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Here's What Chris Rock Really Thinks About Bill Cosby And Other Comedians

Dec 1, 2014, 23:31 IST

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Chris Rock is the latest comedian to weigh in on the Bill Cosby scandal.

Despite Rock telling Vulture that Cosby was initially "disdainful" of the younger comedian in his early days, the older comic "turned pretty quick" and the two had a good relationship.

In the wake of recent sexual assault accusations against Cosby, Rock tells Vulture:

I don't know what to say. What do you say? I hope it's not true. That's all you can say. I really do. I grew up on Cosby. I love Cosby, and I just hope it's not true. It's a weird year for comedy. We lost Robin, we lost Joan, and we kind of lost Cosby.

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Rock says suicide is common among comedians:

Comedians kill themselves. Talk to 100 comedians this week, everybody knows somebody who killed themselves. I mean, we always say ignorance is bliss. Well, if so, what's the opposite? Some form of misery. Being a comedian, 80% of the job is just you notice shit, which is a trait of schizophrenics too. You notice things people don't notice.

He credits his children for being able to stay a happy comedian:

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You try to give yourself other things to focus on. I always say, my children saved me from my miserable self.

Rock was a huge fan of Joan Rivers, who was still performing stand up until she died in September at age 81:

Great person, underrated comedian. Who the hell's funnier than Joan Rivers? That whole reference thing: Joan updated constantly.

The compliment you give of a comedian is: Who wants to follow them onstage? Nobody wanted to follow Joan Rivers, ever. Even in her 80s, nobody wanted to follow her.

Rock also had a lot to say about other living comedians.

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He says conservative comedian Dennis Miller, who Rock starred alongside on "Saturday Night Live," is "less funny":

He used to bust my balls. He'd come into my office and say, "Hey, Rock, how's that 'next Eddie'7 thing working out?" Oh, he's definitely less funny. You know where he's going. Smart as hell, but you know where he's going. The middle's where it's at, comically. I mean, what do you got? Miller, Stewart, Maher.

NBC/"Saturday Night Live"

But Rock is a fan of Roseanne Barr:

She's just funnier than everybody.

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As well as Tavis Smiley and Cornel West:

They're both intelligent, sincere guys.

Rock says he relates to Jerry Seinfeld:

He bores easily. I bore easily. Not because I'm on some spectrum, but because I hear so many conversations again and again. So many people come up to you, and not enough people try to take into account what you've heard already.

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And compares his new movie Top Five's style to Woody Allen films:

I don't even think Woody does comedy. I think he does dramas with jokes. They're all sad at their core.

Rock even admitted he did steal one thing from Woody Allen:

I've checked into hotels under Alvy Singer," he says, in reference to the name of Allen's character in 1977's Oscar-winning "Annie Hall."

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Read Rock's full interview with Vulture here.

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