Chris Rock is promoting the seemingly overdue UK release of Top Five. The film did well in North America and should pick up some tidy receipts in Europe too. Professionally, Rock is doing fantastic. He’s preparing to direct Amy Shumer’s upcoming HBO special and has a few production gigs in the chute. In a new interview with the Guardian, Rock discusses how he mentors up-and-comers like Hannibal Burress and takes pride in ditching the newest Adam Sandler trainwrecks in favor of projects with “taste.”

This interview covers a lot of ground. Rock discusses why he has been documenting his traffic stops on social media. He hints at a lot of sadness over the end of his 19-year marriage, which grew really messy, really fast. Those parts of the interview are sad, but I sure enjoyed how Rock dodges the Kanye West question. Top Five was co-produced by Kanye, who may not have been aware of the film’s reality-star character who strongly resembles Kim Kardashian. This woman only kisses her fiancée on cue: “If it’s not on camera, it doesn’t exist.” Here are some excerpts:

Staying in shape age age 50: “Still skinny. I work out now, because you have to when you’re single. But I’m still skinny.”

Why he wrote Top Five: “You get to a point where you say, OK, I’m not going to be Iron Man. So maybe I should be hanging with [Richard] Linklater and [Alexander] Payne. Maybe this is my crew instead of Sandler and Apatow and Stiller. They’re all still my boys, but maybe, artistically, my crew is over here … I’m gonna do one for me now. It’s a really weird thing in the ones that take place in New York. But I still like those movies — I’m cursed with taste.”

What did Kanye think of Rock’s Kim K-esque character? “Aww man … You know, I haven’t talked to him for a while. I should text him, go for lunch …”

He’s depressed about his divorce: “I’m doing OK. You know, some days are better than others, some days you’re sad outta your f***ing mind. But my daughters are good and I’m only an hour away. Two houses close by. It’s good,” he says, a little quieter than before. “You learn more from failure than success, right?”

On the high-maintenance women of Rock’s comedy: “I talk about women the way I talk about me. Everyone’s fair game and no one gets a pass. I talk about black people the way I talk about white people.”

Why he’s documenting traffic stops on Instagram: “I’ve always been stopped by the cops. Cops stop black guys who drive nice cars.”

Has police brutality against black young men grown worse?: “It’s not that it’s gotten worse, it’s just that it’s part of the 24-hour news cycle. What’s weird is that it never happens to white kids. There’s no evidence that white youngsters are any less belligerent, you know? We can go to any Wall Street bar and they are way bigger a**holes than in any other black bar. But will I see cops stop shooting black kids in my lifetime? Probably not.”

[From The Guardian]

Rock goes on to discuss whether or not he’s experienced any fallout after putting Hollywood’s race problem on blast last fall. He talks about the Sony hack and how Scott Ruden is “basically f***ing crazy” but “not racist. Scott Rudin hates EVERYBODY.” The whole interview is an interesting read, including when Rock hears about Trevor Noah’s sketchy Twitter jokes for the first time. Rock doesn’t get caught by surprise too often, but it happens here.

There’s also another odd Guardian article that discusses Rock’s recent baseball rant, in which he says baseball no longer appeals to black people. I don’t know jack about baseball, but Rock makes an intriguing argument. It’s a little too “inside baseball” though.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN