Chris Rock is Esquire's summer cover star, and the 56-year-old comedian gave the publication plenty of material.
For an accompanying "Explain This" segment, Rock was taken back to his Saturday Night Live days when he was shown a photo of himself with the late Chris Farley, Adam Sandler and David Spade.
"I'm playing Universal Amphitheatre, which would be the equivalent to Radio City—it doesn't even exist anymore in California," Rock explained. "It was my first big tour after I did this special Bring the Pain, and all of Hollywood came out. Literally had Madonna and Eddie Murphy—Richard Pryor was there that night, too, in a wheelchair and watched from the side."
The four-time Emmy winner continued:
"This looks like one of the last times I saw Chris alive. I would see him one more time when I did a gig in Chicago. We tried to hang out afterwards, but you know, I don't know if you ever, like, really hung out with an addict towards the end. You know what I mean? Anything that isn't the drug is a chore. ... I remember I was at his apartment, and he was showing me his apartment. I leave, and I see him out the window, and I was like, 'Ah, that's probably the last time I'm gonna see him.' I knew."
Rock added that he, Farley, Sandler and Spade shared an office at SNL. Each of them began as a cast member on the iconic sketch comedy series in 1990.
Introducing our Summer '21 issue starring @ChrisRock. Decades into an A-list career, he’s rebooting ‘Saw.’ He nailed the new season of ‘Fargo.’ He’s directing again. On a walk with @MitchSJackson, it sounds like he might be trying to live forever. https://t.co/SNmENlVpUf pic.twitter.com/3kbRTqvtj1
— Esquire (@esquire) May 11, 2021
Farley died due to a cocaine and morphine overdose in December 1997 at 33 years old. After spending six years on SNL, the Tommy Boy star added just four more acting credits before his tragic passing.
For more on Rock's Esquire spread, check out the teasers below.
Rock’s 1996 standup special ‘Bring the Pain’ changed his life. “But you know, like Whitney Houston, there was a little bit of grumbling. Like, ‘White people like him too much.’" So he followed it up in 1999 with 'Bigger & Blacker.' https://t.co/SNmENlVpUf pic.twitter.com/YsjokbQh9N
— Esquire (@esquire) May 11, 2021
Which is why he’s not interested in any lifetime achievement award offers. “I get these offers and I always turn them down,” he says. “I’m always like, you can’t be in the Hall of Fame and play at the same time.” https://t.co/SNmENlVpUf pic.twitter.com/BNkGjOEFy2
— Esquire (@esquire) May 11, 2021
Read the whole story on the immortal @ChrisRock by @MitchSJackson and see the photographs by Dario Calmese here. https://t.co/SNmENlVpUf pic.twitter.com/M8iJPpWm9O
— Esquire (@esquire) May 11, 2021
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