Chris Rock will perform historic live comedy special for Netflix in 2023.
Rock has announced his first live special for Netflix, which will be his first in over 20 years. Titled Live, it will be a tribute to his comedy partner Bill Hicks, who died in 2011.
He said, “I’ve been wanting to do a Bill Hicks special for a long time. But we weren’t close — not like we are now — and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. This is the perfect time. Just before the beginning of his last tour, Bill’s voice would be soft and he’d say, ‘I’m having a wonderful time.’ And I’d say, ‘You are.’ And then a couple hours later, he’d be on stage in his underwear yelling at the audience, ‘So fucking boring!’”
On July 31, 2013, Bill Hicks died at the age of 58. He had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, at the age of 25.
“What better way to honor Bill than by performing his material live to a Netflix audience,” Rock continued. “The Bill Hicks material is all about trying to be funny and not losing your temper — a lot of people didn’t know that Bill was actually a standup comic until later in his career. Maybe it’s a good thing.”
Rock will perform his entire standup set, along with some of his greatest standup bits, like his classic “Fuck This Poop” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
The comedian said, “There are a lot of comics who have done comedy-based specials and I would love to sit down and talk about the specials I’ve done in the past where I talk about Bill Hicks. I’ve got so many great memories that I want to share, so the last thing I want to do is have a live audience read me lines about how hilarious Bill Hicks is.