Chris Rock Riffs on Obama's 50th Birthday Party
Chris Rock apparently doesn't care whether he's invited to President Obama's next birthday party. The comedian used Obama's 50th birthday bash as material for a surprise stand-up appearance at the Comedy Store club in Los Angeles this weekend.
Saying he felt like "he died and went black heaven," Rock shared a few details about the August birthday party, which was closed to the media. The informal barbecue at the White House was paid for by the Obamas, according to the Washington Post, and featured a celebrity-heavy guest list including Jay-Z, Tom Hanks and Whoopi Goldberg.
While Rock called the party an "unbelievable experience," he said the informal dress code made him feel like the late rapper "Jam Master Jay" at the White House.
Rock also talked about standing with rapper-producer Jay-Z in the audience and watching singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder and pianist-composer Herbie Hancock perform together.
"Me and Jay-Z looked at each other like, 'Oh, hell no, we're never going to do shows here,'" Rock said in the video of his club appearance. "The president is never going to go, 'Yes, 'Big Pimpin,' how did you like that?'" Rock said, referring to a Jay-Z song. … "That's never going to happen. Let's just be glad we're invited."
Rock went on to say that after Hancock and Wonder left the stage, the DJ slowly switched the tunes from the R&B group Kool & the Gang to funk innovator George Clinton and that the music got "blacker and blacker."
The most surreal portion of the night, Rock said, was the moment Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" started playing. At that point, Rock recalled that first daughters Malia, 13, and Sasha Obama, 10,"came out of nowhere … and started doing the dougie" dance.
"Think about this [expletive] moment, a bunch of black people doing the [expletive] dougie in a house slaves made," Rock, who turned 47 himself last month, said, laughing .
Noticing that the White House was filled with portraits of past presidents, Rock added, "Kennedy was cool with it."
While Rock's appearance at the Comedy Store was a surprise, he often uses the small comedy club to try out new material. Based on the audience's reaction in the video, there might be more to come.