Chris Rock Live Netflix Special Event Featuring Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer – The Hollywood Reporter
Netflix is getting ready for its first live, global streaming event, and it’s running at full capacity.
On March 4, the streaming giant will air its first live special, Chris Rock: Selective Wrath, along with the pre- and post-live shows just announced. Previously, now titled The show before the showwill go live that night at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time, starting the night with live commentary from fellow comics and messages from Rock’s celebrity friends, including Amy Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld. Daily program Ronny Chieng will host the show, along with others including Arsenio Hall, Deon Cole and Leslie Jones. Late in the evening, comedians David Spade and Dana Carvey will host the post-show which is being charged Performance after showwith guests like JB Smoove and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
For the main event, Rock will stream from the Baltimore, Maryland stage at 7 p.m. EST (10 p.m. ET) and is expected to do the same — including including the joke about getting slapped by Will Smith at last year’s Oscars — which he made on the street as part of the “Chris Rock Ego Death World Tour.” Rock’s second special for Netflix will still be available to stream after it airs on March 4, but pre- and post-show shows will only be available live as a way to continue to stream. Event organization for the evening was groundbreaking.
In recent years, Netflix has spent its undisputed dominance in the indie scene, with a library of specials featuring everyone from Dave Chappelle and Schumer to Bill Burr and Rock. And while streamers aren’t handing out eight-figure specials like they used to, the latest round of “live” flex comes after the streamer’s previous foray with Netflix Is. a Joke: The hugely successful festival, held in spring 2022. The live, live event, performed in concert with Live Nation, has sold more than 260,000 tickets, featuring over 330 actors Comedian performed 295 shows at more than 35 venues in LA, including Dodger Stadium.
As for next month’s evenings for comedy and rock formats, Netflix vp Robbie Praw noted in a statement: “Our goal is to bring the best stand-up comedies to our audiences. our membership and this live stream reinforces all the ways we do it. continue to invest in this category.”
The half-hour preview will come from The Comedy Store in LA, with producers able to secure messages from Cedric the Entertainer, Ice-T, Sir Paul McCartney, Sarah Silverman and Chris rock show Veterinarian Wanda Sykes. Both before and after the show were produced by Den of Thieves and directed by Joe DeMaio, the former executive producer. Jimmy Kimmel Live! hosts Jill Leiderman and Jared Morell of Den of Thieves. Joel Gallen is lined up for production and Live of Rock Special.
So far, Netflix has only flirted with the concept of live programming, while competitors like Apple TV+ and Amazon’s Prime Video have leaned toward sports licensing. The former has a 10-year contract for Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball games on Friday nights, while the latter has partnered with the NFL to Thursday Night Football, representing the league’s first exclusive national streaming rights deal. For its part, Netflix will begin streaming the SAG Awards to a global audience starting in 2024.
