Chris Rock’s ticket sales have skyrocketed since the popular comedian took a slap from Will Smith at this year’s Oscars on Sunday, March 27. Rock is starting his new stand-comedy tour, Ego Death World Tour, in early April and recent controversy seems to be helping those sales.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that StubHub experienced more than 25x the daily sales for the past two days than occurred all last month for Rock’s upcoming stand-up comedy tour. They also saw ticket prices jump. The ticket price average went from $150-$200 a ticket to about $250 a ticket.
“It’s evident that demand for Chris Rock shows has jumped dramatically, based on our ticket-buying trends on StubHub,” said Mike Silveira, spokesperson for StubHub. “At this stage in his tour, on an average day, we’d expect to see a spike in sales in the 24 or 48 hours prior to a show date as last-minute sales roll in – but it is incredibly unusual to see the spike we have experienced.”
TickPick similarly tweeted out on the morning of March 28, “We sold more tickets to see Chris Rock overnight than we did in the past month combined.”
Rock is set to play shows in Boston before the start of the official tour. The Ego Death World Tour will commence on April 2 at Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Tickets for that show jumped from $46 a ticket to $341 and tickets are sold out on Ticketmaster at time of publishing. The tour is set to wrap on November 17 at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater- the same theater where the Oscars took place.
While Smith has offered up a public apology for the televised incident, Rock has yet to make a public statement. However, authorities have said, Rock is not pressing charges against the King Richard actor for the assault.
Many fans expect Rock will open up about the incident on the tour. Rock in the past has joked about violence and race in America as well as fame. His last comedy special, 2018’s Tamborine was notably more political and personal than some of his earlier work. Many comedians have used specials and tours to open up about their personal lives, incidents and scandals. In recent years, comedians opening up on stage has become some what of a tend. John Mulaney opening up about his whirlwind year in recent live shows and SNL, Aziz Ansari speaking about his sexual assault scandal in his Netflix original Right Now and Pete Davidson talking about his failed engagement to Ariana Grande in Alive From New York have proven that comedy audiences want to hear comedian’s takes on their own real-life incidents and scandals.
Whether or not talking about the indecent will fit in with the jokes already written for this tour remains to be seen, but the ticket rush seems to confirm that fans both expect and want the comedian to speak on it live. Rock’s silence so far on the slap could either denote that he won’t talk about it publicly or that he is saving his thoughts for a live audience.
