Here’s What You Need to Know About Chris Rock’s Live Netflix Special: He Has Not Seen ‘Shark Tale’

Most comedy specials don’t have pre- and post-game shows, but Chris Rock is not most comics — he also has definitely not seen Shark Tale.

This evening, Rock regaled a packed Baltimore theater with his first special since 2018, which Netflix streamed live for the first time in its history. Just one week before the Oscars, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage was one of the most anticipated comedy specials ever as viewers tuned in to see if we would finally get Rock’s side of the story about Will Smith storming the stage and slapping Rock at last year’s ceremonies.

Many of the best lines about Smith had already been leaked in the week leading up to tonight’s stream, but Rock hit his audience with brand new bits about his attacker, including a line about the discrepancy in stature between him and Smith as he said, “Even in animation this motherfucker’s bigger. I’m a zebra, he's a shark.” 

There’s one small problem – Jack Black played the shark in Shark Tales. Will Smith was a fish. Either Rock never watched the movie, or he’s still concussed from The Slap.

Despite the Super Bowl-esque fanfare surrounding Selective Outrage, complete with an entire panel of comedy analysts that confusingly included Dana Carvey, David Spade, J.B. Smoove and freaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the special itself wasn’t particularly special. The unique livestream and the highly-anticipated Smith jokes aside, Rock’s 10-minute rants about having sex with twentysomethings and riffs on Lululemon yoga pants didn’t justify the spectacle of the special.

Though the rest of Rock’s ridicule of Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith was either unremarkable or spoiled by the sneak peeks, Rock ended the set on a salient note regarding The Slap, saying, “People always ask me, ‘How come you didn’t do nothing back?’ Because I got parents. I was raised. You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”