How 'Bring The Pain' Brought Chris Rock Superstar Fame
A new A&E documentary highlights the stand-up comedian's breakout HBO special.
Before the Emmy and Grammy awards, before hosting the Academy Awards and before earning status as one of the best stand-up comics of his generation, Chris Rock had nearly fallen out of big-time show business.
Back in the early 1990s, Rock was known mostly a protege of Eddie Murphy who got fired from Saturday Night Live, worked as a stand-up comic and popped up in movies like New Jack City and CB4. Another brother who almost made it.
Then came Bring the Pain.
That's the name of the 1996 HBO stand-up comedy special that helped redefine Rock in the eyes of the world. In the space of an hour, he went from "that kid who acts like a watered-down Eddie Murphy" to the straight-up voice of a generation.
Now A&E is airing a
