1Noguns before, and had a fight or two
before. The cool bit about this
character for me is he’s so well-
rounded. It’s not just about his
job; it’s also about his home life,
and it’s what it’s like to be black in
the 1950s and to be very ambi-
tious—which must suck, right?
I used to do a joke about Barack
Obama being the first black
president. Being the first black
anything sucks. Jackie Robinson
had no fun, but Reggie Jackson
had the time of his life.Were you concerned your stand-
up stardom would make it toughfor viewers to see you as a 1950s
gangster? / I was a comedian
when I was Pookie in New Jack
City. Nobody ever said, “I couldn’t
stop laughing when you were
smoking that crack and while you
were dying.” So, yeah, it’s not been
a problem yet.You’re used to writing your own
material. Was there ever a time you
pushed back on something? /
Occasionally. Whenever I would
interject, it wasn’t as a writer. In
the 1950s, my dad was 17 and my
granddad was 30. So I know these
guys a little bit. Occasionally I
would pull Noah to the side and go,
“What about this?” As the senior
black person on the set, along with
[costar] Glynn Turman, there is
a responsibility you have if you
disagree with something.What was the most challenging? /
Noah does all these great mono-
logues. Everything requires a lot of
thought ahead of time. There’s
nothing like, “Just give me the
pages, I’ll say it now.”What else makes this season
unique? / Fargo normally tells
little stories that get out of hand.
They’re about ordinary people,
something happens, and then we
get to see how evil ordinary peo-
ple can be. This is quite different.
We start off gangsters, so we’re
beginning with bad people, and
then it escalates.What’s next for you? / I’m not
really sure. This is the best part
I’ve ever done, and honestly, prob-
ably the best part I’ll ever have.
Morgan Freeman is amazing in
The Shawshank Redemption. He’s
made a kazillion dollars since. He
never got a part that good again.
Naive people will tell you, “There’s
always tomorrow and you’ll always
get another chance.” The smart
people will tell you, “You probably
get three chances at anything in
life, and you’ll probably be busy for
the first two chances. When you
get that third one you better be
f---ing ready.” —JAMES HIBBERDTVFARGOCHRIS ROCK IS AS SURPRISED as anyone that he’s starring
in Fargo season 4. When the FX anthology crime drama’s
Emmy-winning showrunner, Noah Hawley, first reached
out to the legendary comic, Rock assumed he was calling
about something else. “I thought he wanted me to host
his kid’s sweet 16, or the auction for his wife’s charity or
something,” Rock says. But in the new season (premiering
April 19), Rock vanishes into the role of crime lord Loy
Cannon while leading an ensemble cast (including Jason
Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, and Timothy Olyphant) in a
sprawling tale of rival Mob families in 1950s Kansas City.Q+A
CHRIS ROCKSo what kind of guy is Loy Cannon? /
He’s a businessman, he’s a deacon
at his church, he’s a loving father
and husband, he owns a bank, and
he’s also a criminal—he fixes fights
and runs numbers and prostitu-
tion. He’s always on edge. It’s Tony
Soprano-esque.Was there anything about playing
a gangster that checked a wish-
fulfillment box for you? / I’ve shotEW ● COM APRIL 2020 7APRIL2020.MUSTLIST1.LO A.indd 7 FINAL 3/3/20 9:25 AM