Chris Rock (who will soon appear in Spiral: From The Book Of Saw) dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night, and the actor/comedian cracked up the late night host by offering his candid thoughts on wearing a mask while famous. While riffing on the latest CDC announcement that anyone who has been vaccinated can basically stop wearing a mask except in certain circumstances, Kimmel asked Rock if he liked the little bit of anonymity that the face coverings provided. The comedian was not a fan.
“I got to be not famous for a whole year. — It sucked. Why the hell would anybody not be famous?” Rock joked. “I had to wait on line for things. You should see the ugly women I was dating when I was not famous.”
Kimmel then brought up the now viral incident where an IHOP hostess didn’t recognize Adam Sandler and told him there’s a 30 minute wait. “That’s what those masks do,” Rock exclaimed. “They thought he was Rob Schneider.” After Kimmel stopped laughing at the solid Schneider joke, he opened up about his experience of going out in public with a mask. At first, he noticed that people weren’t as nice because they no longer recognized him from TV. But after a while, he realized that’s not it. People are just mean.
Rock, on the other hand, pivoted and said that sometimes not being recognized does have its perks. For example, stopping by the pharmacy and not being concerned about people knowing what ails Chris Rock that day. “With the mask I go into the drug store, and I’m like, my balls itch.”