Chris Rock's Tamborine comedy special reveals a comic transformed

The New York Times

"This special, his first in a decade, is more searching and confessional than his previous work, digging into the end of his marriage after 16 years," Jason Zinoman says of Rock's Netflix Valentine's Day special. "He has honed this material, beefing up jokes and cutting out fat, and his comedy has become tighter, funnier if also slicker, shifting from a story of a comic struggling with demons to one describing how he once was lost and now he’s found."

ALSO:

• Rock's special works because it's ridiculous
• Tamborine sets itself apart by deemphasizing the audience, with no on-stage antics or gags
• Tamborine is an honest accounting of Rock's flaws