So last night I watched Chris Rock’s new standup comedy show called Tamborine on Netflix. If you don’t like swearing in a show, then this one definitely is not for you. Chris Rock swears constantly. Apparently, Black middle-aged American men are angry, very angry. And according to Chris Rock, the reason for his anger is 50% his fault and 50% American society.
As a Black South African woman the level of anger towards American society, especially towards the police and White America, in general, is pretty shocking. You kind of wonder why a rich American with lots of choices puts his children through living with such anger when he can just live someplace else with them.
In the first part of Tamborine, Chris Rocks talks about the police and Trump and teaching his children to be suspicious of the colour white.
And Rock moves onto his private life, the fact that he’s divorced and was a custody battle. Listening to Chris Rock, you kind of get why the courts make it difficult for men, especially Black men to get custody of their children. From the way he described his lifestyle before the divorce, the impression I got was that if he had got custody of his daughters he would probably have just continued being an arsehole indefinitely. Having to fight for his girls seemed to have made him a better father. It also makes for funny comedy. Certainly my favourite part of the show.
The tamborine in the title of the show was in reference to marriage, and I guess life in general, where he says that sometimes everyone has to play the tamborine at some stage. Be the person who doesn’t do the glamour stuff.
Chris Rock tells men not to mess up their marriages, tells us he cheated on his wife, behaved in whatever way he wanted to, then gives us an hour of angry comedy and says women, children and dogs are more loved than men are. I wonder why?
Would I recommend the show? Look, if you like Chris Rock, and you like angry comedy and you have an hour to spare, I’d say yes. There’s some great insight into what middle-aged divorced men are thinking. There’s some insight into what it’s like being male and Black in America. There’s even some insight on dating on Tinder. Which made me think, “Wow. I’d never want to date someone like him.”
