Chris Rock's Faith In Comedy

Comedian Chris Rock is accustomed to controversy. He creates it weekly on his HBO series The Chris Rock Show. Now, the hubbub is moving to the big screen, as Dogma opens in theaters nationwide.

Dogma, the latest film from director Kevin Smith, opens Friday on 1,500 screens across the United States. In it, Rock plays the outspoken and disgruntled Rufus, who happens to be the 13th apostle.

The movie already is under attack by some Christian groups, complaining that the film is disrespectful and blasphemous. But Rock, while acknowledging that religion is a hot button for many, has called Dogma simply "a funny film about faith."

Rock was born in 1965 and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he still resides with his wife of five years, Malaak Compton.

The New York Times has called him "probably the funniest and smartest comedian working today."

Here are excerpts from his interview with Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel:

Gumbel: "Chris, how are you?"

Rock: "I'm all right. Is this going to be your hard-hitting interview?"

Gumbel: "No."

Rock: "You haven't hit anybody hard yet. I've been watching the show. Don't do it on me!"

Gumbel: "[Before the program,] I said, 'How are you doing?' He said, 'What are you doing here?'"

Rock: "You had it made! You quit! You had your sports show and play[ed] golf and now you're schlepping in at 6 in the morning."

Gumbel: "I like mornings."

Rock: "You and [Howard] Stern! My God!"

Gumbel: "Can we talk about this movie?"

Rock: "Yeah, yeah. Sure."

Gumbel: "Do you want to?"

Rock: "Yeah."

Gumbel: "First of all, before we talk about the controversy, you show your naked butt in this movie."

Rock: "I do. I didn't use a stunt buttÂ…"

Gumbel: "Did you like the way it looked on camera?"

Rock: "It was shiny and - you got to do it while you're young."

Gumbel: "Did your wife weigh in on it?"

Rock: "No, she wasn't there. I can't do the butt thing 10 years from now. It's like nailing it and cash it right now."

Gumbel: "That's all right. In this film, you play Rufus."

Rock: "I do."

Gumbel: "Rufus is the 13th apostle who has been cut out of the spotlight because he's black."

Rock: "Yes, and Chaka Khan left him, too. Rufus is the 13th apostle, left out because he's black and that pretty much is my beef and I'm trying to get back into the Bible."

Gumbel: "This film will cause a ruckus, yes?"

Rock: "It will if you haven't seen it. You know what I mean? Once you see it, it's not really blasphemous."

Gumbel: "The Catholic League is up in arms."

Rock: "They're up in arms over everything."

Gumbel: "You don't have any reason to feel they should be offended?"

Rock: "No. If you believe in God, God is powerful. You're more disrespectful to God if you get up in arms over this."

Gumbel: "[In the movie] they trade in the cross for this symbol called 'Buddy Jesus' and Salma Hayek compares the high Mass to really dull sex."

Rock: "Yeah."

Gumbel: "The descendant of Jesus Christ works in an abortion clinic."

Rock: "In the movie, it's in context and, again, God doesn't need the Catholic League's help. God is God. God is like, 'Hey, you think I need your help?' Does Mike Tyson get mad when a little girl says, 'You're a bad man'? Does he punch her in the face? No."

Gumbel: "He might."

Rock: "Strike that from the record!"

Gumbel: "You're not at all concerned about the feedback? You're on such a roll. Do you need this?"

Rock: "No, I don'tÂ….It's not my movie. Let's get this straight. It is Kevin Smith's movie; [he] is a good friend of mine. What was the question, Bryant?"

Gumbel: "I said, do you need this?"

Rock: "I don't need it. No. No, I don't need it."

Gumbel: "Why did you do it?"

Rock: "It was a good part. It was a well-written part, and the script was incredible, and I just wanted to do something different than roll around like a cop again or something."

Gumbel: "As you did in Lethal Weapon 4Â…"

Rock: "This is a more important film, and it's being reviewed in Newsweek and in Time, and people are taking it seriously, and it's going to the Cannes Film Festival."

Gumbel: "When does Chris Rock on the big screen get his own vehicle?"

b>Rock: "I'm going to start filming in February. It's a movie called I Was Made To Love Her, which I co-wrote with some people from my show and the Weiss brothers, who did American Pie. I might show my naked butt againÂ…"

Gumbel: "Is doing films the end game?"

Rock: "No. Being a comedian is the end game, and it doesn't matter how you're funny, just as long as you're being funny. I don't subscribe to this [idea that] film is the ultimate. You know, Seinfeld is doing all right, and he's got his own private jet. Who is funnier than him?"

Gumbel: "He has a fiancée, too."

Rock: "Yeah."

Gumbel: "You're a student of comedy, right?"

Rock: "I love my comedy. I'm into it."

Gumbel: "Who makes you laugh these days?"

Rock: "Who makes me laugh these days? Chris Tucker makes me laugh really, really like - like I was a kid. Jim Carrey. When he comes out with a movie, I'm there in the afternoon of the first day, laughing like I was in high school, like that laugh I used to have before I got into comedy. He really makes me laugh. [And] when Eddie Murphy wants to do it, nobody is funnier."

Gumbel: "When he wants to?"

Rock: "Yeah. You see Bowfinger? So funny"

Gumbel: "You're now rich."

Rock: "I'm OK."

Gumbel: "You're rich. You're rich."

Rock: "I'm not. I'm rich compared to where I was from and poor compared to where I'm at."

Gumbel: "OK."

Rock: "I hang around Will Smith; I'm like the caddy."

Gumbel: "You're rich and famous. Things are going so well. Is stardom always what you had hoped it would be?"

Rock: "Stardom? That's a real hard question, Bryant. I mean, it's good. It's just like - I don't knowÂ….I don't even like saying stardom. I'm popular, and I've never been popular in my life, and it's definitely more fun than not being popular."

Gumbel: "Better get used to it."