♪

♪ >> from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> chris rock's new movie is called "top five." he wrote and directed it and plays its lead character.

the associated press writes it defies categorization. it is a silly industry satire and a sweet look at an artist who is trying to figure out what he wants. here is the trailer for the film. >> what is up? when i listen to satellite radio, i listen to sirius hits 1. >> make it funnier. put some stank on it. >> what is up? [beep] >> the first was good. in 2005, time magazine voted the following guest the funniest man in america. >> >> you got hammer time. >> you can also see him getting married.

>> to a have to do this on camera? >> i do not feel like doing funny movies anymore. >> i just want to do a story. >> this is chelsea brown, she is doing a story on me. >> things are changing. >> they changed. >> things don't change. look at this. black man trying to get a cab in new york city. taxi. >> what is going on? >> zoo and there is in the conference room. >> skip the hard questions, --

>> why are you not funny anymore? >> i got married a lot of times. i was not in it for the wedding. i should of been into the guy. >> that is great. they got the lock on them. >> before the show. >> do mind if i get some of those hangers? oh, i can't. >> i spoke to chris rock and here is that conversation. here is what they are saying about this movie. for the first time you act in it, you act in it, you wrote it, you directed it. for the first time he has made a movie that is good as his standup.

does that resonate with you? >> that was the desired effect. there is a joke in "stardust memories," they go, we love your movies, especially the funny ones. people say i love your work, especially the standup. i wanted to make a movie as good as the standup. they are saying that right now. >> people care about you saying that and the audiences are saying it. but what do they mean, do you think? was the fact that you were so good at standup, that you worked so hard at it, that you crafted it, you had not done that in your movies before, you had to come to a place where you treated movies with the same reverence as you treat standup? >> it is not reverence.

i have to not care so much and not care what people think and not care about judgment. when you do a movie, movies are amazing. i love doing movies but you have testing and they literally test every line, every 10 minutes of the movie is tested. i have always been a horrible test-taker. just horrible. when you are writing a movie a lot of times you are editing yourself and you're thinking about the testing. they will not like this and the studio does not like this and this will test low. they didn't test plays. you don't test every line. you do not test stand up. you test in front of an audience. it does not have that strict testing that a movie has. this is the first movie were i did not care about offending

people. i did not try to open a chain store. >> i want to make the movie i want to make. >> i want to make a movie that i want to make. i will have a little restaurant that is hip. i am not trying to make mcdonald's. i am not trying to be everywhere. i want to make a chris rock movie. i do not want to make my version of an adam sandler movie. >> you would sit with adam sandler and you knew what he was doing. he was making an adam sandler movie. >> he really was. with men, men always dress like -- we get our fashion sense from the one who gets laid the most. whatever friend gets laid the most, get those shoes and that haircut because it seems to work for him. i will get that haircut.

[laughter] so adam sandler is like my biggest movie star friend. i will do what he is doing. but it did not fit me. it fits when i am a movie with him but it did not fit me to make a movie of the same tone as him. or an eddie murphy movie. that was not my tone. this movie, the important thing was i found a tone that works for me. when i do stand up, seldom do i talk about anything that is funny. almost nothing in my act is funny. >> that is what people say is your genius. you can talk about race like no one else and you can go places where no one else can. >> i like to say something controversial and then dig myself out of the hole. that is what i do with the

movies. i play a guy who is an alcoholic, a cheat, a hack. a very unlikable character. and take you on a journey and i try to help you understand where this guy is coming from. >> a reporter comes along and makes him vulnerable. >> yes. we are all vulnerable on some level. you have to sit there and wait for it to come up. we are all insecure. >> people are more accepting now. it is literally rough for women but i am hopeful because people are changing. things are changing. you need to wake up and smell the progress. >> you need to wake up. some things never change. a black man trying to get a cab in new york city. watch this. look at this. taxi, taxi.

>> there is an idea that comedians want to be taken seriously. they do not think being funny is enough. >> we are in america. america does not take comedians seriously. america treats comedians like third class entertainers so you have your actors, you have your singers, you have your comedians. they are at the bottom of the thing. even though comedians do the harder work. it is harder to be funny than it is to be dramatic. >> it is harder for great, serious actors to be funny -- than it is for a comedic actor to be serious. >> absolutely. i saw gone girl the other day. it is amazing.

but, if you took adam mckay and let him direct gone girl. and if you let david fincher direct "anchorman." who will get closer to the finished product? then anchorman is going to suck. gone girl will be ok. but i am just saying, odds are -- [laughter] >> so why did you want to make movies? >> like everyone else. you grew up and you love movies and you watch dr. strangelove and annie hall and trading places and you are in a big room. you want to take this -- comedic thing like how far can you take it?

i wrote a funny book. im being funny that way. can i be funny on the biggest hardest, hardest part of con -- comedy. >> and you have. >> and eu are in the movie. -- you are in the movie. >> there is this evolution that you are the great standup comedian that you are. tell me what you felt when you saw martin lawrence on stage in chicago. >> my good friend, he says competition keeps you in condition. if there is no competition you are screwed. i was doing a show in chicago and martin lawrence was my

opening act. i did not know it was the week before martinmania was supposed to hit. i do not watch the opening act. i am in the dressing room and i hear some commotion on the stage and i think there is a fighter -- fight for -- or something going on. i look out there and people are laughing like blood is coming out. martin lawrence killed so much and i had to follow him and i died a death. i have never died that hard ever in my life. since then i have never gotten the ass-whupping i have got. >> what did you say to yourself?

>> i got a little cocky. so i had to rethink everything about myself as a performer, as a writer. i had to rethink everything and realize there is a new era coming in. i credit martin a lot in a weird way. >> it was a moment. >> it was transformative for me. i knew what i was doing was not going to last. sometimes at this thing happens, you come from a poor place and things are happening, and you get complacent. i am rich compared to where i am from and i am poor compared to where i am at.

i started at a place where i was making $3000. i got lazy. i stopped being curious about comedy. that is the worst thing that can happen to anyone in life. >> not just comedy. >> not be curious. i got curious about -- again. >> people say you do not revel in your success because you are constantly thinking about the next place you want to go. >> yeah. i remember when i was on "saturday night live." some people treated it like it was the biggest thing in the world. we used to go, if this is the biggest thing in the world, we are screwed. we got a lot of living to do. let's hope this is not the highlight of our life. i probably would have succeeded more. >> i do not understand why you left after three years. >> they let me leave. and there was a cultural thing going on. "living color" was on.

snl was really white. what my mother calls the real white people. not those white people who drive buses. >> you wanted to go to "living color." >> i got there. it was over in three months, but i got there. on snl i felt like i was an outsider. i felt i was not involved in anything black. i was on snl, i was not on that much. "living color" was on and it was february, black history month,

and i was not having any gigs. all the other black comedians had good experience it was time to leave. something is going on here that i am not part of. richard pryor went through the same thing where, ok, he was on ed sullivan, he was on these other shows that the panthers was happening and soul train is happening and, i am richard -- and that is what richard pryor had to do. >> he went to africa. >> i had to reinvent myself. >> you seem to have had the sense of connection to your own blackness. you want people to populate the audience because what? >> -- specials?

when i do an hbo special, i kind of insist on an all-black . -- all-black audience. i have done specials at the apollo and the last one was in south africa. sometimes i do things that are critical of black culture or my people as a whole. when you do jokes like that, it is important to cut to a black face laughing to signal that this is not racist because lack -- black people can be racist against their own people, too. they laugh with their feet.

>> you did nine minutes on that. >> we can be just as racist as anyone else. it is to relax the audience and i do not know. black people left better than -- laugh better than white people. when they are really into it it is the mouth in the belly and the feet. white people laugh from the neck up. >> you can put it in a way that people get to the truth of race in america better than most. >> maybe. i am from that era. i was bussed to school in 1973. we tend to think racism is over. >> you were bussed to a white, irish community. >> irish kids, a lot of the kids. think of it this way. the triborough bridge has been the robert f kennedy bridge for 20 years. we still call it the triborough bridge. when you pass a law, it takes 20 years before even though it is illegal to do certain things, it takes 20 years or 30 years for people to get acclimated to things.

i got bussed to school. i was called nigger all the time by students, teachers, janitors. there were protests and brooklyn, new york. go home, darkie, whatever, my first day of school. just like in new york. like you saw everyplace else. in 1973. i know it. i really, really know it. ♪

♪ >> the moments that have been transformative, the martin lawrence thing. the second thing, when you went to broadway. that was a transformative moment. >> it really was. that was the most fun i have had in show business. >> why? >> it was fun being the rookie. i literally did not know anything. i had never done a play before. i did not do a play in high

school. so just that experience and it is not just doing a play. doing an original play. when you do a revival it is the same lines. you can almost rehearse for a revival at your house. nothing is going to change. but doing an original, it changes all the time. to work with a play from the bottom up and to form a character and to work with great actors. elizabeth rodriguez, annabel shorr. you added to the entertainer that you are?

-- >> >> did you learn things that you added to the entertainer that you are? >> i can be totally dramatic and funny at the same time. that one was destined not make the other not exist. it did not have to be exclusive to comedy or to drama. these two things can happen at the exact same time. i would not have realized that if i had not on that play. without the play, the movie does not happen. or the movie happens and it is not that good. the movie is silly. the thing that is good about the movie -- the drama really works. >> and the relationships work. >> the relationships work. >> and the dialogue. you're talking about contemporary culture. >> you believe the relationships. it is not a sketch. it is not a bunch of sketches. it is a drama with a lot of jokes.

>> did you come to pick me up? >> yeah, welcome to houston. we are promoting your show. know what i'm saying? don't worry, we will have big walkup. >> how far is the hotel? i am starving. >> about 45 minutes. food is there. anything you need. coke, weed, need anything? i am the man of houston. >> scott rudin is the producer. >> superproducer scott rudin. >> what role did he play? did he give you the confidence to be who you knew you could be?

>> he got me to run at a speed i did not know i could run. i did not know i could do all these things. he taught me the best people in the world are a phone call away. i'll is try not to get the best people in the world. scott will contact them. scott doesn't care. i would have never called you. scott is like, so what, he is busy? so what he has got three jobs? you'll want to do this. >> you are. >> but for no money. scott does -- does not care.

so what he is the highest-paid guy. let's get him here. that is scott. we can get the rest actors in -- best actors in the world. we have the best dp in the world. >> tell me how he got inside your head. >> scott believed in me as a leading man. i never believed in me as a leading man. a leading man has to have a certain level of sex appeal. i do not think of myself as having sex appeal. a leading man has to -- >> oh, come on. >> no, i am married. ego, down.

a leading man has to lead. i do not imagine anyone following me. in my head, i am the dad. and that is pretty much it. i do not think i am looking at -- people are looking at me and a certain way. >> you can go in front of an audience with a carefully developed routine and entertain them so they are on their feet. >> do you know that cartoon where there is a frog on stage who can sing. i am that fraud. whenever he is not on stage, he cannot stay -- saying. i am that frog. >> it has brought you to appreciate yourself beyond stand up. >> yes.

>> you have that done. not only what you wanted to do but what other people wanted you to do. >> is that more important? it ultimately is. >> tell me about writing it and what you wanted to create. people said that this is about fame. about celebrity and wanting to be taken for something that you are not necessarily taken four. -- for. >> i got to go back little bit. because i got to give credit to louis ck. he owe me, i owe louis. i told him i will not be your friend anymore if you keep writing for people. he was writing stuff for dana carvey and this one and that one, pitching shows to adam sandler's company and i said you are the star. you are funny. you should have a show. stop pitching other people's shows. i will say here on the charlie rose show and take all the credit for louis ck. >> you made him what he is

today. >> his managers and -- >> you made him what he is today. >> his managers and -- >> wanted him to perform. >> his managers want him to do stuff for other people. they were making money and everybody thought he should be working for other people and i thought, that guy is a star. in tern, we -- turn, havew thee greatest friendship and i love him dearly. he comes to me and he says you got to write it by yourself, you have to write it by yourself. you got to get in a room and you have to feel hurt, you have to feel lonely, you have to feel the pain that the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to write by yourself and be in a hole and stare at the piece of paper and have no one to get you out but you. you always write what people and you end up with a watered-down version of you.

you have to write by yourself. so louis made me write by myself. i -- when you write with other people you get a consensus. there is some great scripts. >> you are in the room by yourself. >> when you are by yourself, something emotional happens. something spiritual happens when you are in that room by yourself. and you are living in your head. your secret thoughts. you're not trying to get approval of anybody when you are in there by yourself. i think that comes across in the movie. like when i am doing standup

when i am doing standup i have an hour and a half. it is ok by tissue off right now. i will get you down the line. you're mad right now. hang out. do not worry, you will leave you happy. >> i am coming back. >> yeah. >> when i didn't -- did movies in the past i was only scared of pissing people off. >> you were editing yourself. >> i was editing myself. there was none of that fearlessness. >> who is andre allen? >> it is me, a little eddie murphy, chris tucker, martin lawrence. there is this journey. there is this journey. i remember seinfeld said to me when my first big hbo special hit. now they will give you the kit. inside is the book deal, inside the kit is a tv show, movie offers, you will host the oscars. he told me everything that was about to happen to me in the kit. there is a lot of us that have shared experience.

i wanted to do a movie kind of about in some way about black fame. being famous as a black guy is different than being famous as a white guy. tom hanks is an amazing actor. tens of washington is a god to his people. -- denzel washington is a god to his people. he has a responsibility that tom cruise and liam neeson do not. they just make their art. no one goes, hey, tom cruise, -- what is his ethnicity? >> i do not know. >> do it for white people. no one says that tom cruise. do it for italians. no one says that. >> what do they say to denzel? >> involved in hish community that hee loves his people, that

he is doingi stuff for his people. th -- that he is doing stuff for his people. they feel his highs and lows more. tom hanks does a bad movie there will be another good movie by somebody white next week. when denzel does a bad movie i might see another movie for another year. >> did you feel that when you were in that room? i will let down -- if this is not as good as my friends have told me then i am letting down not just my friends but a whole bunch of people. who identify with me because i

am an african american man who made it. >> i just wanted to touch what that is, to walk that line. lebron is going through it now. he is responsible for the happiness of cleveland and poor kids of cleveland. larry bird came out just as poor but no one says larry bird owes indiana. >> what did chris rock have in terms of pressure? >> you have a pressure to project a certain amount of dignity at all times. which is odd when you are comedian -- a comedian. a comedian is half clown. sometimes the comedy is in being undignified. sometimes the comedy is having a pie in your face or having it together all the time, vanity is kind of the enemy of comedy a lot of times.

i heard jamie foxx say this. jim carrey does things know what comedian could get away with because black people would move -- lose their minds. tyler perry gets a lot of flack for wearing a dress and whatever. people think it is undignified but it is funny. tyler perry gets flack for doing things that martin -- milton berle has done. dame edna. and he great work that some people ignorehas done some because he is --has done great work that some people ignore. >> here's is what they say about you as a standup area -- standup. >> i love madea. madea always brings it back. >> what was interesting about you, you were this guy who was perfect the tailored, he would go on stage and within your own body, there was a kind of elegance but what was coming out of your mouth was the most, the funniest and the most satirical and he would go right to the edge of where you can go with comedy, but doing that in this guy who was very dignified. tyler perry gets a lot of flack for wearing a dress and whatever. people think it is undignified but it is funny. tyler perry gets flack for doing things that martin -- milton berle has done. dame edna. and he great work that some people ignorehas done some because he is --has done great work that some people ignore. >> here's is what they say about you as a standup area -- standup.

>> i love madea. madea always brings it back. >> what was interesting about you, you were this guy who was perfect the tailored, he would go on stage and within your own body, there was a kind of elegance but what was coming out of your mouth was the most, the funniest and the most satirical and he would go right to the edge of where you can go with comedy, but doing that in this guy who was very dignified. >> people dress me, people that are paid money to dress me.

dignity. >> tell me where you think this money -- this movie brings you where you are -- in the future. you will be 50. >> i will be 50. i am old. i'm actually old. the only time 50's young is when you die at 50. that is the only time it is young or when you are dating cher. cher got another young boy. >> oh, stop. let her have her fun. >> i like cher. >> i am serious. we hope it is successfully -- financially successful. everyone who cares has seen the movie and you have delivered where they believe you can deliver on.

from my past to god's lips or whatever. where are you, are you going to -- scott rudin watching to make another movie. because you have gone to a place you wanted to go to. >> i want to make a movie within two or three years, absolutely. warren beatty -- that dinner was so long ago and i remember he said to me, it is only a success if it leads to another job. it is literally, do you make the people that you work for happy? do they want to work with you again? to other people want to work with you because of this work?

those are -- hope people like the movie but i hope the movie makes money. i have been in movies that have been hundreds of millions of dollars that no one has ever called me about for. that movie made $300 million and no one made one call. we saw you in that movie and we have a job for you. there are nothing movies that i get calls about. people saw me in that and people want to hire me. people saw "good hair" and want me to be involved in this documentary. i am hoping i can get the critical acclaim of "good hair" and the money of "madagascar 3." >> bill murray. >> he is one of the top three funniest human beings to walk on the earth and the guy you want to work with. you can drop his name. >> charlie chaplin.

>> he was the krs-one of comedy. he was the grandmaster flash of ha-ha. >> i love "breakfast at tiffany's." you did not read truman capote stop. >> i once saw murphy and michael jackson within two months and eddie was better. >> it is hard to [beep] someone on a pedestal. >> tell me about your heroes. charlie chaplin. >> he blazed his own trail. he did exactly what he wanted to do.

>> and he was funny. >> he was hysterical. and he pretty much made what comedy was in its time. woody's a hero. >> he is more than a hero. he is how you want to be. x in some aspect. >> he is. >> we all want the woody allen deal that re-shoots her in the budget and we can cast anyone we want. we have total economy. we also want to be that good. >> that is what i mean. >> i would love to be that good. i am striving to be that good. and keep pushing the envelope. i always tell my agent, when you represent black talent, if you're not making history, you're not doing anything. or you got to be constantly like

what am i not allowed to do, let's do that. let's make a movie that goes to the toronto film festival in it is a hit that is also funny and dramatic. >> she is going to be latina and she might even be gay. will have an asian president and another handicapped president. >> we already had one. >> i am talking out of the closet handicapped president. i got nothing against the handicapped but no one is best not everyone is liberal as me. you run for president, you do not role for president. you run a campaign, you do not roll a campaign. >> as a director, how is he? >> amazing, actually. those are one of those things

when you are about to work with a friend and you have ideas and all these different things. you want someone to push you. he listened and i would say we need this dramatic pause. and i write my nails and get nervous but he would go, this is going to be funny, trust me. you will work again. you can show your face in public and have hot sauce in public. what is different about us and so great is that much more developed and that much more pushed because he does not fight you. it is not like he had all these incredible talents and he was trying to show that he was the big guy. there was not like this -- i am sure he has a huge ego but it did not feel like that. he wanted everyone to be their greatness. there is no cameos because everyone has a shining solo moment. he pushed that for me as well. it was amazing.

i called him -- he says he is the protector. he protected the ideas and his friends and the locations. i call him the conductor. it was like all these incredible instruments. amazing people and he would go and let them have that high note. just when you thought they are feeling pleased, they are starting to run out of wrath and he will keep it going. the guy with his back to the audience. he knows how far he can push you and he gets that thing out of everybody and he did that, he did that with every single person and they shine in this movie and he did not back off. in his previous films he would do a show after and he would save his jokes for that special

he was going to do. he did not do that. he said i am going to put everything into it and i want all of you to do the same and we did. >> are also the director. where did you learn to direct? >> i did not. i learned how to direct from directing. i learned from watching the people direct me. from john landis and tamera davis watching the good directors a got to work with than the pastand. -- and watching the good directors i got to work with in the past. i am here to protect my script. i have an idea and some ideas you have, there are not a lot of people to execute them. especially, i we saying when it is time to hire directors, once you get off the a-list you might as well do it yourself. you might as well. you want to direct me i am right

there. if alexander payne wants to direct me, if woody -- >> if they are not you will direct yourself. you have to be in the movie. >> not particularly but it helps to get some funding. it is weird when and i am sending a message out to certain people. anytime someone offers you something they are not in it is kind of an insult. it is an insult. i got this tv show i think you should do. are you going to be on it? no. but you should do it. >> if it is not good enough for you, why is it good enough for me? >> it is the biggest insult. i want you to do this thing i am gone -- not going to be on. >> stand up will always be at the core of your life? >> yes. stand up will always be the core of my life. >> why? >> i love it. this is where i make my money.

when you are making little movies. i really -- it is mine. there is a lot of great directors. a lot of great writers, great actors. there is a great standups. it guys and women that can really throw down for an hour in 20 minutes, an hour and half. >> what is interesting, louis ck said once it take 15 years to get really good. you were really good pretty early. >> the club level of good pretty early, but it did take about 15 years to become a guy good enough to get on the charlie rose show. i made money.

>> are to get him to be in your movie. >> you have to be good to do that. it does take about 15 years. stand up is not music area there is no justin bieber of stand up. there is no iggy azalea. you have to have life experience. you have to have loved and lost to be a good stand up. you have to have the highs and the lows. >> you have to have lived. >> you have to really have lived for an audience to take the journey with you. >> to you still go back to the places where you have began because that is where you can make sure this is as good as you want to make it? >> you have to go back to where you began to make sure.

there is no -- it is not music so there is no cushy studio to go in. i have watched enough "rocky" movies. anytime he is not training in a dirty gym, he lands on his back. >> at 50 -- >> i got friends who are 50. we look different. >> what does money give you? >> what does money give you? it gives you an extra out -- hour to exercise any time. >> you do not have an entourage. you do not have a guy on the own saying he is coming down, have the car door ready. >> i have never done that. i got to hang out with eddie murphy and he does that.

he was a movie star, a black movie star when there were none. he needs it. i always thought the entourage separated you from your audience and separated you from -- you have to be uncomfortable sometimes to be really funny. a lot of your comedy is uncomfortable. >> a lot of comedy comes from being uncomfortable. >> being a little scared? >> you have to live in your head. an artist has to live in his head and it is hard to live in your head when you're surrounded by people. so, no disrespect to anyone with the entourage. it is not my thing.

it is just not my thing. when i am in an entourage hopefully it is a bunch of creative people. just me and louis and seinfeld steve harvey, i like being around -- nothing against a good bodyguard. sometimes you need it. i do not feel like having a nice conversation about body guarding. >> as you go forward, are you going to balance stand up and acting, directing, starring in movies? >> i have done less stand up. your kids are only young once. so you try to -- >> stand up at you on the road. >> stand up for two away -- takes you away. i am going to live a life where i can live in new york.

i did a play in new york. i will take your writing job because i get to do it in new york area and -- new york. i am trying to be in new york as much as possible. as my kids get older and do not want to be around me, frankly, and want to go to camp and stuff, yes, i will be more out there. >> you were funny but not the funniest guy in the room. >> no. >> how did you get to where you are? >> most successful people are not the best guy in the room. they just are not. michael jordan tells stories -- -- >> he did not make the team. >> the great thing about not being the best in the room is you know you have to work at it. it is great not being the best in the room. it made me work. i grew up -- my friend lewis hamilton, dave barton, way funnier.

>> you made it bigger than they did because -- >> i had to work harder at it. comedy did not just pour out of me. it was something had to think about a little bit intellectually. and just being liked -- i never did anything well until i got on stage. >> you found your home. >> it was literally like a calling. i did nothing i did well. to my -- to this day, my friend mario, my nickname is just jokes because i suck at everything else. >> what do you want to do that

you have not come to grips with yourself in terms of your future? you have a successful movie that the people say is you. you have hosted the oscars. >> i have hosted the oscars. >> you do great stand up. you have an hbo special. >> that was a dream. >> congratulations. >> thank you. thanks for doing my movie. it is our movie. we're always going to have this. ♪

♪ >> from pier three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west." i'm cory johnson. here's a check of your top headlines. u.s. stocks ending the week in a negative tone, despite a strong jobs report. the labor department says 250,000 jobs were created in december, but wages were down. citigroup is cutting bonuses after a lackluster end o