Chris Rock

In mid-October, about three weeks to go before election night, Barack Obama found himself in the classy old Metropolitan Club on 66th Street with a group of his top New York fund-raisers.

He told them there was “extraordinary expertise” in the room. “Who knows?” he said. “There might be some of you who decide that you want to spend a little time in government.”

Perhaps. But there’s something better: The New Yorkers who had the prescience and stamina to support Mr. Obama when Hillary Clinton was the dominant Democrat now carry Barack Platinum Cards; if he wins on Nov. 4, their credit limit will be high.  read more »

Former Life Magazine managing editor Bill Shapiro sent the above cover of the magazine from September 2004 (left) to Jim Romenesko's blog as a nod to Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom many have noted resembles Tina Fey.

Media Mob was just struck by how similar Ms. Fey's pose is to the most recent cover of Rolling Stone (right), which features the 30 Rock star along with Chris Rock and David Letterman.

Reclusive comedian Dave Chappelle missed two flights out of Ohio last night and failed to get to a Manhattan fund-raiser for Congressional candidate Kevin Powell of Brooklyn.

The clip above shows Powell earlier in the evening, before the announcement about Chappelle, continuing to criticize incumbent Representative Ed Towns for what Powell thinks is a lack of leadership.

“My opponent does not chair a single committee after 25 years," Powell said to the audience. "I want y’all to think about that for a second. Why doesn’t he? Because he’s missed about a thousand votes since 1993.”

Later, while comedian Chris Rock, rapper RZA of Wu-Tang Clan and drummer ?uestlove of the Roots mingled in the VIP section with big-dollar donors, Powell returned to the stage and told the crowd of several hundred they would be admitted free to a rescheduled event sometime later.  read more »

In this clip, Chris Rock introduces Barack Obama—the candidate for “progressive people that are not scared,” Mr. Rock says, who “want to be on the right side of history, because you’ll be real embarrassed if he won and you wasn’t down with it.” The comedian adds that the “smart” senator from Illinois, who he has met a few times, “is a change, and it’s time for a change.” After all, a new regime is needed, in the funnyman’s words, because “anything would be better than [George] Bush. You know, Bush, my god, it’s just…You knew he didn’t care. In a way, Bush’s presidency has been a success, because he hasn’t let us down. It was everything we thought it was going to be and worse. It was like a horror movie—man, that really scared me!” Mr. Rock says to loud applause, before drawing a distinction between the way the president handled Hurricane Katrina (no time for the black people drowning) and the wildfires in L.A. (pour Katrina water on the white people who are burning).

Here’s a completely earnest Chris Rock doing a robo-call call for Barack Obama.

The calls will cover New York State and target 500,000 to 600,000 voters between the ages of 18 and 35, according to the campaign.

During the call, Rock says, “For the first time in my life, I’m inspired by a leader who puts principles ahead of polls and unites all of us around a common purpose. Whether you vote in every election or you’ve never voted before in your life, this Tuesday, vote for Barack Obama.”

The massive, earth-shattering February 6 party Gucci is planning to coincide with the opening of their biggest store will be held on the lawn of the United Nations in Turtle Bay. “A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF,” which is what the fete has been named, is to be the first event of its kind to take place on that strip of land, the north lawn, which is technically international territory.

Joining Madonna, the party’s co-host, musical performances will be given by Alicia Keys, Timbaland and Rhianna. There will also be a special presentation by Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs. Chris Rock will emcee a live auction. The evening’s co-chairs include: Drew Barrymore, Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault, Sting and Trudie Styler, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Arpad Busson, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Téa Leoni and Lucy Liu. [WWD]  read more »

As Barack Obama left Sylvia’s soul food restaurant on Thursday night after a meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton, he said, “It always feels good” to be back in Harlem.  read more »

Celebrity cameos—Chris Rock! Sting! (har-har)—and clever writing really make this hive jive.  read more »

The current cover of Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue—the biggest wet smackeroo poss  read more »

Everyone was psyched for the CW upfront at Madison Square Garden Thursday morning. The first launch of a broadcast network in a decade! With young, multi-racial, technologically savvy viewers! Who are making their first major purchasing decisions! And developing brand loyalty!

At one point during the festivities, America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks led an uncomfortable one-woman pep rally for the hot new network's hot new logo. "Y'all know I'm all into fierceness, and, like, visuals," she shouted, "and the new logo is hot."

A magazine editor sitting nearby observed that this superhot new logo, which spells out "CW" in thick, curvy lowercase, is the exact mirror image of the logo for CNN.

[Continued after the jump]  read more »

“It’s almost like watching a ballgame played without the ball,” Janet Maslin said.  read more »

“It’s almost like watching a ballgame played without the ball,” Janet Maslin said.  read more »

“It’s almost like watching a ballgame played without the ball,” Janet Maslin said.  read more »

The Politicker is attempting to compensate, in advance, for the probability of an intensely boring debate with wall-to-wall pre-debate coverage.

Anyway, various sources say that even if Mike doesn't turn up, his supporters will be packing the house, which could make for some raucousness, given the Apollo's traditions of, er, audience participation.  read more »

"Sending supporters to a debate you refuse to attend????" Ferrer aide Jen Bluestein messaged in response to the news of Mike's plans. "That's like eating all the samples at the soup store but never buying any soup."

Just in time for Freddy and Tom, meanwhile, The Politicker has located a transcript of Chris Rock's White Person's Guide to Surviving the Apollo.

At the network upfronts last month, UPN president Dawn Ostroff declared that in Everybody Hates Chri  read more »

Good Morning America's recent ratings surge against the long-dominant Today show has framed a good o  read more »

Wednesday 27thLessons learned this week: People are still mesmerized by a little pomp, circumstance  read more »

Be Cool can be considered a sequel to Get Shorty (1995), even though 10 years have passed since the  read more »

Several days before Oscar weekend, I was in a studio executive's office discussing a script.  read more »

In one of the backstage hospitality rooms of the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Chris Rock sat on  read more »

January 21, 2004 – January 28, 2004

Wednesday 21st  read more »

Late in the evening of Oct.  read more »

Wednesday, July 14Is Conan O'Brien building a late-night empire à la David Letterman's Worldwide Pa  read more »

When I first heard Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping," I knew it was the novelty song for me.  read more »

Harvey's Choice After considerable searching and Sturm und Drang , even by film industry standards,  read more »