DOUGLAS HEALEY/AP

Chris Rock cracked wise in front of two sold-out audiences at the Chumash Casino (shown here in a 2004 performance).

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No Chris Rock fan could have been disappointed with the comedy mega-star’s No Apologies tour stop at the Chumash Casino Friday night. Although he began both of his hour-long sets with political material, he moved on to explicit sexual content which generated raucous laughter at the end, proving that a black man shouting vulgar terms for female reproductive anatomy can appeal to folks with a broad range of political opinions.

Rock opened by expressing bewilderment at playing an Indian casino, a location that clearly confused his merchandising team as well. Souvenir “No Apologies” tour T-shirts listed the stop as “Chumash, CA.” But Rock also reminded himself and the audience that the plight of Native Americans has been even worse than that of African Americans.

Rock thanked President Bush for having made it impossible for a white man to run for President of the United States, and expressed bafflement at the price of gas not decreasing after our invasion of an oil-producing country. He acknowledged the absurdity of a democracy that holds elections on Tuesdays, when no one can vote.

Rock described John McCain as simply the oldest man the Republicans could find to run in 2008. He spoke out against Hillary Clinton for claiming as presidential experience of her own the eight years that her husband served as president. Rock gave his support to Barack Obama, but he suggested that the candidate replace his black wife with a white woman because First Lady is a background role that no self-respecting black woman would play. Rock applauded Obama for his name, which he said evokes spear-chucking Africans posing over slain lions and removes all doubt as to the candidate’s race.

When Rock said that he would reveal to the audience the one instance in which it is acceptable for a white person to say “nigger,” the audience reacted with a collective cry of “Oooh, this is what I paid for!” Rock then repeatedly emphasized that it is not really ever okay for a white person to use the n-word, and added that even in the one approved situation, the white person is still required to show clearance from the “Nigger Consulate” and a “Local Nigger Representative.” At once startlingly accurate and hilarious on topics ranging from foreign policy to oral sex, Chris Rock continues to impress, and especially so in the Santa Ynez Valley, so far removed from his milieu.

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