How Chris Rocked the Oscars

I was impressed with Chris Rock’s opening monologue at the Oscar’s at the weekend. We all knew it was going to be controversial. There was a sense of expectation in the room. Look at the faces of Leo, Kate and Matt as they applaud his introduction.

Would he address the issue that dominated the build up to Oscars 2016? Would he mention the complete lack of black nominations in the acting categories? Of course he would. In fact he spoke about little else.

Chris Rock is a brilliant comedian, so it’s no surprise he did such a great job. He’s good because he puts the hours in. He does the groundwork. Every line in that slick opening ten minutes had been honed to perfection. We don’t know what lines he threw away because they didn’t work, but his act was better because of it.

If you want to get good, you have to practise.

Chris practised his talk at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood. He tried out material on ten different occasions over the two weeks before the Oscars. He wasn’t on the bill. The organisers slipped him into the line-up unannounced, but I’m sure the crowd didn’t mind. He’s Chris Rock! Over those ten gigs in casual clothes he laid down the foundations, so he’d look good once he put on his dinner jacket (a white one) for the big day.

You can read more about his preparation in this article in the Washington Post.

Watch the whole of Chris Rock's ten minute opening monologue. 

This is an extract from my Talking Toolbox newsletter which is emailed to subscribers every Wednesday morning.  This week's includes a very cold TED talk, my mate Graham showing how to pause for laughter and why microphone wires drive me mad. You can read it all here and subscribe here. 

Jeremy Nicholas - 2nd March 2016, London.