Chris Rock has revealed that he missed out on a few huge roles during the course of his career. According to the comedian, he was up for parts onFriendsandSeinfeld, two of the biggest TV shows in history. Ultimately, things didn’t pan out but Rock doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings about it.
The reveal came during a recent appearance onThe Late Show. Host Stephen Colbert asked Chris Rock to address rumors that he was up for the role of George Costansa onSeinfeld, a role that ended up going to Jason Alexander. Here’s what Rock had to say about it.
“I just heard that one. I mean, it was a lot of NBC talk. There was talk about Seinfeld. There was talk about me being one of the Friends at one point. Yes, I would have been the Black friend. That’s basically who I am to America at this point.”
Unfortunately,Chris Rockdidn’t go into additional detail regarding his would-be role onFriends. No matter what the role, in both cases, it would have represented a surely massive change in his career trajectory. BothFriendsandSeinfeldwere on the air for years, garnering huge popularity and huge paydays for their respective casts. Rock would have, presumably, landed the role of Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc) or Ross (David Schwimmer). Each show remains in high-demand to this day. But Rock feels, in the end, the right choice was made.
“Let’s just say the good people at Seinfeld, they made the right choice. He’s good. He’s amazing.”
Amazingly, those are not the only big roles Chris Rock missed out on in his long, impressive career. The formerSaturday Night Livecast member also revealed that he was, at one point, set to play Cockroach onThe Cosby Show. The show aired from 1984 to 1992, which means it would have represented Rock’s big break at the time. That role would go to Carl Payne, who again had a successful run on a massively popular sitcom. This was decades beforeBill Cosby was sent to prisonfor sexual assault. Rock had this to say about it.
“I was supposed to be Cockroach on The Cosby Show. That was supposed to happen, where I was Theo’s best friend and thank god that didn’t happen.”
Chris Rock, despite losing out on some huge roles,has had an impressive career. Some of his notable roles includeDoctor Dolittle,Head of State,Grown Upsand theMadagascarfranchise. Interestingly, Rock voices Marty the zebra in theMadagascarseries, with David Schwinner, who did star onFriends, in the role of Melman the giraffe. Rock most recently starred inFargoseason 4. He will next be seen inSpiral, the latest entry in theSawfranchise. you’re able to check out the full interview clip fromThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTubechannel.
