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Coming to theaters this fall is an exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off.
'Good Hair' visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks and sexual relationships of the black community.
Director Jeff Stilson and producer Nelson George follow the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning funnyman on this raucous adventure, which was birthed, Rock says, when his daughter Lola asked him why she didn't have "good hair." The comedian spent nearly two years developing the documentary, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this past January.
Hair care professionals, beauty shop and barbershop patrons, and celebrities such as Ice-T, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, Salt n' Pepa, Eve and Rev. Al Sharpton, candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles to find an answer to his daughter's question.
The film is presented by HBO Films and released theatrically by Liddell Entertainment and Roadside Attractions. It's set to open on Oct. 9, but check out our exclusive preview of it below.
Popular Black Comedians
Famous, Black & Funny
Being funny comes as a natural gift for man – but only the really talented (and really daring) ones have answered the call to make the masses laugh with their comedy. The wild and crazy Tracy Morgan, the much heralded Whoopi Goldberg, the brassy Mo'Nique and the late, great Richard Pryor are just a few of the black, famous and funny people who made us laugh over the last 50 years. There are many more. And they all have stories behind the funny. Check out who they are and what they've done.
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Famous, Black & Funny
Wanda Sykes
Started Out: Began her stand-up career at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase in Washington, D.C. Big Break: Played multiple roles on Chris Rock's Emmy Award-winning HBO show. Hometown: Portsmouth, Va. Also Was Seen: In the movies 'Monster-in-Law' and 'Pooty Tang' and on the TV shows 'Wanda At Large,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'The New Adventures of Old Christine.' Factoid: During a Las Vegas gay rights rally in November 2008, Sykes proclaimed she was "proud to be gay."
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Famous, Black & Funny
Jamie Foxx
Started Out: Acting on a dare (from a girlfriend) and competing in an open-mic contest at a comedy club in 1989. Big Break: Playing the comely date-challenged Wanda on 'In Living Color' Hometown: Linden, Texas Also Was Seen: In the films 'Booty Call,' 'The Players Club,' 'Any Given Sunday,' 'Miami Vice,' 'Ali' and 'Ray,' for which he won an Academy Award for best actor in 2005. Also fronted his eponymous sitcom. Factoid: As of 2009, Foxx (real name: Eric Marlon Bishop) has released three music albums: 1994's 'Peep This,' 2005's 'Unpredictable' and 2008's 'Intuition.'
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Famous, Black & Funny
Tracy Morgan
Started Out: Appearing on the sitcom 'Martin,' where he played 'Hustle Man.' Big Break: Morgan's claim to fame came in 1996 when he began appearing on 'Saturday Night Live.' Hometown: New York City Also Was Seen: In 'A Thin Line Between Love and Hate,' 'Martin,' 'Half Baked,' 'How High,' 'Head of State,' 'The Tracey Morgan Show,' 'Little Man,' 'First Sunday' and '30 Rock.' Factoid: Andrew Dice Clay inspired Morgan to pursue comedy.
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Famous, Black & Funny
Chris Rock
Started Out: Doing stand-up comedy in 1985 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star Comedy Club. Big Break: Was a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series 'Saturday Night Live.' Hometown: New York City Also Was Seen: In the movie 'New Jack City,' where he played a crackhead informant. Factoid: Born in 1965, Rock won a Grammy for best spoken comedy album in 1999 for the project 'Bigger & Blacker.'
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Famous, Black & Funny
Mo'Nique
Started Out: Appearing at the downtown Baltimore Comedy Factory Outlet. Big Break: Starred on the hit UPN sitcom 'The Parkers.' Hometown: Baltimore Also Was Seen: In 'Three Can Play That Game,' 'Hair Show' and 'Shadowboxer.' Factoid: Born in 1967, Mo'Nique (real name: Monique Imes) is the author of 'Skinny Women are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World' and the cookbook 'Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted.'
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Famous, Black & Funny
Eddie Griffith
Started Out: Griffith began his acting career the 1991 action-thriller 'The Last Boy Scout.' Big Break: In 1996, Griffith showcased his talent on a national scale when he landed the role of Eddie on the TV series 'Malcolm & Eddie.' Hometown: Kansas City, Mo. Also Was Seen: In 'Foolish,' 'Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo' and 'Undercover Brother.' Factoid: Suffered a heart attack in 1996 while taping an episode of 'Malcolm & Eddie' following a scene in which he did the salsa dance.
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Famous, Black & Funny
Bill Cosby
Started Out: While in his early twenties, Cosby appeared on various well-known variety programs including 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' Big Break: In 1965, he appeared as Alexander Scott in the Emmy Award-winning flick 'I Spy.' Hometown: Philadelphia Also Was Seen: In 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,' 'Uptown Saturday Night,' 'Let's Do it Again,' 'Ghost Dad,' 'The Meteor Man' and the groundbreaking NBC sitcom 'The Cosby Show.' Factoid: Beginning in 1965, Cosby scored the Grammy Award for best comedy album six years in a row.
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Famous, Black & Funny
George Wallace
Started Out: Doing a completely improvised routine in a New York City comedy club circa 1977. Big Break: Worked as a writer for 'The Redd Foxx Show.' Hometown: Atlanta Also Was Seen: In the movies 'The Ladykillers' and 'Batman Forever.' Factoid: Born in 1952, Wallace owns and operates one of Las Vegas' most popular stand-up comedy shows -- his very own at the legendary Flamingo.
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Famous, Black & Funny
Martin Lawrence
Started Out: Making an appearance on the national talent show 'Star Search,' which ultimately led to a gig on 'What's Happening Now!' Big Break: Hosting the groundbreaking comedy series 'Def Comedy Jam.' Hometown: Landover, Md. Also Was Seen: In the films 'Do the Right Thing,' 'House Party,' 'Boomerang,' 'Bad Boys,' 'Thin Line Between Love & Hate' and 'Big Momma's House.' In addition, he starred and executive-produced his own Fox sitcom 'Martin' for five seasons. Factoid: In 1989, Lawrence was engaged to 'Saved by the Bell' actress Lark Voorhies.
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Comments: (193)
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By: badgirl on 8/03/2009 12:39AM
I agree that it might be interesting to see an expose on how women in general often go to great lengths to change their appearances in order to feel attractive. Long before blacks got on the cosmetic surgery bandwagon Jewish girls were getting nose jobs for their sweet sixteen. And by the way, a surprising number of them also use perms, though maybe not as strong as the ones used by sisters.
In addition to that, a few of my white female colleagues with pale skin have confided their reluctance to show their arms and legs in warm weather before they've had the chance to get to the tanning salon or use self-tanning poducts. Apparently a "little" melanin is a desirable attribute. Now what hair chemical could be any more deadly than those ultraviolet tanning rays!!
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By: LuvIslovely on 8/17/2009 1:52PM
I COMPLETELY agree! Sheesh, I'm glad to see an intelligent and truthful comment here...
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By: source on 8/03/2009 8:52AM
Why should this air in the black community first? The whole world already knows that black folks have self hatred... And they have been profiting from it for years... If anything, all the Asians who own the hair stores and that profit from our self hatred might be upset because this film might, just might symbolize the fact that blacks folks are finally waking up.
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By: junah on 8/04/2009 3:45PM
I'm glad my mother taught my sister and I to be proud of our natural hair because our hair is so versatile. What other race or nationality of people can change the look of their hair as often as we can? We can wear our hair natural in afros or dreads; we can straighten and curl our hair; we can also braid and wear our hair in cornrows. We can go to work with a different hairstyle just about everyday. I attended a cosmetology school in Queens, NY and I learned that 'good hair' is 'healthy hair' whether it's kinky, curly, wavy or straight. Peoople with curly to straight hair can have an unhealthy scalp and hair - believe it or not. We are descendants from Africa; most of our people hair grow kinky (which is a tight spiral pattern) to protect our scalp from the harmful rays and heat of the sun. Go knew what he was doing when he gave us kinky hair, so be proud of your kinky (not nappy) hair and take good care of your hair no matter how you style it.
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By: junah on 8/04/2009 3:50PM
Correction on typo: 'Go knew...' should be 'God knew'. I like to give honor to whom honor is due and that's my God in heaven.
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By: priestesssama on 8/04/2009 11:59PM
Chris Rock ..Black women in the seventies wore braida ..afro puffs and the classic afro .. And during that time BLACK LOVE FLORISHED . But when Black women started moving away from there natural beautiful selves ..And started wearing more relaxed styles because we moved into White Society more to find better jobs we opted to conform because the afro styles was frowned upon . Thus began our downfall . We even lost our men in the process ...And now we are basically clones of another woman ..Funny thing? Didn't white women used to try to look like us? Braiding their head and all? I'm beautiful a beautiful black woman.. Maybe we should get back to being ourselves .
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By: babb on 8/05/2009 6:32PM
Chris Rock wants to make money and he doesn't care about Black women are their issues. This crap about his daughter asking why doesnt she have good hair is just that. Society promotes long straight glamouous hair...so we as a people buy into it...but Black men are the culprits because they will jump over a sister with a natural for a woman with straight hair....good hair was always implied with whites and bad hair (kinky) with Blacks mostly because in order for black women to have straight hair they must perm or press...which for a lot of women on the go gets in the way..especially if they have to swim....dem there goes the press and curl. Weaves are convenient, braids or convenient, wigs are convenient story told we don't need a movie to tell us that.
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By: lyrpa711 on 8/17/2009 9:46AM
Yes, we do. What a warp way of thinking. Weaves aren't even good for our hair neither are wigs. We look like fools walking around with all that fake stuff on our heads especially when it's hot outside just suffocating our scalp, all that sweat and salt. Our hair has to be shampooed and conditioned and not every two weeks to two months either. It is so disgusting when I can smell someone esles dirty funky scalp or hair when even just 3 feet away or if someone is walking past you, or you are next to someone in an elevator or something. You know what I'm talking about! Or maybe you are use to smelling that smill because that's what you are used to. Some of us are messed up. Weaves and wigs makes us lazy and on top of that weaves weakens our hair, we don't need them. Why can't we just educate ourselves read books talk to people, do something. What ever happened to learning to take care of our hair to keep it strong and healhy wether it's a relaxer or not at least we still have our hair not someone elses. Oh yeah, Chris is not making fun of us. If that's the case he's making fun of his own daughters.
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By: R.Thompson on 8/07/2009 12:55PM
I think this will be a good movie. I also don't think he is making fun of black women or exposing our secrets. I mean come on, we exposed our own secrets a long time ago with wearing wigs, weaves, and relaxers. Every black beauty supply store is mostly ran by Koreans. So what's to hide. Every other culture know that we, black women, love hair and we will do anything to maintain it. Why do you think the black hair care industry is a billion dollar industry anyways. I think this movie will be entertaining and at the same time informational. Good for Chris Rock to want to inform his daughters and teach them the truth about black hair.
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By: KeepinItReal&True on 8/14/2009 12:05AM
FITFOUR...I AGREE WITH YOU 100% ON YOUR COMMENT.
+ Don't care for Rock as an entertainer.
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