Chris Rock didn’t exactly come out swinging Sunday night, but he did take a sucker-punch from last year’s best leading male.
Rock kept it clean compared to the profanity that fills his standup comedy routine. But he slung the mud in a way that kept the audience laughing.
“All right! Sit your a—- down!” he shouted after walking on stage in a white tie and tux and receiving a standing ovation from many in the star-studded crowd.
Then Rock went to work.
“Clint Eastwood’s a star, OK? Tobey Maguire’s just a boy in tights,” Rock joked.
“You want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law? Wait. You want Russell Crowe and all you can get is Colin Farrell? Wait. `Alexander’ is not `Gladiator.'”
But Rock wasn’t afraid to include himself in that assessment.
“You want Denzel (Washington) and all you can get is me? Wait,” he joked. “Denzel’s a fine actor. He woulda never made ‘Pootie Tang.'”
One actor snapped back, though.
Sean Penn, taking the stage to present the best-actress Oscar, took time to defend Law as “one of our finest actors.”
Then he introduced the category by saying, “What Jude and all other talented actors know is that for every great, talented actor, there are five actresses who are nothing short of magic.”
Backstage, Rock shrugged off the remarks and said he and Penn had talked.
“He said ’cause he’s working with Jude on a movie right now he felt the need to … I don’t know,” Rock said. “It’s kinda funny.”
Robin Williams also got in on the act. Before announcing the winner of the best animated feature award, he stopped to rip a large piece of white tape from his mouth. The stunt appeared to confirm reports that producers had censored his gags.
Then he made fun of those who connect cartoon characters with pro-gay messages.
Credit: Yahoo/AP
