--- title: Chris Rock Recaps the Obamas' White House Farewell Party description: Chris Rock gave Michelle Obama some very useful career advice at the White House farewell party canonical: https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-03T15:07:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:18.768Z og:title: Chris Rock Had an Awkward Encounter With Michelle Obama og:description: Pro tip: Don't give a First Lady unsolicited career advice og:url: https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chris Rock Had an Awkward Encounter With Michelle Obama twitter:description: Pro tip: Don't give a First Lady unsolicited career advice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Chris Rock Explains His Embarrassing Encounter With Michelle Obama 'I've Never Felt So Stupid in My Life' by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 3, 2017 3:07 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 3, 2017 3:07 PM UTC Back in 2016 when [Barack and Michelle Obama](http://time.com/3611537/chris-rock-obama-racial-progress/?iid=sr-link6) invited a few friends to the White House for a farewell party. Beyoncé, Jay Z, Oprah, Stevie Wonder, and other famous people were in attendance and for comedian [Chris Rock](http://time.com/4240722/oscars-2016-review-chris-rock/?iid=sr-link2), it was like he “died and went to black heaven.” He stopped by the _Tonight Show_ on Tuesday to promote his first [stand-up tour](http://time.com/4634515/chris-rock-dave-chapelle-stand-up/?iid=sr-link1) in nearly a decade, and gave Jimmy Fallon the play-by-play of the party. Don’t feel too jealous you weren’t invited, though, because according to Rock, there were a lot of awkward moments. Turns out then when a room is packed with incredibly famous people, you might find yourself in the unenviable position of offering career advice to one of the [the then-First Lady](http://time.com/4421538/democratic-convention-michelle-obama-transcript/?iid=sr-link1). “I’m not really supposed to be alone with Michelle Obama,” Rock joked. “That’s not really my lane. I don’t know how to talk politics.” Despite that lack of expertise, Rock persevered. “We’re talking about the election and stuff,” the comedian said. “\[She said\] ‘I don’t know, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. This is such a crazy time.’ And I go, ‘You’ll be aight.’” To prove that she would be “aight”, Rock assured her that she could “get any kind of job” like on “_The View_, _The Housewives of Atlanta_.” That didn’t land well, according to Rock. “[Michelle Obama](http://time.com/4626173/michelle-obama-hope-final-first-lady-remarks/?iid=sr-link3) looks at me like, ‘I was talking about the country. I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about the country.’” “I’d never felt so stupid in my life,” he said. “It’s like my GED flared up.” Luckily, according to [Rock](http://time.com/4240618/oscars-2016-chris-rock-monologue-best-jokes/?iid=sr-link4), finding Charles Barkley made him feel much better. Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/"},"headline":"Chris Rock Explains His Embarrassing Encounter With Michelle Obama 'I've Never Felt So Stupid in My Life'","datePublished":"2017-05-03T15:07:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:18.768Z","description":"Pro tip: Don't give Michelle Obama career advice","url":"https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","jimmy fallon","The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon","Late Night Television","Chris Rock"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4764811/chris-rock-on-michelle-obama/","name":"Chris Rock Explains His Embarrassing Encounter With Michelle Obama 'I've Never Felt So Stupid in My Life'"}}]}] ```