INTERVIEW: Comedian Jordan Rock, kid brother to Chris and Tony Rock but he definitely holds his own

Over the course of several years, the name Jordan Rock has been heard alot more. Not only has he acted in quite a few movies and television shows, he's also a comedian on the rise who just happens to belong to one of the funniest comedic families.. no not the Wayans. Jordan Rock has been groomed and mentored by his older brothers Tony Rock and Chris Rock so he's learned from some of the best in the field. Jordan not only brings something different to his comedic style he's also no slouch, so don't just assume he's where he is because of his siblings. The young man has been putting in work on the comedy circuit in New York for years, just check out a few of the older posts on his Facebook fanpage. I had the opportunity to not only photograph his set at the Improv in Cleveland but I also got to sit down with him prior to his set to ask a few questions. Check out how the interview went.

From the OH: Do you write your own routines?

Jordan Rock: Of course, you have to write your own comedy. YOU HAVE TO! Writing is a part of comedy, so I'm always writing all the time but I don't force myself to write. I do write like little bits every day but it's not til I think of something, like a bit that I'm like alright, I gotta go see this on paper. Then I might even tell it on stage before I go write it on paper.

From the OH: How do you come up with your own material?

Jordan Rock: Right now I'm just trying to capture material. I come up with my material by just living, I was told you have to live it to write it. So you can't just sit down and force yourself to write, you kinda just gotta go out and live life. Right now I try and just capture jokes, I'm always recording so I go out and sometimes I might rift with the crowd and the stuff that I say in that rift is like so new, we might get into some stuff and I'm like "oh man I said a line here and that's a good idea" then I'll go write out a whole bit around that and it'll be real because it actually happened.

From the OH: What is the most memorable response that someone has ever yelled out?

Jordan Rock: Uh, like in what? Good or bad?

From the OH: Either/or good or bad.

Jordan Rock: Uhhhh I've gotten alot of crazy things yelled cause I ask people things so a lot of times like if you come to the show I'll ask somebody what their porn categories are and people scream out crazy things. So yeah, I would say peoples porn categories are the craziest things. I won't get into detail .. you'll see, you'll see. *laughs*

From the OH: How do you handle hecklers?

Jordan Rock: To handle a heckler the right way you kinda have to not feed into them and let them know that you're still in control. Let them feel like they're in control but don't like give up control. It's very interesting to deal with hecklers and it takes tact, I don't know. The crowd also doesn't like the heckler. The heckler has the illusion that sometimes the crowd is on their side, the crowd is really just waiting to see what you do. So yeah, they're gonna lose. I just try to talk over them, but if I have to talk to them I try and put them on the spot and then I let them know that the crowd doesn't like them. So I'll be like, "Hey crowd, do you guys want this guy to talk?" and they'll be like, "hell no". "So on the count of 3 let's tell this guy to shut the f*ck up 1..2..3 shut the f*ck up!"

From the OH: Ok, so you include the crowd?

Jordan Rock: Yeah!

From the OH: What is one of your most embarrassing memories from childhood?

Jordan Rock: The most embarrassing thing I did as a child? Probably ate boogers.

From the OH: Oh ok, that's like a typical thing though isn't it?

Jordan Rock: Yeah .. I ate ALOT of boogers though.

From the OH: What is something that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Jordan Rock: Umm.. people would be surprised to learn that I'm actually a shaman.

From the OH: Really?

Jordan Rock: *busts out laughing* Naw

From the OH: You call yourself the "Solange" of your family. Explain that.

Jordan Rock: Well, I was watching Solange and I was a big Solange fan forever but you know, she's Beyoncé's little sister so she's always gotta live in that shadow. As time goes on you see her just blow up and then she popped, she won a Grammy last year so it just all worked out.

From the OH: Yeah she's amazing and her album is crazy.

Jordan Rock: Yup, I love it. I even love the old stuff.

From the OH: You've branched off into acting, what else do you have lined up for 2018?

Jordan Rock: 2018? Love, March 9th new season comes out so check that out. Season 3 is the last season. I have a show on MTV called Safeword coming out probably in like a month or 2 and also I got movie dropping on Netflix probably in the summer called The After Party* I'm starring in. I'm in it but the lead is Super Duper Kyle and a bunch of rappers, its cool. The movie is directed by Ian Edelman. *The After Party will be starring Blair Underwood, Teyana Taylor, French Montana, Wiz Khalifa, Kyle, the late founder of WorldStarHipHop Lee "Q" O'Denat and produced by Russell Simmons.

From the OH: After people have seen you, whether it be at a comedy show, television or an interview what is something about you you'd want them to take from it?

Jordan Rock: Uh, I'd want them to try and know that I'm a real person and I'm the same person through everything. I wanna try and be the same person through everything. I don't want them to ever feel like I'm fronting for something. I wanna be like, "Hey whats up" on stage and I wanna be like, "Hey whats up" off stage.

From the OH: How do you handle situations where people swear up and down "you are only here due to the status of your brothers [Chris Rock and Tony Rock]"?

Jordan Rock: Uhhh.. well I don't really have to deal with them because like if they're making that claim that means they don't know what they're talking about so I don't really have to feed into them. If there's a comic that feels that way that just means that they haven't been doing comedy a long time because they weren't around. So if you're somebody that's really around then you'll understand.

From the OH: I remember checking out one of your videos and there were a few comments that said you "made it" due to your brothers but everyone else in the comments section was standing up for you saying that you were actually funny as hell. It seems like you might always have that 1 person that thinks otherwise.

Jordan Rock: Oh.. they don't matter. When it's bigger than your friends, you kinda just want them to feel a way. I just want people to feel a way. I rather you not like me than not know I'm here. I'd rather you say "I don't like him" than be like "who"?? *laughs* Have an opinion. Come watch a video and make a decision. Watch it regardless even if you hate it, watch it. I want you to be like "I hate this guy" instead of "who is this guy"? *laughs*

From the OH: Anything else you'd like people to know?

Jordan Rock: I can ride a horse. I took horseback riding lessons when I was in elementary school so I can ride a horse. I'm a black guy and I can ride a horse like I'm a black cowboy.

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