He’S Between A Rock And A Har-Har-Har Face
Comedian Chris Rock has caused a few ripples in black circles by appearing in clown makeup on the cover of Vanity Fair and in whiteface inside.
“I’m a comedian. Clown. It kind of goes together,” Rock told an interviewer.
“If you took your kid to a black circus, would you be offended if black clowns were there? How do you make your kid laugh? Do you give him a book, or do you make a silly face?”
People need to lighten up, he added: “Black intellectuals have a hard time with comedy in general and with being a celebrity. They have a hard time with art. They tend to overanalyze show business and don’t let artists be artists.
“We’re not allowed to just have some work, do different things. You have to be Martin Luther King with everything you do.”
Loose talk
Billy Bob Thornton, on his dining habits (in Australia’s New Weekly): “I prefer eating with plastic. I can’t use silver cutlery … I like to keep (my napkin) by my plate. If it’s all spread out, I don’t know what to do with it … By the way, I like to drink water out of plastic bottles.”
These days, he’s just a Linc to the past
Clarence Williams III turns 59 today.
It’s all about the Carrot and the shtick
Funny man Carrot Top, who performs at today’s reopening of a historic theater in downtown Evansville, Ind., took it in stride when the director of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra sneeringly referred to him as “declasse.” Said Top: “I can be as classy as they want me to be. I’ll just bring the Carrot Top Orchestra and my Rockette-style dancers - the Carrotettes. They want class? We’ll show ‘em class.”
Like they say, contrite men can’t judge
The Denver federal judge hearing the request for a new murder trial by Woody Harrelson’s father has removed himself from the case because he played a pickup basketball game with the actor at a local gym during a break in the proceedings. Judge Fred Biery said they didn’t discuss the case, adding: “I won some and he won some.”
Woody can’t see the poorest for the trees
Pal Wesley Snipes on Harrelson’s support for legalizing hemp as an alternative paper source (in Movieline magazine): “I tell Woody, ‘The only reason that you’re on this hemp thing is because you’ve got all this money and, as a young, rich, white male, you don’t know what to do with it. I love you going around saving the trees, but you haven’t built one house for the homeless. You ain’t put no kids through school. But go ahead and fight for the trees, and in the meantime, I’ll use my money to put somebody through school.’ We laugh about it.”
In honor of those who cashed it in long ago
“Saving Private Ryan” director Steven Spielberg and star Tom Hanks have made substantial monetary contributions to a planned D-Day museum in New Orleans, scheduled to open June 6, 2000. Said the museum’s founder, historian and author Stephen Ambrose: “I myself am giving $500,000 and these guys are in the ballpark.”