It's not every day that celebrity comics and actors come to SF State, but on Sept. 29 Tony Rock, comedian Chris Rock’s down-to-earth younger brother, will put on a two-and-a-half hour comedy show at the McKenna Theatre in the Creative Arts building.

Rock will relay some of his standard jokes revolving around everyday life. His laid-back sense of humor divides him from his brother’s class clown rasp; Rock has a calmer, gentler voice.

The 33-year-old actor of the UPN’s new show, “All of Us,” said he may also up the ante of his act at SF State by delivering more daring content - if he feels the audience is receptive to it.

“Coming to perform at San Francisco State was my agents’ idea. They knew I love to do standup and they wanted to keep me happy while I’m on the road,” said Rock.
“What I want to say all depends on the students.

“Will they show up drunk, belligerent and ready to laugh? Or will they be on the other end, which means just showing up to my show because it gives them something to do while they could care less about what I’m saying?”

The native New Yorker is no stranger to the stage. He entered the world of comedy when he was 26 years old and has been feeding off audience vibes since 1998.

His past work includes an ABC/Disney pilot, “Me and My Needs” in April 2001. Rock served as host for Comedy Central’s “BattleBots” in 2002 and in 2003 and hosted Oxygen Network’s “Can You Tell?” Rock was also a script writer for “The Chris Rock Show,” where he also appeared as a guest in 1997.

“I’ve only seen him on ‘The Chris Rock Show,’ but from that, I already know he’s a funny guy. I can’t wait until I get to see him in person,” said communications major Teda Phadoungxath.

The 20-year-old sophomore from Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif, said she made sure she bought tickets to the show.

“I think Tony Rock’s fabulous. When I heard from my friends at (SF State) that he’s going to be on campus, I knew I had to get tickets for his show.”

Ty Ronquillo, a junior majoring in business, expressed that he thinks it is a great idea to have someone like Rock perform on campus.

“I think it’s cool that he (Rock) is coming to perform. We need more students to laugh a little on campus. I’m actually trying to get the guys from my fraternity (Phi Kappa Tau) to attend the show,” said Ronquillo, 22.

When Rock is not on the road, he can be seen as a regular at such Los Angeles comedy clubs as Improv and Comedy Store. In New York, Rock can be seen at Comedy Cellar, Stand-Up New York and Comic Strip, where he did his first standup comedy gig in 1998.

“I felt that if I was going to be a real comic, I was going to have to get my start at Comic Strip in New York. My brother, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld all performed there, and I knew that if I was going to do standup, that was the place to start,” said Rock.

According to Rock, his brother got him involved with standup and acting - just by allowing him to hang out with him.

Rock said he used to sneak into comedy clubs to watch his older brother perform.

“It was then that I caught the bug, so to speak,” he said.

“I am a big fan (of Chris’ work). I followed his work in the early days when he was starting out and no one knew who he was.”

In addition to his older brother, Rock said he looked up to Richard Pryor for inspiration.

The neighborhood Rock grew up in with his seven brothers, sister and parents also inspired ideas for many of Rock’s characters and comedy acts.

“My childhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was very eventful. We grew up in a pretty rough part of town,” he said. “It led to drama and lots of comedy - we saw lots of funny things you normally wouldn’t see in a normal neighborhood.”

Rock also said he finds his comedy bits just by looking around.

“Comedy is all around us, you just need to find it,” he said. “Either in TV or the news, you just have to want to find it. There’s so much fun stuff happening in the world and standup comics are news reporters.”

Concerning his show at SF State, Rock’s “news report” provides an unclear forecast of what’s to come.

“I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes when I’m up there on stage,” he said.

BREAKOUT BOX: “Standup Comedy with Tony Rock”
Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
McKenna Theatre in the Creative Arts building.
$8 Students, $12 General