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Chris Rock has the kind of status as a comedian that allows him to work on any project he wants. He produced the documentary Good Hair, he's writing a book, and he has been working on back-to-back film shoots.

Tuesday at 8 PM on NBC, you'll hear his voice in Merry Madagascar, playing Marty the zebra for the third time, along with returning regulars Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith. He's confident it's not the last time he'll voice Marty, either, with Madagascar 3 in the works.

So why does a guy who can do anything he wants spend time in front of a microphone pretending to be a cartoon animal?

"Money," he says jokingly, speaking on a conference call on Wednesday. "No, no they're good. You realize as you get longer in this business, the only thing that keeps you working is doing good stuff. You know, I mean the box office is great, too, but if people don't like what you do the moment the box office isn't fair, they don't want to work with you anymore."

One of America's greatest TV icons has been officially recognized as one of its greatest humorists. Yes, he's still one of the greatest TV icons, but giving him another honor for his work in TV is like giving Jay Leno a free car.

Bill Cosby received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Monday at the Kennedy Center.

The event, set for broadcast on PBS on Nov. 4., featured presentations and words from comedy notables such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. It also featured a Cosby Show reunion of sorts with Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. It's a good thing Dr. Huxtable didn't take his boy out of the world after all.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• "I mean, if we can have a bajillion stripper movies, can't we have a least a handful or 50 library flicks that not only entertain, but also do great things for the communities across the country?" I couldn't have said it better myself. Check out how a movie starring Parker Posey may save a library.
• Chris Rock was on Oprah today talking to women about his new documentary Good Hair. It sounds absolutely fascinating to me, and is already stirring up a lot of Controversy. Check out the review on Cinematical.
• I love a good scary movie, and it seems as though the upcoming Paranormal Activity fits the bill. Cinematical interviews writer-director Oren Peli.
• The movie Burlesque sounds absolutely insane: Cristina Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, and now Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell has joined the cast.
• Speaking of the lovely Kristen Bell, her movie, Couples Retreat, opens this weekend. Check out the review on Cinematical.

Jay Leno's sit-down with Chris Rock on Thursday's show felt like it didn't really need Jay. Chris was just doing his act, which is fine since he's a comedian. If Joe the Plumber was just doing his stand-up act on Jay's chairs, that would be another story, and quite possibly another universe.

But as another great talk show producer once said, "A host with less talent would have interrupted him."

Rock's comedy was on the money, an expected bit of entertainment from a man who knows more about comedy and writing than you or I ever will. His bit about recently arrested film director Roman Polanski was particularly funny, especially since it's starting to become "The Michael Jackson Death Coverage 2: Electric Bugaloo" on the press. That's what late night is supposed to do: soften the blows the real world brings.

Thirteen/WNET and Ghost Light films named Billy Crystal host of the new documentary series Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America. The six-hour documentary, which will air in January 2009, will explore the tropes of American comedy and chronicle its evolution.

The comedian will appear in the opening of each episode and introduce viewers to the funniest moments in American entertainment. Some of the comedic talents that will be featured include: Charlie Chaplin, Jack Benny, Abbott & Costello, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Sid Caesar, Anne Beatts, Woody Allen, Larry Wilmore, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, Jon Stewart, and Chris Rock.

Chris Rock is returning to HBO! The network announced today at TCA that the comedian would premiere his fifth stand-up special this fall. The special will feature footage from three locations: South Africa's Carnival City Casino, New York's Apollo Theater, and the Carling Apollo Hammersmith in London. Of the return to HBO, Chris Rock says, "I wanted to do that type of stand-up special that I've never seen before, and the only place that I could see doing that is at HBO. I love HBO because they want to take chances."

Also of note is that Rock set the Guinness World Record on the No Apologies Tour by playing to crowds of 15,900 at Greenwich's O2 venue. That's the largest audience for stand-up comedy performance in British history.

I'm psyched that Chris Rock will be returning to HBO. He's on the few comedians whose performance I can watch from beginning to end and not get bored. Ever.

Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger will debut on Saturday, September 27th at 9:00 p.m. ET / PT on HBO.

Well, it's now official. Jericho is done.

You have to wonder, was it all worth it? I mean, sure, we got a few more episodes and I, personally, am grateful for the upcoming series finale but I'm curious if those of you who spent time and money on peanuts feel like you made a difference.

(S05E08) If you see several spelling errors throughout the course of my review, please excuse them. I didn't suddenly forget how to type it's just that... well, after I finished my review of the new NASCAR DVD (24x24 Wide Open with Jeff Gordon), I got pretty excited about how good it was. I mean, I'm not one to toot my own horn, but it was clearly above average (especially considering the source material).

Anyway, I read the review out loud to my wife and when I was done, I threw my keyboard on the floor in triumph!

It got smashed, of course, but you can't blame me, right? That's what artists are supposed to do when they feel like they've accomplished something. At least, that's what I learned tonight watching Dante's performance...

(S02E22) I need to pay more attention to the opening credits, because I had no idea Kelsey Grammer directed this episode. You can see a video of Grammer talking about it here.

First of all, I loved how Chris' dad thinks everything can be fixed with duct tape. Who knew Julius and Red Green had something in common?

This episode had me, and then it lost me. When Chris decides to final exact revenge on Caruso, I was all set up. This was going to be yet another great episode of a series that never relies to heavily on sitcom conventions for its humor, but by the end, that's exactly what the episode had done. I'm sure a bunch of cats being turned loose in a school might work on a lesser show, but it's an idea that seems way too "sitcom-y" for a show like Chris. Also, isn't the show supposed to be based, at least somewhat, on Chris Rock's real childhood? What school did he attend that would allow him the ample time he needed to set up such an elaborate prank?

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Miss America helped America's Most Wanted bust online sexual predators, but now she's refusing to testify in court to put those predators in jail.
  
• It's a boy! A 13 year old boy! Chris Rock may be a daddy, again.
  
• Minisodes of classic TV shows -- impressive! But does anyone want to watch them?
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

(S02E18) This wasn't the funniest episode of Everybody Hates Chris, but I did like how it explored the dynamic between Chris and his father.

Kurt Vonnegut once told McSweeneys that a male writer should never write about his father: "you learn about life by the accidents you have, over and over again, and your father is always in your head when that stuff happens."

Chris Rock will appear on tonight's episode of Inside the Actor's Studio, hosted by the windy but still humorously self-deprecating James Lipton. The two-hour episode, like all episodes of Inside the Actor's Studio, will delve into Chris' childhood, his hopes, his dreams, and what his favorite swear word is.

I must say, I've lost my affinity for Inside the Actor's Studio over the years. I could get past Lipton making every person who graced his stage seem like THE GREATEST ACTOR OF ALL TIME, but now I just find it annoying. I'm sure this episode won't be much different, and it will test my endurance as to whether I can stomach Lipton long enough to listen to an actor and comedian I really admire. I found myself faced with a similar dilemma when Robin Williams was on Sitdown Comedy with David Steinberg: I made it about one minute into the interview before I had to turn it off.

The episode airs tonight on Bravo at 8:00 p.m.

(S02E16) One of the things I like so much about Everybody Hates Chris is that, at least on some levels, I can relate to what Chris goes through: I know what it was to grow up with not a lot of money, and I also know what it was like being one of the unpopular kids in school.

Of course, there are some things about young Chris' life I can't really relate to, such as living in a rough neighborhood. Gold chains have become popular in Chris' neighborhood, and so has "chain snatching," the art of ripping someone's gold chain right off their neck. Malvo returns in this episode, and when he tries to steal a chain from Vanessa (Jackee Harry), Chris warns her. Malvo, a career criminal, is none too happy about it and tells Chris to get him a gold chain by tomorrow.

(S02E15) I never skipped school when I was young, mostly because I was a good kid, but also because I attended school in a small town and it was likely that if I skipped, someone would notice.

In this episode, Chris and Greg skip school to see Ghostbusters, which is understandable since that movie was a huge phenomenon when it came out. We all had the shirts and the Ghostbusters Trapper Keepers and that ubiquitous theme song running through our heads incessantly. I think some teachers would actually yell at us if didn't skip school to go see it: "why the hell are you kids in class? Get out right now and go see Ghostbusters, it's one of the defining movies of this decade, damn it!"

(S02E12) In this review I mentioned that the character of Ms. Morello seemed to be switching from a dimwitted woman misinformed about black culture to your basic run-of-the-mill racist, and in this episode she wasn't much better, returning to a trip from Africa with a tiny bone for Chris he could put in his nose.

Now, if that's merely a choice on the part of the writers to have Ms. Morello completely oblivious to her own actions as a means of comic relief, that's their prerogative, but what I loved about her character from the early episodes is how she demonstrated that not all racism is blatant: sometimes you can have what seems like the best of intentions and still be completely wrong in your approach. Now, she's just another idiot.