bought at any Kohl's store. When people ask

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to take a picture with him, he says, I'd love to.

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And we are told his love of Ford vehicles is real.

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As you know, he's a spokesperson now. We learn that

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Nate drives a 2021 Bronco with a manual transition, noting

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my daughter wants this Bronco. She's 14, so I want

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her to learn how to drive a stick shift. I

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think it'll help with not texting when driving because you

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got a lot going on. I got a quote from

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Nate here that this is actually take three. I keep

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tripping over it because the way he phrased it. I'm

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going to slow down and read you the words in

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the order he said them. I haven't done really commercials

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at all, and it's because I was kind of waiting

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for this one to see if I could get this

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basically because it just made a lot of sense. I

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know what he's saying there. I think the words could

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have been arranged differently. I don't really want to just

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be on a bunch of commercials. I really want to

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believe in the product. I want something to hopefully grow,

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and hopefully this is a very long relationship. I'm sure, Nate,

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you wouldn't mind being the spokesperson for Ford for years.

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It probably pays well. Nate has ordered an F-150 Raptor

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R in Shelby Green. The Raptor R, we're told, is

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a high-performance off-road truck with a supercharged V8 engine. The

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controversial MAGA comedian said, I've never had a truck, and

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I've always wanted a truck. I mean, I really always

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wanted a truck because my aunt had like a Ford Ranger,

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and that was the car I was supposed to get

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when I was able to drive, but then she got

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it in a wreck, so I never got it. So finally, now.

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I come from a plant town. It was a DuPont plant.

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Everybody there worked at that place and their dads worked there.

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Their grandfather. I love that is the American dream. It

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just kind of had this job with a reliable company.

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So Ford is that to me. Then he compared Nate

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Land Company to the Ford Motor Company. Nate said, as

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we grow and build stuff, I want people to have

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jobs and I hope they can work there for as

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long as they want or they can work there and

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they go do other things or whatever. Pete Davidson spoke

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to Variety. They discussed Mayor Mamdani. He's the mayor of

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New York City. Pete Davidson said he doesn't have a

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problem with Mamdani, but he doesn't think that Mamdani is

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Staten Island at all. He added that Staten Island is

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the only red place in New York City. Pete said

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it's violently red. I tried to explain it because most

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of my family's on the red side. It's not like

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Storm the Capitol vibe. It's not like a racist and

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misogynist sort of thing. It's just like 1985 over there.

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You're not a real Staten Island politician unless you have

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a secret family and no one mobster. I would not

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trust you to run Staten Island. Interesting there. Leslie Jones

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talked about her time in Colorado. She transferred to Colorado

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State University in the mid-80s to follow a basketball coach.

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But after entering a comedy competition in Fort Collins, she

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gave up basketball for the stage. She remembered those early jokes.

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I talked about my uncle. My uncle stuttered. I talked

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about black and white churches, the difference. Oh, and I

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talked about my grandmother's boobs. Clean that up a little.

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About her current tour, she says, this is one of

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my favorite sets I've ever done. All these jokes are

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jokes I wrote 20 years ago thinking that somebody else

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would perform them because I'm not talented enough. Colorado Public

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Radio is curious, you know, where the joke's been. Or

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in a Google Doc or something? Leslie Jones said, it's

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just stuff that's been in the back of my head.

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It's stuff that comes forward when I'm writing and goes, hey,

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you know, you got this joke here that you've always

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wanted to do. Couple new podcast projects to tell you about.

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One is called Jokes on News. These are former writers

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of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert riffing on the news.

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I guess their brains are fired up to tell jokes

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about the news and they don't have a show anymore.

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The idea for Jokes on News came from Late Show

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news producer Catherine Shin, whose duties included sitting on the

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writing team at morning meetings where they'd make up ways

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to make even the worst news funny. Jokes on News

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runs for about 35 to 45 minutes, comes out once

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a week, and each episode, You'll find a trademark blend

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of analysis and wisecracks that makes traditional late night so entertaining.

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Good time for me to plug the podcast Is Late

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Night Dead? That's my podcast about late night. You'll find

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it wherever you found this podcast. Episode one was about

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1230 Letterman. Episode two coming out on Sunday is about

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1130 Letterman. It is called Is Late Night Dead? Check

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it out. Also out, a different podcast. This is called

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Great Job News, a new biweekly news show written like

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The Daily Show and filmed like 30 Rock. It presents

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actual news along with comedy and entertainment. Rephrasing, it's a

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comedy news show inside a sitcom about the making of

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that news show. Very meta. Each episode of Great Job

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News dives deep into the topics on everyone's mind. The

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insufferable news cycle, how body image is impossible to talk

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about yet plagues us all, and the collapse of modern society.

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Six episodes. Episode one out now. It's called Panic in

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the Newsroom. When did the news turn into such a

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five-alarm trash fire? Oh, I could tell you, but people

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were getting mad at me. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the

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newsroom writers have an existential meltdown trying to parse how

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great job news can be different. Marianne Ways had a

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really cool show recently. It was a one-off show, but

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the list was amazing. Kurt Braunohler, Joe Firestone, Wyatt Cenac,

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Aparna Nancherla, Roy Wood Jr., the ever-so-serious Hari Kondabolu, haven't

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said his name in a while, and a bunch of others.

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Marianne is now working on a printed comedy zine called

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Stories from the Room, she explains. In 2003, I accidentally

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stumbled into the East Village indie comedy scene. I immediately

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bought a camera and started documenting my nights at a

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bar called Riffify. I became a regular at Invite Them Up,

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a weekly show hosted by Eugene Merman and Bobby Tisdale.

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Stories from the Room will bring together those photos with

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memories of the people who worked there. You will see

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comedians like John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Jenny Slate.

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Pete Holmes, many more. The zine will explore the history

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of NYC's emerging indie comedy scene and the move away

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from clubs and into bars that started in the late

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90s and early zeros. It was a great time for comedy.

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All right, so keep an eye out for Marianne Way's

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printed comedy zine, Stories from the Room. And Vulture has

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been catching up with the comedians you should know and

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will know. Did I get the title right? I can

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never remember. One of them is Grace Johnson. Grace Johnson

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was a corporate lawyer born in Nigeria, raised in New York.

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She was working on data law when the pandemic hit

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and she stumbled into comedy on Clubhouse, the audio only

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chatting app. Remember that? That was like a thing for

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like three weeks. We were told Grace assembles jokes like

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layer cakes, alternating between personal and universal political activism and

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pure chill. Two quick questions with Grace Johnson. What do

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you think about the future of comedy? She said, what's

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exciting is seeing kind people win, watching the show Funny

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AF and seeing people I know and respect being successful,

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seeing black women and NB peeps have fun on stage,

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seeing genuine oddballs find their audiences. Josh Johnson's newest. being embraced.

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Audiences getting curious about comedy again and going outside to

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laugh together. Concerns. People chasing laughs and relatability until they

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lose the point of view. That's the fastest way to

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get bottom barrel thoughts. Stand-up is similar to a guided

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tour to a museum. You're supposed to bring the audience

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into your world of curated experiences, then show them what

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to look at and how you want them to look

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at it. There's nothing new under the sun, but at

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least show them something old in a new way. I

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like that. The second question was, what's the most earnest

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goal you have? She said to retire my mom, refurbish

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the school in my village named after my grandfather, pay

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off the student loans of me and everyone I love,

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and make Queen Latifah proud of me. That's a pretty

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good list. And that is your comedy news for today.

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I will see you tomorrow.