chris rock tour boston

Chris Rock in Boston This Week Following Stunning Oscars Slap

The "chris rock ego death world tour 2022" has five shows scheduled at the wilbur, by marc fortier • published march 28, 2022 • updated on march 29, 2022 at 8:03 am.

Comedian Chris Rock, who is suddenly at the center of Hollywood's biggest story , is scheduled to be in Boston this week for five shows at The Wilbur Theatre .

His "Chris Rock Ego Death World Tour 2022" has two shows scheduled on Wednesday, two on Thursday and one on Friday. From there, Rock is scheduled to head off to Atlantic City and then California.

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Chris Rock visits Boston this week. First shows after the slap. pic.twitter.com/8zPz4dRG1T — Tim Caputo (@Tim_Caputo) March 28, 2022

Sunday night's on-screen dispute between Rock and Will Smith overshadowed all other headlines from the Academy Awards. Smith confronted Rock on the Oscars stage after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

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Rock joked about Pinkett Smith starring in "G.I. Jane 2," apparently because her head is shaved. She did not laugh at the joke.

Smith could then be seen walking to the stage, where he appeared to slap Rock with an open hand.

Pinkett Smith last year  publicly shared that she has alopecia , an autoimmune disorder that leads to hair loss. "G.I. Jane" was a 1997 movie starring Demi Moore as a woman who joins the U.S. Navy and shaves her head soon after.

Viewers at home were confused as to whether the altercation was staged at first, although the audio was cut as Smith seemed to yell an obscenity at Rock while walking back to his seat in the audience.

Once seated he again, on camera, yelled at Rock "Keep my wife’s name out of your [expletive] mouth!”

Rock, for his part, seemed stunned.

"Will Smith just smacked the [expletive] out of me," he said to the camera. He tried to tell Smith it was a joke, but Smith was not having it, and Rock moved on.

Here's the moment Chris Rock made a "G.I. Jane 2" joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, prompting Will Smith to punch him and yell, "Leave my wife’s name out of your f--king mouth." #Oscars pic.twitter.com/kHTZXI6kuL — Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022

The academy posted a brief statement  on Twitter  after the ceremony saying it "does not condone violence of any form." It did not mention any specifics around the incident.

The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world. — The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022

Smith later won a best actor Oscar for his role in "King Richard," where he  tearfully apologized to the Academy  for the confrontation, but did not mention Rock or offer any apology to him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Where to get tickets for Chris Rock comedy tour; stops include Boston, Mohegan Sun

• Updated: Mar. 08, 2022, 7:43 a.m.
• | Published: Feb. 22, 2022, 12:14 p.m.
• George Lenker | Special to The Republican

Grammy- and Emmy-winning comedian Chris Rock has announced his return to live comedy via his Ego Death World Tour 2022.

The 38-date North American leg of Rock’s first world tour in more than five years kicks off April 2 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with stops at the Wilbur Theater in Boston March 30-April 1 and a show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn., on June 3. Shop around for Chris Rock tickets to all his shows at StubHub , VividSeats or TicketNetwork .

Rock has enjoyed ongoing success in both film and television as a comedian, actor, writer, producer and director for more than three decades. He recently wrapped production on the upcoming biopic, “Rustin.” Rock is also set to direct an as-yet untitled project of his own in 2023.

Tickets go on sale to the public starting Friday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.com .

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Nation | Chris Rock takes the stage in Boston for first…

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Nation | Chris Rock takes the stage in Boston for first time since Oscar slap

‘i’m still kind of processing what happened’.

“How was your weekend?” he told the crowd to laughter.

BOSTON, MA - March 30: Comedian Chris Rock arrives at the Wilbur theatre on March 30, 2022 in BOSTON, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

BOSTON, MA - March 30: Joanna, Teresa and Kristi Vukaj speak to the herald as Comedian Chris Rock preforms at the Wilbur theatre on March 30, 2022 in BOSTON, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

BOSTON, MA - March 30: Comedian Chris Rock plays the Wilbur theatre on March 30, 2022 in BOSTON, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)

Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

presenter Chris Rock, left, reacts after being hit on stage by Will Smith while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Those hanging around the theater ahead of the first evening show told the Herald they were “Team Chris.” Many were looking for tickets and others were happy they scored them for $50 — but that price soared to $1,245 for a later show.

Rock is in Boston through April 1 for his “Ego Death World Tour 2022.” He hit the stage, according to multiple reports, quickly addressing the slap he received from Will Smith at the Oscars Sunday night before moving on.

“I’m still kind of processing what happened,” he told the crowd, adding he was then “going to tell some jokes.”

The slap came mid-Oscars as he told a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

“Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it, all right?” Rock said Sunday from the stage of the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles ahead of his presentation for Oscar for best documentary.

The joke, directed at Pinkett Smith, was a reference to Demi Moore’s shaved-headed starring role in the 1997 film G.I. Jane — and it earned Rock a wallop of a smack onstage from Will Smith.

Pinkett Smith had shaved her head as she suffers from alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that creates areas of hair loss.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences also announced an hour before Rock took the stage in Boston that Will Smith was asked to leave Sunday’s Oscar ceremony after hitting the comedian but refused to do so.

Will Smith now faces possible disciplinary action that could include suspension, expulsion or other sanctions.

The smack was seen by a Nielsen-estimated 15 million viewers live. That’s in addition to the countless videos watched online after the fact and the deluge of memes and video remixes that bombarded social media for days.

“Certainly the most memorable moment in Oscars history in my opinion,” said Sam Wisnia of Boston. “Warren Beatyy is now second place when he announced the wrong best picture.”

Standing next to him, Elyse Moretti agreed: “Definitely didn’t wake up to that many texts and Twitter notifications at any other moment in my life, I don’t think. My whole TikTok was just different memes. And I teach so everyone was talking about it, even the students.”

“This changed my opinion, I will never watch anything ever again of Will Smith’s. Ever. And you can quote me on that,” said Teresa Holts of Mansfield, who was attending the Rock show with her husband Mel to celebrate her birthday.

“We don’t embrace violence. Just over a joke?” Mel Holts said with his ticket fresh in hand. “That’s his job, he’s a comedian. Roasting, that’s his job.”

Another couple standing nearby had driven all the way from Buffalo, N.Y., for the Sparks show at the Shubert Theatre across the street, but they still had some strong opinions on the Smith and Rock controversy.

“Yeah, we’re Team Chris all the way,” Debbie Massaro said. “I haven’t spoken to anybody who is on Will’s side.”

“God Bless Chris Rock,” Tom Heneghan agreed. “And he (Smith) laughed at it! And nobody’s talking about that. And then I think somebody got in his ear and all of a sudden he’s got a cause celebre to make a big mistake in his life.”

Teresa Vukaj of Weymouth, but originally from Albania, said that she thinks the whole thing was a publicity stunt but could have just been an emotional moment. The others in the group, which couldn’t get tickets to the show, Kristi Vukaj and Joana Vuka agreed.

“To everyone thinking it’s fake — if you’ve ever seen a Chris Rock movie, he’s not a great dramatic actor,” said TJ Cole, who was going with his wife Tonya to the show. “So if he was faking holding his stuff together then that was the best acting he’s ever done in his entire life.”

At least two religious leaders held a short press conference. One of them, the Rev. Kevin Peterson, the founder of the New Democracy Coalition, said the Oscars smack was “a teachable moment and an opportunity for our spiritual leaders across the country, our political leaders across the country so that we end the cycle of violence that is underreported in the black community. This is an opportunity to turn toward each other in apology and reconciliation and not against each other.”

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After “The Slap,” Chris Rock Is Coming to Boston This Week

All eyes will be on the Wilbur as he makes what looks to be his first public appearance following the incident heard 'round the entertainment world.

Keep your weekends full of the coolest things to do around Boston with our weekly Weekender newsletter.

US actor Chris Rock speaks onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

What will Chris Rock have to say about The Incident? Boston comedy fans, it seems, will be among the first to know.

The comedian is slated to appear for a multi-night run of sold-out standup shows at the Wilbur this week, just days after he found himself on the receiving end of one of the more shocking moments in Oscars history. He’ll take the mic beginning Wednesday night, and perform six times through Friday.

As you’re assuredly already aware if you’ve been anywhere near an internet connection today, Rock was on stage delivering some one-liners at the Academy Awards Sunday night when he made a joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith that appeared to mock her recent hair loss due to alopecia. Smith then proceeded to storm onto the stage, slap Rock across the face , and then shout expletives at the comedian.

The slap has yielded no shortage of wild takes in the immediate aftermath, as commentators struggle to process the case of a tasteless joke followed swiftly by real physical violence on live television.

But what, if anything, Chris Rock himself will have to say about all this in Boston this week remains to be seen. As of Monday morning, Rock had yet to speak publicly about the incident. All we know so far is that, according to the Los Angeles Police Department , he declined to press charges against Smith, and that, according to Diddy , Smith and Rock made nice after the show.

But you can expect that the global entertainment press will be paying extremely close attention to whatever reaction he’s willing to share with fans from the Wilbur’s stage. There is certainly a lot to unpack here, given the headline-dominating altercation, and Smith’s teary reaction and quasi-apology in his Best Actor acceptance speech.

It was also not yet clear whether this suddenly extra anticipated appearance might drive up the cost of a seat at the show on the resale market. Tickets on Stubhub were scarce on Monday, and by noon were going for about $125 a pop.

This would already have been a big Oscars week for Massachusetts and its links to the goings on of Hollywood. CODA , the drama set in Gloucester and written and directed by Cambridge’s Sian Heder (who also took home an Oscar for her adapted screenplay), won Best Picture, making history as both the first film from a streamer (Apple TV+) and the first film with a mostly deaf cast to win that award. Co-star Troy Kotsur also made history as the first deaf male actor to win an award for the film.

But who could have seen  this local connection coming?

As for whose opinion we do  not need to wait to hear, yet another local has garnered lots of attention today: Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who tweeted then promptly deleted a full-throated “thank you” to Smith and a “shout out to all the husbands who defend their wives living with alopecia in the face of daily ignorance & insults.” Pressley has been public about her own alopecia-related hair loss , and followed up with a tweet thread this morning saying that she does not “endorse violence in any form,” and ending with “Team Jada always.”

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Chris Rock to perform in Boston for first time after Oscar slap

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Actor and comedian Chris Rock is here in Massachusetts Wednesday night, performing in Boston. This marks his first public appearance since he was slapped by Will Smith on live TV at the Academy Awards just three nights prior.

The first show begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night. This will be the first of six sold out shows in Boston.

Rock arrived shortly before 6 p.m. Our cameras were rolling as the comedian exited a van with a security team and quickly walked inside a secured entrance.

“It was crazy at first, I thought it was fake, but when Will Smith started yelling, you could hear it in his voice,” said Emilio Rodgers of Portland, Oregon.

“I’ll tell ya, he took that hit like a man. He straight up just took it,” Brandon Marsden, also of Portland, added.

The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Chris Rock address the slapping incident from the Oscars? A joke he made about Will Smith’s wife prompted Smith to walk up on stage and slap Rock across the face. It is safe to say that has certainly drawn interest in entry to Wednesday night’s event.

According to The Wilbur’s website, tickets to the show were $51-$71, but we checked sites like Ticketmaster and Stub Hub and resale tickets have gone for as much as $1,700, the lowest being more than $350.

We caught up with one very excited fan who snagged a seat.

“I’m a huge Chris Rock fan, so right when they announced the tickets, I immediately got them, and it’s just wild that I can experience this kind of historical event right after this big incident at the Oscars,” said Emerson College student Andrew West.

He said he hoped Rock cracks a few jokes about the unforgettable Oscars moment at Wednesday night’s show.

The Wilbur plans to keep tight security Wednesday night. No cameras are allowed inside the venue and fans have to lock away their cell phones in Yondr pouches upon entry.

According to The Wilbur’s website, guests can use their devices throughout the night, but only in designated “phone use areas” and they must lock their phones away before returning to the performance space.

Anyone caught using their phone during the performance will be escorted out by security.

Copyright 2022. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.

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How To Get Tickets to Chris Rock’s 2022 Tour

The comedian's first standup tour in five years launches this week

Chris Rock has yet to publicly address the “slap see around the world,” but chances are he’ll speak about it when he launches his “Ego Death World Tour” later this week. As fate would have it, just days after his on-stage confrontation with Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars, Rock will embark on his first standup comedy tour in five years.

You can get tickets here .

What Is Chris Rock’s Next Tour?

Originally announced back in February, Chris Rock’s “Ego Death World Tour” marks his first full-fledged standup comedy tour in half a decade. The lengthy tour includes multiple dates in Boston, Atlantic City, Reno, and Las Vegas, plus stops in Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, and Radio City Music Hall in New York, with plenty of cities small and large in-between. The tour runs from the end of March through the middle of November.

Additionally, Rock is teaming up with Kevin Hart for five special shows in New York and New Jersey.

He also has upcoming shows in the UK , Australia, and New Zealand.

How Can I Get Chris Rock’s 2022 Tour?

Tickets are already on sale , but they’re going fast. Since last night’s Oscars, some ticket retailers are seeing more demand for Chris Rock tickets than at any point in the last month.

What Are Chris Rock’s 2022 Tour Dates?

03/30 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (early show) 03/30 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (late show) 03/31 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (early show) 03/31 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (late show) 04/01 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (early show) 04/01 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur (late show) 04/02 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (early show) 04/02 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (late show) 04/08 — Indio, CA @ Fantasy Springs Casino 04/09 — Reno, NV @ Silver Legacy Resort Casino (early show) 04/09 — Reno, NV @ Silver Legacy Resort Casino (late show) 04/14 — Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hollywood 04/15 — Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hollywood 04/16 — Durham, NC @ DPAC 04/17 — Durham, NC @ DPAC 04/20 — Bethlehem, PA @ Wind Creek Bethlehem 04/21 — Bethlehem, PA @ Wind Creek Bethlehem 04/22 — Baltimore, MD @ The Lyric 04/23 — Baltimore, MD @ The Lyric 05/06 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 05/07 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 05/12 — London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall 05/13 — Birmingham, UK @ Utilita Arena 05/14 — Leeds, UK @ First Direct Arena 05/15 — Manchester, UK @ AO Arena 06/03 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun 06/07 — Columbus, OH @ Ohio Theatre 06/09 — Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre 06/11 — St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre 06/14 — Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre At Old National Centre 06/16 — Cleveland, OH @ Connor Palace at Playhouse Square 06/18 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena 06/21 — Denver, CO @ Bellco Theatre 06/23 — Prior Lake, MN @ Mystic Lake Casino Hotel 06/24 — Prior Lake, MN @ Mystic Lake Casino Hotel 06/25 — Mt Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino 07/03 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Colosseum at Caesars Palace 07/07 — Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre-Oakland 07/08 — Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre-Oakland 07/09 — Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre-Oakland 07/21 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater ^ 07/22 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center ^ 07/23 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^ 07/24 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center ^ 07/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center ^ 07/27 — Orlando, FL @ Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts 07/29 — Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre Atlanta 08/07 – Auckland, NZ @ Spark Arena 08/08 – Christchurch, NZ @ Christchurch Arena 08/10 – Melbourne, AU @ Margaret Court Arena 08/15 – Sydney, AU @ Qudos Bank Arena 08/17 – Adelaide, AU @ Entertainment Centre 08/20 – Brisbane, AU @ Adelaide, AU @ Entertainment Centre 08/23 – Gold Coast, AU @ Convention and Exhibition Centre 08/27 — Funner, CA @ Harrah’s Southern California Resort and Casino 08/28 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre 09/16 — Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre Detroit 09/26 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Benedum Center 10/06 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall 10/07 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall 10/13 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre 10/14 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre 10/15 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre 10/18 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre 10/19 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre 10/21 — Vancouver, BC @ UBC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre 10/27 — Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall 10/28 — Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall 11/17 — Los Angeles, CA @ Dolby Theatre 11/18 — Los Angeles, CA @ Dolby Theatre

^ = w/ Kevin Hart

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How to get tickets to chris rock's 2022 tour.

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Other Upcoming Shows

Fred armisen: comedy for musicians but everyone is welcome, cancelled – haha davis, rescheduled from 6/14 to 8/16. all tickets honored for the new date., cancelled – billy gardell, games with names live, with julian edelman, old gods of appalachia, donnell rawlings, choirchoirchoir presents: “hallelujah”: an epic anthems sing-along, randy feltface: first banana tour, rescheduled from 5/10. all tickets honored., cowboy bebop live: presented by the bebop bounty big band, kk’s priest with special guests accept, jesus aguaje ramos and his buena vista orchestra, laura ramoso: sit up straight tour, charlie berens: good old fashioned tour, wanda sykes: please & thank you tour, x: smoke & fiction tour, nick mullen, lewis black: goodbye yeller brick road, the final tour, kanan gill: what is this world tour 2024, joe dombrowski, ismo: watch your language tour, heather mcdonald: the juicy scoop experience, yngwie malmsteen: the 40th anniversary tour, cancelled – robin trower, my therapist ghosted me, brian simpson, tracy morgan, richard thompson: ship to shore tour – full band show, john early: the album tour, therapuss live with jake shane, matt mccusker, jenny slate lifeform tour, the moth mainstage, tommy tiernan – tommedian, lore podcast live, duncan trussell, ronny chieng: the love to hate it tour, the wallflowers, cancelled – miller: new supply tour, brian regan, kevin hart: acting my age (boch center), please note - this show is at the wang theatre, the rest is history, max fosh – loophole, steve treviño: the good life tour, kathleen madigan: the potluck party, an evening with railroad earth, michael rapaport, whitney cummings: big baby, ryan hamilton, anubhav singh bassi, ages 16+ | performed in hindi, justin hayward: blue world tour, chris botti, gillian welch & david rawlings, jimmy o. yang, david lucas, hot tuna (acoustic), morgan jay: aphrodesia tour, girls gotta eat: no crumbs tour, tickets on sale now, sammy obeid, bob marley comedian, christopher titus, monét x change: life be lifin’, rescheduled from 5/14 to 1/24, sarah silverman: postmortem, andrew santino: freeze peach tour, tom segura @ td garden, ginger billy, hyprov: improv under hypnosis, starring colin mochrie (of whose line is it anyway) and asad mecci (world renowned hypnotist), neil degrasse tyson: astronomy bizarre, a nightmare with casey sherman, cancelled – christina p: old yeller tour, this show is cancelled. ticket purchasers will be refunded automatically..

CELL PHONE POLICY This event will be a phone-free experience

CELL PHONE POLICY

This event will be a phone-free experience. Use of phones will not be permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, phones will be secured in individual Yondr pouches that will be opened at the end of the event. Guests maintain possession of their devices at all times, and can access them throughout the event only in designated Phone Use Areas within the venue. All devices will be re-secured in Yondr pouches before returning to the performance space.

All pouches and equipment are routinely sanitized. The Yondr staff is trained and required to follow safety guidelines and hygiene protocols to practice social distancing, minimal contact and wear required personal protective equipment.

Anyone seen using a device during the performance will be escorted out of the venue by security. We appreciate your cooperation in creating a phone-free experience.

ABOUT CHRIS ROCK

Chris Rock is one of the world’s most important comedic voices, as well as an award-winning actor, director, producer, and writer.

Rock recently wrapped production on the upcoming Higher Ground produced biopic, Rustin.

In 2021 Rock starred as Loy Cannon in season 4 of FX’s Emmy-winning drama series Fargo. He also teamed up with Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures in the reimagining of the newest Saw franchise movie, Spiral, in which he produced and starred in. His most recent standup special, Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut, is now streaming on Netflix.

In 2014 Rock wrote, directed and starred in the award-winning comedy film Top Five. He also wrote, directed and starred in Head of State and I Think I Love my Wife.

His other film credits include The Week Of, the Grown Ups and Madagascar franchises, 2 Days in New York, Death at a Funeral, Nurse Betty, Dogma, the hip-hop comedy CB4, and New Jack City.

Rock’s big break in television started as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He executive produced, wrote and narrated the award-winning series Everybody Hates Chris.

In 2011 Rock made his Broadway debut starring in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker With The Hat.

Beyond acting, Rock directed HBO’s comedy special Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo and executive produced Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. In 2009 Rock ventured into the documentary world as the writer and producer of Good Hair. The critically acclaimed film won the Sundance Special Jury Prize and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary.

In 2016 Rock returned to host the 88th Annual Academy Awards.

Rock may be best known for his comedy specials Tamborine, Kill the Messenger, Never Scared, Bigger & Blacker and Bring the Pain. Rock took home two Emmy Awards for Bring the Pain and one for Kill the Messenger. He won Grammy Awards for Bring the Pain, Never Scared and Bigger & Blacker.

In addition to winning four Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards, Rock is also a New York Times Best-Selling Author.

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Chris rock gets standing ovation at first show since oscars slap: “i’m still kind of processing what happened”.

After getting slapped by Will Smith at the Academy Awards ceremony, Rock opened his comedy show in Boston on Wednesday with, "How was your weekend?"

By Robyn Bahr , Ryan Gajewski March 30, 2022 6:10pm

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Chris Rock returned to the stand-up stage Wednesday in his first public appearance since Will Smith slapped him during the 2022 Oscars .

Kicking off his comedy tour at the Wilbur in Boston, Rock walked out to two boisterous standing ovations that lasted roughly two minutes. As he attempted to get a word in, the comedian said, “You got me all misty and shit.”

Once the crowd had quieted down, he asked, “How was your weekend?” which was greeted with laughter. Rock went on to speak briefly about “what happened” but did not directly mention the Oscars ceremony, the Academy or Smith.

“I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend, and I’m still kind of processing what happened,” Rock said. “So at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it’ll be serious, and it’ll be funny.”

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He continued, “I’m going to tell some jokes. It’s nice to just be out.”

Later on in his set, he told the audience, “Except for some other pretty weird things, life is pretty good right now,” which led to big cheers. In general, the crowd appeared to be more responsive than Rock was used to or expecting, with the comedian at times referencing the loud reactions.

At the end of his show, which ran about an hour, he received another standing ovation.

This marked the start of Rock’s Ego Death World Tour, which runs through the fall. Ticket sales for his live comedy shows have soared since Sunday’s ceremony; indeed, one attendee at the Wilbur told The Hollywood Reporter that she spent $2,200 on two tickets in the aftermath of this weekend’s controversy.

Rock’s appearance follows Smith taking to Instagram on Monday to apologize for slapping the comedian onstage during the live Academy Awards show.

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” Smith  wrote in the post.

The shocking moment at the Oscars ceremony Sunday came after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, before presenting the award for best documentary feature. Rock suggested Pinkett Smith was getting ready to film a sequel to G.I. Jane — a reference to the actress’ shaved head. (Pinkett Smith has been open about her hair loss due to alopecia.)

At that point, Smith walked up onstage and slapped Rock. Returning to his seat, he yelled at Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!”

Later in the show, while accepting the Oscar for best actor for his role in King Richard, in which he plays Richard Williams, father to tennis legends Venus and Serena, Smith apologized to the Academy and fellow nominees, but not to Rock. However, Monday’s post on Instagram did include an apology to the comedian.

“Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” he wrote. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”

On Wednesday, the Academy stated that “ disciplinary proceedings ” against Smith had begun, which could lead to “suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.” In this latest statement, the Academy also said Smith had been asked to leave the show but refused.

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Chris Rock tour 2022: How to see the comedian live, where to buy tickets

• Updated: Mar. 28, 2022, 5:01 p.m.
• | Published: Mar. 28, 2022, 10:46 a.m.

The actor, comedian and Oscar presenter is embarking on two huge tours this year. Gary Miller | Getty Images

• Matt Levy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Comedian Chris Rock made headlines at the 94th Academy Awards when he made a joke at the expense of actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, which led to a slap across the face from her husband, Oscar winner Will Smith.

It was a shocking moment and one that Rock may cover on his upcoming “Ego Death” tour which starts on March 30 at Boston’s Wilbur Theater and runs all the way until November.

Prior to the events at the Academy Awards, Rock shared on Instagram that “Ego Death” will include all new material: “Introspective, very personal and very funny.”

Mid-tour, Rock will switch things up and perform five shows in New York and New Jersey with Kevin Hart on their co-headlining “Only Headliners Allowed” tour .

If you want to see what the always electric Rock has to say on stage this year, here’s everything you need to know.

How to buy Chris Rock tickets for the Ego Death World Tour 2022

Tickets to see the former “Saturday Night Live” and “In Living Color” cast member live are available on all major ticketing platforms.

We recommend perusing StubHub , Vivid Seats , Ticketmaster , SeatGeek and MegaSeats for best results.

Where is Chris Rock going on tour?

The 55-show Ego Death Tour will take Rock all over North America from late March until his final performance in Los Angeles on Nov. 18 .

All five Only Headliners Allowed shows with Kevin Hart will take place in July. Below, they are listed as “with Kevin Hart.”

Here is a list of Rock’s show dates, venues and links to buy tickets:

• March 30 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts ( 7:30 p.m. show and 10 p.m. show )
• March 31 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts ( 7:30 p.m. show and 10 p.m. show )
• April 1 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts ( 7:30 p.m. show and 10 p.m. show )
• April 2 at the Borgata Casino Event Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey ( 7 p.m. show and 10 p.m. show )
• April 8 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California
• April 9 at the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada ( 7 p.m. show and 10 p.m. show )
• April 14 at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida
• April 15 at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida
• April 16 at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina
• April 17 at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina
• April 20 at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• April 21 at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• April 22 at the Modell Performing Arts Center in Baltimore, Maryland
• April 23 at the Modell Performing Arts Center in Baltimore, Maryland
• May 6 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada
• May 7 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada
• May 12 at the Royal Albert Hall in in London, England
• June 3 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut
• June 7 at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus, Ohio
• June 9 at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio
• June 11 at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri
• June 14 at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana
• June 16 at the Connor Palace Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio
• June 18 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada
• June 21 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado
• June 23 at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota
• June 24 at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota
• June 25 at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan
• July 3 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada
• July 7 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California
• July 8 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California
• July 9 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California
• July 21 at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York (with Kevin Hart)
• July 22 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (with Kevin Hart)
• July 23 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York (with Kevin Hart)
• July 24 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey (with Kevin Hart)
• July 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (with Kevin Hart)
• July 27 at the Walt Disney Theater in Orlando, Florida
• July 29 at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
• Aug. 27 at the Harrahs Resort in Valley Center, California
• Aug. 28 at the Arizona Federal Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona
• Sept. 16 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan
• Sept. 26 at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Oct. 6 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York
• Oct. 13 at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois
• Oct. 14 at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois
• Oct. 18 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington
• Oct. 19 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington
• Oct. 21 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, Canada
• Oct. 27 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
• Oct. 28 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
• Nov. 17 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California
• Nov. 18 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California

Chris Rock at the Netflix is a Joke Festival

Rock is currently listed as one of more than huge 100 comedians set to take part in the monumental, first-ever 10-day Netflix Is A Joke Festival.

However, at the time of publication, there has been no announcement made about when and where he will perform.

In any event, many household names with set show dates at the inaugural fest include Kevin Hart , Pete Davidson , Tina Fey , Amy Schumer , Wanda Sykes and many, many others.

The festival will take place all over Los Angeles from April 28-May 8. Tickets for all shows can be found here .

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Matt Levy covers the live entertainment industry, writing about upcoming concerts, festivals, shows and events. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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Chris Rock says he's still processing the slap in his first appearance since Oscars

Jaclyn Diaz

The marquee at the Wilbur Theatre advertises a sold out performance by US comedian Chris Rock in Boston, Massachusetts on March 30. JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The marquee at the Wilbur Theatre advertises a sold out performance by US comedian Chris Rock in Boston, Massachusetts on March 30.

Comedian Chris Rock took the stage in Boston Wednesday night to say he is still "processing what happened" at the Oscars where he was slapped in the face by Will Smith.

"How was your weekend?" Rock said at the start of his show, according to Variety . "I don't have a bunch of s**t about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I'm still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I'll talk about that s**t. And it will be serious and funny."

It was the slap seen around the world.

During the awards ceremony Sunday, Smith rushed on stage and slapped Rock across the face on live TV. Just moments before, Rock was presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and had made a joke at the expense of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Rock said he was looking forward to seeing Pinkett Smith in G.I. Jane 2 — making fun of her shaved head. Pinkett Smith has been open in the past about her hair loss condition .

That's when Smith got up from his seat, went on stage, and slapped Rock. Later that night, Smith won the Oscar for his role in King Richard .

The now-Oscar Award winner has since apologized for assaulting Rock. But he's faced heavy criticism in the days that followed.

Read Will Smith's apology to Chris Rock

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has since condemned Smith's actions and launched an official inquiry into the incident.

In a statement, the Academy said Wednesday that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused.

The Academy said it was "a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television."

Richard Williams — the man Smith portrayed on screen in his award-winning role — also spoke out against the actor.

"We don't know all the details of what happened," Williams told NBC News through his son, Chavoita LeSane. "But we don't condone anyone hitting anyone else unless it's in self-defense."

Rock appears to be getting the last laugh. Days after the incident, ticket sales for his world tour reportedly skyrocketed.

TickPick, a site for ticket sales, tweeted : "We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined."

A representative for StubHub told Rolling Stone that "the site experienced 'more than 25x the daily sales'" over two days compared to what they've seen in the last month.

Wednesday's show was the first of five performances in Boston and marked the start of Rock's Ego Death World Tour.

• pinkett smith
• oscar award

Ticket prices for Chris Rock’s Boston shows spike after that slap at the Oscars

Chris Rock is coming to Boston’s Wilbur Theater this week, marking his first public appearance since Sunday’s Oscars where he made a crack about Jada Pinkett Smith that got him slapped in the face by her husband, Will Smith .

It was a media moment that reverberated around the world, and Smith has since apologized to Rock as well as to the Academy . Rock declined to press charges, but has been more or less quiet since the incident.

So, what does Rock have to say about the controversy? Many are hoping he’ll address it during his Boston run, which begins Wednesday.

Rock’s Ego Death Tour rolls into the Wilbur this week for six shows. He’ll do two performances a night, at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., from Wednesday through Friday. Tickets for all six shows are sold out, though third party distributors still have some seats left for those willing to pay top dollar .

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On Stubhub , tickets are listed between $125 and $399. On Vividseats , they’re listed between $244 and $1,150. And on TickPick , tickets are listed between $307 and $1,463. Tickets appear to be pricier for the later shows.

TickPick reported that they sold more tickets overnight following the Oscars than they did in the past month combined, according to an emailed statement. TickPick said the cheapest ticket was sold on March 18 at $46. Now, with the lowest ticket price hovering around $300, TickPick said prices for Rock’s Boston shows shot up around 600 percent Sunday to Monday.

Here's the moment Chris Rock made a "G.I. Jane 2" joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, prompting Will Smith to punch him and yell, "Leave my wife’s name out of your f--king mouth." #Oscars pic.twitter.com/kHTZXI6kuL — Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022

Brittany Bowker can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @brittbowker and also on Instagram @brittbowker .

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Chris Rock tells Boston fans he's still 'processing' the slap in first performance since Oscars

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• Cristela Guerra

There were plenty of predictions among fans in line as they waited for Chris Rock's show at The Wilbur in Boston on Wednesday night.

“I think he’s going to roast Will Smith for an hour straight and then probably get to the rest of his jokes,” said Isa Wells, from Foxborough.

It was the comedian's first performance since the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Rock during the telecast. Rock had made a comment on stage about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia.

Tickets prices for Rock's three-night engagement, part of his Ego Death World Tour, in Boston soared after Sunday night's incident.

But Rock didn't roast Smith, and only briefly acknowledged what had happened. In a video posted online by Variety , Rock opened the show by asking the audience how their weekends were. Then he said he was still "processing" what happened Sunday, and would talk more about it at some point. But his plan for now was to stick with the routine he'd already written before the Oscars.

Kathryn West-Hines, of Malden, was OK with that decision.

“When he first came out, we gave him an amazing standing ovation and then we did it again and again, three ovations and he was very misty eyed,” she said. “He started crying. You can see the tears ... He was amazing. He wasn’t gonna let Will Smith take his shine at all.”

Though Rock didn't talk about it, there were plenty of conversations in line about Rock's joke and Smith's response, ranging from reflections on comedy, to reflections on Blackness, Black women and the deep significance of their hair.

Theresa Grannum, from Dorchester, said the joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's hair was just another example of how the world disrespects Black women. And, Grannum defended Smith's response though she doesn’t condone violence. “He was protecting his woman because he knew this was a sensitive situation for her,” she said. “Our hair is a sensitive situation for us.”

Some Chris Rock fans came out to the theater in search of tickets, including Chrissa Kaselis of Walpole. She heads a local support group for people with alopecia and has lived with it herself for around 25 years.

“I do, I love Chris Rock. I've always loved him. I think he's a great comedian. And I think that, you know what? He said it can offend some people, especially those who have alopecia. But it all depends on the context that you take it,” she said. “I'm looking at this as a learning experience. You know, we can educate the world about alopecia now. Thank you so much for saying, you know, something about being G.I. Jane. I've been called [that] over 100 times in my life.”

Kaselis was hoping to give Rock information about alopecia after the show, but she wasn't able to get last-minute tickets.

Local comedian Alex Giampapa has done comedy for ten years. He loves telling jokes and the feeling that he’s free to speak. What happened Sunday compromises some part of that, but he still came out to support Rock.

“I think a lot of big comedians come across as out of touch now, but his stuff really resonated with a lot of people,” Giampapa said. “Some people tried to goad him into [sort of] talking about it. People were yelling out, chanting Will Smith and stuff, but he just didn't go for it.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a statement saying it will initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violating standards of conduct.

This segment aired on March 31, 2022.

• Chris Rock says he's still processing the slap in his first appearance since Oscars

Cristela Guerra Senior Arts & Culture Reporter Cristela Guerra is a senior arts and culture reporter for WBUR.

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Chris Rock Says He’s ‘Still Processing’ Will Smith Slap at Boston Shows

By Sean Burns

“So how was your weekend?” Chris Rock asked the sold out crowd at Boston’s Wilbur Theater Wednesday night, his first public appearance since Sunday’s calamitous Academy Awards ceremony . Earlier in the day, 3,000 miles away, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ board of governors held an emergency meeting to initiate disciplinary measures against Will Smith — who, as most of the world knows by now, stormed the stage and slapped Rock in the face on live television after taking exception to a lame G.I. Jane joke aimed at his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Only 16 million Americans tuned in to see the slap during the second-lowest rated telecast in Oscars history, but the viral moment has mutated into the most talked-about live TV debacle since the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show.

Rock, however, has remained uncharacteristically silent on the matter — which is why the comic’s three-night, six-show stand in Boston has been greeted by the media with the same fanfare usually reserved for visiting heads of state. Ticket prices for Wednesday’s performances skyrocketed into the thousands of dollars on secondary sales sites. A phalanx of paparazzi sat perched for hours outside of the Ritz Carlton, where Rock was staying. Reporters nearly outnumbered fans in the crowd assembled on Tremont Street in front of the Wilbur. The same 15-second clip of the comedian walking into the historic theater was rerun constantly on local evening news broadcasts, offering at least a slight change of pace for those tired of watching replays of the slap on every talk show for the past three days.

Related: Last Laugh? Chris Rock Sells Out First Dates of Comedy Tour Following ‘Slapgate’

There is a moment just after the Oscars altercation — in footage that’s been obsessively analyzed, like a Zapruder film for our idiotic age — where it seemed as if Rock had a comeback teed up in response to Smith’s assault. Instead, viewers saw the comedian decide to let it go, collecting his composure and getting back to the business at hand. On Wednesday, fans packed the Wilbur, paying obscene amounts of money in the hopes of finally hearing the comedian’s take on the slap heard around the world. But Rock, once again, played the consummate professional.

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“Nothing about Will Smith . You guys just wasted all your fuckin’ money,” an angry audience member exiting the 7:30 p.m. show barked.

Indeed, after warmly receiving a standing ovation, Rock — resplendent in an all-white suit and basketball sneakers — explained to the rowdy, audibly inebriated 10 p.m. crowd that he was “still processing” what happened at the Oscars. “I have a comedy show I wrote before all this shit,” he said, confessing that, as far as he’s concerned, the worst thing that happened to him over the weekend was finding out his daughter didn’t get into the University of Southern California. And that was that.

What followed instead was a riotous 75-minute set, constructed much like his most recent 2018 comedy special Tamborine — a barrage of bracing, topical humor in the first half, shifting into more personal, confessional reflections in the second. Given all that’s occurred in the world since Rock last toured, he’s got more than a few outrageous, heretical insights, still delivered in the same, staccato shouts, saving his conspiratorial, Cheshire grin for the most offensive of them all.

“America’s done,” Rock repeated, punctuating his riffs with the phrase. “Closed for business.” He lamented that Covid-19 “wasn’t deadly enough” to unite this fraught and divided nation. In a moment of mock-nostalgia, he stated AIDS “took out a lot more A-Listers,” and was so scary he “wore a mask over his dick for 20 years.” It was screamingly inappropriate and quintessentially Rock — a moment to remind attending that, if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not paying attention. (A genuinely hair-raising series of jokes about abortion, however, stirred up some of the evening’s angriest hecklers.)

Most of Rock’s fury was focused on performative outrage and empty, politically correct gestures, spitting fire at corporations like Lululemon, which put up signs in their stores congratulating themselves for standing against racism while selling $100 yoga pants. Most folks, the comedian countered, would be fine with $20 yoga pants that said the n-word once in a while. A bit about his all-white neighborhood in suburban New Jersey becoming overrun with Black Lives Matter signs was interrupted with one of his more exquisite taunts: “I suppose this isn’t an issue in Boston.”

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A couple of riffs didn’t land, as rants about Hillary Clinton and the Kardashians feel exhausted in 2022. Rock seemed to have the most fun kidding around with the audience, asking how many had used fake vaccine cards to get into the show, before wondering aloud if, in 1956, people insisted it was their God-given right as Americans to contract polio. Admitting that he’d ingested far too many drugs purchased in strip club bathrooms to ever question the efficacy of a vaccine, Rock bragged about using his celebrity status to cut the line and get his shots first. “I was like Billy Zane in Titanic,” he cackled. “Remember, Billy Zane lived!” (Cue that Cheshire grin.)

Rock later moved into a segment featuring a more exploratory, domestic kind of comedy, telling longer stories about life with his daughters and dating while rich single dad in his late 50s. Most moving was an admission that he loves his daughters, but can’t relate to them at all; their privileged upbringing means he’s stuck with the kind of spoiled kids he hated growing up. The pacing of these stories lost some of the late-night audience after a rapid-fire first half — but Rock was never the kind of comic who allowed us into his home life. It’s fascinating to see him trying a new approach at this stage of his career.

There’s a restlessness and an appealing insecurity to how Rock has tackled this personal material — as evidenced by his recent re-cutting of his 2018 special into 2021’s Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut , which completely eliminated the contributions of original director Bo Burnham to add 40 minutes of messier footage. A lot of Rock’s jokes are about feeling older in a world that’s passing him by — but to watch the comedian on stage is to see an artist challenging himself to find new ways of staying current and connected to his craft. Rock might be ruminating what happened on the Oscars stage, as he said at the start of Wednesday’s set — but it seems there’s much more that he’s “still processing” as he enters the next stage of his career, too.

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Chris Rock’s First Stand-Up Set Since the Slap: “How Was Your Weekend?”

Before Chris Rock even began his new hour-long set onstage at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on Wednesday night—the opening performance of his new U.S. tour, and his first public appearance since The Slap—he had to wait through not one but two standing ovations, plus a guy who shouted out “Fuck Will Smith !” Then everyone roared for that guy, too.

“How was your weekend?” Rock began, grinning exactly the way you’re picturing right now.

Almost by way of apology, he explained that he didn’t plan to say much about the incident: “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point, I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”

Then, with the same grace he displayed on Sunday night, he segued from slap-happy Will Smith to the shit he wanted to talk about, like why COVID wasn’t deadly enough. “AIDS,” he said, “broke up Queen… I’ve been wearing a mask on my dick for 25 years.” He mocked anti-vaxxers who protest that they don’t know what’s in the shot. “I don’t know what’s in Fruit Loops,” Rock said, “but I know what’s not in there: fruit.”

Rock was dressed head to toe in bright gleaming white: white shirt, white suit with the white sleeves pushed up to his elbows, white hightops. A single spotlight cast a giant 20-foot Chris Rock shadow behind him. He seemed both weighed down by the last few days, and elated to be back onstage telling jokes to people who actually wanted to hear them, no matter how rough they got.

At the Oscars, he told a lame joke about GI Jane and gets assaulted by a movie star. At the Wilbur Theater, he could say that he doesn’t think Meghan Markle is Black—“I think she’s not white ”—and get a huge laugh. “What did you expect” from the British royal family? “Didn’t they invent colonialism?” One of Rock’s boldest claims of the night was that it wasn’t racist for a Royal family member to ask her how Black the baby is going to be. “Even Black people wanna know how Black the baby is gonna be! Is it a Steph baby? A Lil Nas X baby?” If Markle wanted to be embraced by her white in-laws, she should’ve “married into the Kardashians . They love Black people more than Black people.”

The best bits in Rock’s new act are when he reckons with the ironies and compromises of his insanely wealthy life, and its corrosive effect on his judgment, his ability to raise his kids (“my kids are rich kids, and I always hated rich kids”), and his dating life as a single 57-year-old Black man who has to put on bifocals to read the lurid texts he’s been getting from a thirsty woman he’s never met and does not know named Candace. Rock has savaged himself in past specials for his gated-community life, but now, he said onstage Wednesday night, “every lawn in my white suburb of New Jersey has a Black Lives Matter sign on it.” He started to wonder if they thought they had to put up a BLM sign, or else a Black pharaoh would send a plague to kill their first-born son. He said he feels guilty skipping the line at Disneyworld—but he also loves “jumping in front of fat white people.” (“I don’t usually make fat jokes, but the white people at Disneyworld—goddamn.”)

After 59 minutes, Rock had pulled off something incredible under the circumstances: he managed to banish nearly all thoughts of Will Smith from our minds. It was lurking the whole time, though. About halfway through the show, in the middle of a long story about his daughter getting in big trouble at her very expensive high school, a few audience members started getting loud with each other; Rock tried to talk through the commotion but eventually he stopped and asked if everything was okay. Yes, he was told. He didn’t seem reassured, and nodded to the assassination scene in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X : “Is someone about to shout Get your hand out of my pocket and shoot me?”

There was nothing but love for Rock in the air all night at the Wilbur, which made this moment all the more sad and unsettling. He was still rattled from the violence onstage Sunday night—because of course he was—and now less than 72 hours later, here he was, back onstage, flinching. A few minutes later, the commotion began again, and Rock had to stop again, and this time a massive security guard in a black suit inched out a few steps from stage right. He was ready to pounce. For a split second, Rock sounded dejected, wondering aloud, “Is this how the whole tour is gonna be?”

On the sidewalk outside the theater before the show, a throng of TV camera crews, from the local ABC affiliate to TMZ to the BBC, interviewed ticket-holders about when they bought their seats—pre-Slap or post-Slap?—and how much they’d paid.

Inside, before the lights dropped, audience members traded stories about how they’d managed to snag a ticket for what the BBC reporter outside called “the hottest show in the world.” If you’d bought yours before the Oscars, you paid about $60. Jesse Setaro , a gym owner and personal trainer from Boston’s North End, was able to get his balcony seat for $225 because he opens his gym at 4:30am on Monday mornings. He saw what happened at the Oscars on Twitter when he woke up and immediately bought a ticket to the first show. By Tuesday afternoon, balcony seats were selling for a minimum of $500. A few hours before the show on Wednesday afternoon, it was over $1,000. Three seats front and center in row A of the balcony—the best seats in the house—were being offered on StubHub for $7,910 each. They were all occupied on Wednesday night.

After twice getting sidetracked, and twice flashing back to Will Smith, Rock was finally able to finish his story about his misbehaving daughter and her rich misbehaving private-school classmates. The other girls’ families were lawyering up, but Rock decided to go behind his ex-wife’s back (“she’s gonna find out about this on Netflix”) and speak to the headmaster himself.

“I’m begging you,” Rock said he told the headmaster. “Kick my daughter out of school.”

And they did. It was her senior year. As far as Rock was concerned, it was the only way to save her from a lifetime of being a horrible rich-guy’s kid. This was a few years ago, he clarifies, and she’s doing great now. Found herself a new high school, went to college. The strategy worked. He considers himself a happy man, a lucky man.

“Except for some other weird things,” Rock said, “life is pretty good.”

This story has been updated.

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Chris Rock Addresses the Slap at Boston Shows

“How was your weekend?” That’s how Chris Rock opened his show in Boston Wednesday night. Apparently Rock isn’t using the stand-up black bags of secrecy, because Variety has audio of his first Ego Death Tour performance since Sunday night’s fracas with Will Smith at the Academy Awards. Rock acknowledged what happened on Sunday before quickly moving to the material he’s been honing for this tour. “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that …” he said. “I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.” One audience member can be heard trying to get a “Fuck Will Smith” chant going, but it did not catch on.

At the second show, Deadline reports that Rock said he hasn’t “talked to anyone despite what you may have heard.” So far Rock is one of the few involved parties to not issue a statement on Sunday’s slap. Sean Combs assured the press that the beef was squashed. Will Smith apologized to the Academy during his Best Actor acceptance speech, then to Rock via Instagram . Jada Pinkett Smith also posted on Instagram , saying that it was a season of healing and that she was “here for it.” Wanda Sykes told Ellen DeGeneres that Rock actually apologized to her for what happened. Questlove said the slap didn’t register for him, because he was meditating while anticipating a win for Best Documentary. Joseph Monish Patel, one of the producers of Summer of Soul , tweeted that he thought both Smith and Rock acted poorly, and they robbed the doc’s moment. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a statement today saying that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony after the slap, but that he refused.

NBC News reported that Rock quickly moved on from the weekend’s events, after getting two standing ovations. “Let me do a show, yo,” he told the ovating crowd. “You got me all misty.”

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‘love island usa’ season 6 reunion red carpet photos: serena page, jana craig, rob rausch, leah kateb, aaron evans & more, chris rock greeted with long standing ovation at first show after oscars slap, briefly references incident.

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Three days after he was attacked by Will Smith at the Oscars, Chris Rock made his first public appearance at the opening show of his Ego Death World Tour in Boston and broke his silence about the altercation.

Will Smith Faces Potential “Suspension, Expulsion” From Academy; Actor Wouldn’t Leave Oscars After Slapping Chris Rock, Despite Reps Being Asked By Organizers

Coming out on stage at about 8 PM ET, Rock was greeted by the sold-out crowd at the packed Wilbur theater with a standing ovation that lasted 2-3 minutes as fans stood up, sat down and then stood up again to applaud him.

‘Summer Of Soul’ Producer Blasts Chris Rock Over “Four White Guys” Joke During Oscar Presentation

He did not directly address the incident at the start of his standup but asked the room, “How was your weekend?” Noting that he is “still kinda processing what happened” and  that “at some point” he will talk about “that sh*t,” and “it will be serious, and it will be funny,” he told the crowd that he was “going to tell some jokes” before segueing to his set as an audience member yelled “F*ck Will Smith!”

Listen here:

We will have a detailed coverage of Rock’s show later tonight from Mike Fleming, Jr. who is in the theater.

In one of the most shocking moments in Academy Awards history, Oscar nominee (and eventual winner) Smith walked on stage and slapped presenter Rock after the comedian had directed a joke at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Smith subsequently addressed the altercation in his Best Actor acceptance speech, in which he apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees but not to Rock. Smith followed up with a written apology to Rock on Instagram on Monday, while Rock had remained silent until tonight.

Chris Rock Sidesteps Oscar Controversy In First Standup Show Since Will Smith Slap

In an intriguing confluence of events, shortly before Rock took the stage in Boston, the Academy’s Board of Governors convened an emergency meeting to discuss Smith’s standing in the organization in the wake of the incident. The Board began disciplinary proceedings against Smith and determined the actor could face suspension, expulsion or other sanctions, which will be decided at the Board’s next meeting on April 18.

Demand for Rock’s comedy tour has been skyrocketing after the slap, with his first dates quickly selling out after the Oscar ceremony. The markup on tickets for his first two shows at The Wilbur theater in Downtown Boston has sent prices soaring to $1,000 a pop. Rock will be in Boston until Friday before moving to Atlantic City.

Below is the street in front of Wilbur theater, with crowds — and media — gathering for Rock’s opening night.

Ron Howard Reacts to Will Smith-Chris Rock Oscars Incident

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How to buy Chris Stapleton tickets: Dates and prices compared for 2024 concert tour

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Chris Stapleton's hit tour runs through the rest of 2024 and early 2025, but tickets are selling out fast. If you're hoping to catch the country music star live, he has plenty of concert dates to attend this year, and there are many ways to buy Chris Stapleton tickets.

The All-American Road Show has been ongoing since 2017 and serves as Chris Stapleton's first solo headlining tour. However, after more than seven years on the road and nearly 200 shows, the "Tennessee Whiskey" singer will close the concert series in 2025. With the end of the horizon in sight for his long-running tour, the opportunity to catch Stapleton's All-American Road Show is growing slim with each passing show.

We've got you covered if you're looking for how to get tickets to Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show concert tour in 2024. Here's our breakdown of the tour schedule, purchasing details, and prices for original and resale tickets. You can also browse ticket specifics on StubHub and Vivid Seats at your leisure.

Don't forget your Vivid Seats coupon . If you're a new customer at VividSeats, you can save $20 off a $200+ transaction. Simply enter our exclusive discount code INSIDER20  during the checkout process. 

• See also: Burning Man tickets | Outside Lands tickets | Stevie Nicks tickets | Zach Bryan tickets | Bruce Springsteen tickets | Billy Joel tickets  | Adele tickets

Chris Stapleton 2024 tour schedule

There are still several shows remaining on the All-American Road Show Tour this year, with tickets for a few shows in 2025 already available. While his final 2024 show will land on December 7 in Las Vegas, Chris Stapleton's tour will conclude on March 8, 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Below are the dates and times for all of the remaining shows in Stapleton's tour. All concert times are listed in local time zones.

Need travel arrangements?

• Flights & hotel:  Booking.com  |  Expedia  
• Flights:  Booking.com  |  Expedia  
• Accommodation:  Booking.com  |  Expedia  |  Airbnb  
• Parking:  Spot Hero  |  The Parking Spot

How to buy tickets for Chris Stapleton's 2024 concert tour

You can buy original tickets for Chris Stapleton's 2024 concert tour on Ticketmaster or Live Nation. However, the number of remaining original tickets is limited, as many concerts have been on sale for several months.

Plenty of resale tickets are also available through verified vendors such as StubHub and Vivid Seats . You'll find better luck getting seats through these resale sites for Chris Stapleton's shows that have already sold out of original tickets.

How much are Chris Stapleton tickets?

Ticket prices to see Chris Stapleton this year vary by date, location, and demand for each show. The cheapest standard original ticket prices start from $55 for Houston on August 24 to $465 for December 7 in Las Vegas. Resale ticket prices are generally comparable to original tickets or come in cheaper.

On StubHub, tickets range from $16 for Ridgedale, Missouri, on June 13 to $352 for Las Vegas. Similarly, Vivid Seats' cheapest available Chris Stapleton tickets range from $15 to $356 for the same dates. Overall, the two resale sites have comparable ticket prices, with Vivid Seats' options typically coming in at slightly lower prices.

VIP packages are also available at many Chris Stapleton shows for premium prices. Stapleton's All-American Road Show Tour offers two VIP experiences: the Single Barrel Experience and the Small Batch Experience. According to Chris Stapleton's website , Single Barrel VIP tickets start at $379, and Small Batch VIP tickets begin at $169. You can also use this site to check out which tour dates offer these VIP experiences.

• Accommodation:  Save 15%+ at Booking.com  |  Expedia  |  Airbnb
• Flights & hotel:  Booking.com  |  Expedia
• Flights:  Booking.com  |  Expedia

Who is opening for Chris Stapleton's tour?

Chris Stapleton is touring alongside George Strait and Little Big Town for many of his All-American Road Show tour performances. On other 2024 occasions, the country star is joined by special guests Grace Potter, Nikki Lane, Marcus King, The War and Treaty, Allen Stone, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Marty Stuart, Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson & Family, and Sheryl Crow.

Here's a breakdown of when and where each artist appears with Chris Stapleton:

George Strait & Little Big Town

• May 4 - Indianapolis, IN
• May 11 - Jacksonville, FL
• May 25 - Ames, IA
• June 1 - Charlotte, NC
• June 8 - East Rutherford, NJ
• June 29 - Salt Lake City, UT
• July 13 - Detroit, MI
• July 20 - Chicago, IL
• December 7 - Las Vegas, NV

Grace Potter

• May 9 - West Palm Beach, FL
• May 10 - West Palm Beach, FL
• June 26 & 27 - Los Angeles, CA
• August 1–3 - Gilford, NH
• August 21 - Birmingham, AL
• August 22 - North Little Rock, AR
• August 24 - Houston, TX
• June 6 - Camden, NJ
• June 7 - Bristow, VA
• July 11 - Darien, NY
• July 12 - Burgettstown, PA
• July 18 - Toledo, OH
• July 19 - Columbus, OH
• July 25 - Nampa, ID
• July 26 - Ridgefield, WA
• August 9 & 10 - Nashville, TN

Marcus King

• May 22 - Rapid City, SD
• May 24 - Sioux Falls, SD
• May 31 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH
• June 12 - Kansas City, MO
• June 13 - Ridgedale, MO
• June 15 - Arlington, TX

The War and Treaty

Allen Stone

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives

• October 16 - Manchester, England
• October 17 - Glasgow, Scotland
• October 20 - Dublin, Ireland
• October 22 - Birmingham, England
• October 23 - London, England

Miranda Lambert

Willie Nelson & Family

• July 27 - Seattle, WA

Sheryl Crow

Will there be international tour dates?

Chris Stapleton already has several international tour dates lined up for his ongoing concert series. The country star has five shows confirmed in England, Scotland, and Ireland in October, as well as six shows in Australia and two performances in New Zealand throughout February and March of next year.

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