Jerry Seinfeld tried to get Chris Rock to reference his Oscar slap for the Pop-Tarts movie
Seinfeld says Rock was "a little shook" from the incident, which happened shortly before Unfrosted began filming
Aux News Chris Rock
Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut Unfrosted is already filled with many of Seinfeld’s various famous friends—all of whom apparently shrugged and said “Eh, it’s Seinfeld, how bad could it be?” when he tapped them to appear in a fictionalized story about the creation of the Pop-Tart. But one notable Seinfeld ally is missing from the film’s star-studded roster: His old pal Chris Rock, who was apparently set to be in the film, in a scene Seinfeld said would have directly referenced Rock’s infamous slap from the 2022 Oscars.
Seinfeld revealed that he made this particular ask of his long-time friend on an installment of David Spade and Dana Carvey’s Fly On The Wall podcast, saying that the original pitch was for Rock to play the emcee of the fictional Bowl & Spoon Awards, who’d be accosted on stage, and then deck the interloper. Seinfeld didn’t make it clear whether Rock specifically objected to the joke, saying that he was simply “a little shook from that event”—i.e., Will Smith slapping him on live TV—and so ended up not being involved in the project. (Cedric The Entertainer took on the role instead, and the part was filmed without any references to the slap.)
Interestingly, Seinfeld—who has a pretty good conversation with Spade and Carvey across the 90-minute podcast, getting into the minutiae of doing comedy on a nationally recognized level—whether they thought the basic concept would have worked for the movie. When Carvey pushes back a bit, saying that there’s “still kind of a residual darkness around that moment,” Seinfeld fires back with, “Isn’t that we’re attracted to more than anything, residual darkness?” before conceding that he’s not sure the gag would have worked, presumably having to content himself with the other 6,000 or so jokes in the film.
15 Comments
Interesting article.
I finally saw Unfrosted. I thought it was pretty good! I definitely laughed more towards the beginning, but over time the premise wore a bit thin and the script seemed to unravel. It was worth it just to give a spotlight to the little girl who played one of the dumpster diving children. If I were to mention a similar film that gave me the same vibe I’d go with Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
I finally finished watching Unfrosted. Overall, I liked it! It doesn’t all work (which was a big part of the reason I didn’t watch it all in on sitting) and it never overcomes feeling like a series of skits strung together as opposed to a real movie, but I got several hearty laughs out of it. If I saw it in a theater, it probably would have left a bad taste, but I thought it fit right in on Netflix, Home of You’ll Forget This In A Week.I can see where Seinfeld and Carvey are coming from. The movie is full of residual darkness, despite the bright and colorful aesthetic, and that’s where I got most of the biggest laughs from. It gave off a lot of 30 Rock / Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt vibes that way. But a lot of that is poking fun at things that happened a long time ago. The most topical joke I remember from the movie is an extended parody of the January 6 insurrection. Comedy is pain plus time, and I can see how Rock might need more time to feel comfortable making fun of The Slap, especially if it involved having him recreate it.
comedy isn’t all pain though, and that random-ass J6 reference felt horribly out of place and outdated.
I finally viewed Unfrosted. I couldn’t stand it!
I finally completed Unfrosted. It fucking sucked!
Genuinely not surprised given the content of the film.
I finally read about Seinfeld ‘dating’ a 17-year-old when he was 39. Overall, I thought he was f-ing disgusting! I appreciated the early-1990’s press doing its best to avoid obvious terms like ‘predator’, and ‘pervert’, and ‘gross’, but what else are you going to expect? Journalism?!!! Ha ha. J/k.
this rly is ur lil drum huh?
I watched Unfrosted, and I will admit, that everyone involved was all in for it. For what it is, I am surprised of the production value and kind of impressed that it was up there in quality. The Johnny Carson scene was where I knew that they put a lot of time and money to make this world. And every comedian and actor seemed to put all their hearts in it. The love they have for Jerry.With that being said, not a single moment in this film for me was remotely funny. Every joke, both physical comedy, witty, double entendres, and puns didn’t give me any reaction. Well, actually the reaction was, yeah I get the joke, it just wasn’t funny.I don’t know if (despite his criticism with comedy and wokeness) he tried to appeal to everyone, or he got to make the kind of movie he wanted with the kind of comedy he wanted. Either way, for me, the end result was a one time watch nothing burger with weak sauce kind of movie.
Were you one of the staffers praising Smith for slapping Chris Rock? Or was that every other writer on the AVClub?(sorry to be the first post not to do the “I finally finished Unfrosted” bit. I have no idea what the joke is, but by all means continue it around me).
I finally watched unfrosted and overall, I regret it! None of it works, it’s lazy, tired and largely incoherent! The weirdest part is that he seems to take most of his cues from those old ‘parody movie!’ horrible pieces of shit that simply thought recreating a thing people might recognize counts as humor. Which means this story about recreating a moment that wasn’t funny and adding nothing to it aside from “this time Rock punches him!” tracks 100%. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—thank God that David Spade was there to be the voice of comedy reason.Also, Seinfeld has somehow turned into an unfunny Larry David.
I finally watched Unfrosted. I pooped my pants!
I just finished watching Unfrosted. Where were Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg?
“Interestingly, Seinfeld—who has a pretty good conversation with Spade and Carvey across the 90-minute podcast, getting into the minutiae of doing comedy on a nationally recognized level—whether they thought the basic concept would have worked for the movie”JFC, copy edit your work