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Chris' Family
In General
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite all their trials and tribulations (especially towards Chris), they clearly love each other to pieces.
- Badass Family: They're all proven to be capable of some awesome feats. Thanks to Foregone Conclusion, we all know what happens to Chris despite all he goes through here.
- Dysfunctional Family: And how.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling:
- Their parents expect Chris to be the Responsible to Drew and Tonya's Foolish. Indeed, as the oldest sibling, Chris is often the Only Sane Man.Tonya: Chris, get me some potato chips.Drew: Chris, help me with my homework.Tonya: Chris, find my doll.Drew: Chris, go make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.Tonya: Chris, make me some Kool-Aid.Drew: Chris, strap up my shoe.Tonya: Chris, tie my shoe!Drew: Chris, help! My head is stuck!
- Tonya is the Foolish compared to Drew and Chris. She is a little brat but almost always gets away with it, while both her brothers are more kind and reasonable.
- Their parents expect Chris to be the Responsible to Drew and Tonya's Foolish. Indeed, as the oldest sibling, Chris is often the Only Sane Man.
- Jerkass: Mostly Rochelle and Tonya, but Chris, Drew, and Julius all have their cases of picking up the Jerkass Ball.
- Only One Name: Weirdly, much like Malcolm in the Middle, they are never referred to by their surnames, though it's quite obvious it should be "Rock". The kids are always referred to by their first names even if their classmates are referred to by their full names and even more bizarrely, Julius and Rochelle are referred to as "Mr. Julius" and "Mrs. Rochelle".
- Working-Class Hero: As a black family in America, they struggle to make money and find success.
Chris
Voiced by: Himself (adult)
Played by: Tyler James Williams (teen)
The comedian Chris Rock is the main protagonist, appearing as a fictionalized version of himself. His adult self narrates the misadventures of his younger self, who is growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn during the 1980s. Life isn't easy between living with a quirky family in the ghetto, attending a mostly white school, and having a great deal of bad luck.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He's bullied by both classmates and neighborhood thugs.
- Author Avatar: The series as a whole is a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictionalized retelling of his adolescence.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Chris desperately wants a girlfriend and actually gets together with Tasha at one point, but she turns out to be extremely clingy and jealous, making him very uncomfortable and causing them to break up.
- Book Dumb: Despite hanging out with the nerds at school, his grades are rather poor, eventually failing 10th grade (this is due to him being late to class over 20 times, however) and dropping out of high school. Though he soon takes the GED, and eventually becomes a successful comedian.
- Bully Magnet: Chris is an easy target for bullies at school due to his race.
- Butt-Monkey: His bad luck is taken to exaggerated levels. VERY few episodes end on a positive note for him.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Parodied. Many non-black characters insist that he bears a striking resemblance to Lionel Richie. Suffice to say, he looks absolutely nothing like him.
- Character Development: Chris is a bit of a "dork" at the beginning of the series and struggles socially, which in one episode he realizes is part of the cause of his bullying problems rather than just being the only black kid in school. By season four he is much more normal and a straight example of a Loser Protagonist.
- Character Narrator: An older Chris tells the story via voiceover.
- Deadpan Snarker: His adult self is constantly cracking wise as the narrator, usually to mock his kid self.
- Failure Hero: The chances of him getting a happy ending are very rare.
- First-Person Smartass: Adult Chris is very snarky, often saying the opposite of what Teen Chris says, or making fun of himself and others.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: His parents expect him to be the Responsible to Drew and Tonya's Foolish (and he usually is) because he's the oldest and they are harder on him as a result.
- Hated by All: Downplayed, despite the title of the show. While he's a bullied and unpopular kid, much of his Cosmic Plaything is the result of bad luck rather than being hated. It's obvious that his family loves him deep down.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Greg.
- Hopeless Suitor: For the first few seasons, at least. He gets a bit better later on.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He does deserve some of the treatment he gets at the end of certain episodes. An example of this would be in "Everybody Hates Drew" where he intentionally broke Drew's hand through a karate move taught to him in self-defense class. By the end of the episode, after explaining the situation with Drew, the latter tries the same move on Chris and breaks his hand as well.
- Loser Protagonist: Whenever Chris tries to do anything meaningful, it always backfires on him by the end of the episode. This theme is played till the series end, Where Chris doesn't finish high school, so he takes his GED test. Before the results of the test are announced, the show suddenly ends, taking a cue from The Sopranos.note
- Nice Guy: Chris is a nice, polite, friendly guy. Most of the time.
- Only Sane Man: One of the few levelheaded people in his entire school and neighborhood.
- This Loser Is You: The title should already give you a clue about how the show treats him.
- Token Minority: Downplayed. He's the only black student in his school for the first season, but Hispanic and Asian students also attend Corleone. Averted altogether in the final season when he attends Tattaglia, much to his surprise.
- The Unfavorite: Downplayed. His parents love him but he is treated far worse than both his younger brother and sister throughout the whole series.
- Vocal Evolution: By the third season, his voice finally dropped and came out sounding even deeper than Drew's.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Even if something good happens to him at the end of an episode, he still ends up on the short end of the stick once again.
Julius
Played by: Terry Crews
Chris' father, and Rochelle's husband. He works as a newspaper delivery man and a security guard.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Julius is the easygoing parent, but the kids are still afraid of getting on his bad side.
- Only in two episodes did Julius give Chris a beating as punishment for his misdeeds. Once, when Chris blew Julius’ lottery money on an arcade game costing the family a fortune, and again when Chris gets in trouble for telling dirty jokes at school. On this occasion, however, Julius was going to spare Chris stating that there will be trouble “next time” it happens but Rochelle interjects with “as far as I’m concerned, this time is next time” resulting in Chris getting beat by both parents.
- In one episode, Chris has an Imagine Spot where he imagines Julius tossing him out a window for driving the car without permission.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: To Tonya. He declares he will protect her from everything, and attempts to threaten her boyfriend who is around 9 or 10.
- Closer to Earth: Definitely the more reasonable parent to Chris...unless he gets really angry.
- Happily Married: To Rochelle.
- Henpecked Husband: Apparently his wife is the one who's really in charge of the home.
- Informed Attribute: He apparently has a very poor diet (he loves meat and hates vegetables, for example) and gets the gout every now and then.. but he's played by Terry Crews.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's pessimistic but keeps working hard for his family.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: "That's [insert amount of money here] worth of [insert object here]."
- "What if/did [insert historical/influential African-American male figure] quit?"
- Metaphorgotten: A Running Gag from him is his passionate speeches on historical figures that didn't make a poor decision despite the odds being against them in order to make a point. He always starts off strong with very important figures, usually from the Civil Rights Movement, but eventually trails off to entertainers and fictional characters.
- Money Fetish: Subverted. While saving and making money is his primary obsession, it's to keep the bills paid, not for the love of wealth itself.
- Mr. Vice Guy: His exaggerated cheapness aside, he's a decent guy and much more reasonable than his wife.
- Nice Guy: Julius is a fairly calm, likable guy for the most part, especially compared to his wife.
- Only Sane Man: In the family, he's probably a close second to Chris.
- Papa Wolf: He threatens to beat up Malvo for attempting to harm Chris.
- Parental Favoritism: Towards Tonya.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Implied, he's not outright homophobic but it's suggested a few times that he doesn't want any of his kids to be gay. When Drew gets revenge on Tonya by scaring her in clown makeup, he tells him "If I ever catch you scaring your sister or wearing lipstick again, we're gonna' have a problem". When he discovers Drew's novelty pen of a naked woman, the narrator says Julius is secretly relieved that it's not a naked man pen. Considering Julius' concerns about money, the lipstick comment is likely because of how expensive they are to buy.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Rochelle's red.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Even when Chris screws up, Julius is far calmer when admonishing his son than Rochelle.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The levelheaded, cautious, Savvy Guy to his loud, cheeky, energetic wife.
- The Scrooge: Justified, Julius works multiple jobs and tries to save as much money as he can by buying the cheapest products. He also reveals to Rochelle that he's still in credit card debt after using a credit card to buy her an engagement ring.
- Workaholic: Even when faced with severe health problems and given time off, he still goes behind Rochelle's back to find work.
Rochelle
Played by: Tichina Arnold
Chris' mother, and Julius' wife. She's a very strict, bossy, and overbearing housewife.
- Abusive Parents: Rochelle is quick to anger when she finds out her children are up to no good, she deploys physical punishments to get them back in line and uses creative threats. When she finds Chris insulting a waiter to impress a girl, she kicks him so hard the shoe was stuck in his ass. Since the show is a comedy, it's hard to tell if Rochelle is actually serious when she punishes the children or if the narrator exaggerated it for comedy.
- Anger Born of Worry: Rochelle is quick to anger around her family but she does care for them.
- Anti-Hero: She can be quite harsh at times, but on most occasions, she’ll come around by the end.
- Berserk Button: Drugs and gambling. If she catches her kids doing either, she'll likely fly off the rocker.
- Character Catchphrase: "I do not need this, my man has two jobs."
- "I ain't raisin' no babies." note
- Education Mama: Rochelle towards her three kids, at least initially.
- Evil Matriarch: Played with. Although it’s played for dark comedy, she routinely intimidates her children and her husband with threats of extreme violence. When Rochelle does resort to physical punishment, she takes great pride in doing it. Although, to be fair, she honestly believes she is trying to discipline her son.
- G-Rated Drug: When Julius forces her to cut back on her Turtles purchases, she goes through a harsh withdrawal, scrounging for any source of sugar she can find. She even drinks Aunt Jemima table syrup like one would alcohol.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It's easy to make her angry.
- Happily Married: To Julius.
- Hidden Depths: She knows Spanish because she was raised around Puerto Ricans.
- It's All About Me: She quits all her jobs, using Julius' having two jobs as an excuse so she can be comfortable at home.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is loudmouthed, bossy, and strict, but loves her family and Chris believes her anger was the only to keep her children from doing anything stupid and illegal.
- Mama Bear: When she finds out that the babysitter had been irresponsible, she takes off her wig and goes off-screen to beat some sense into her.
- Only Sane Woman: In her calm moments, she does provide useful advice.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Julius' blue, Rochelle is more extroverted and quick-tempered compared to Julius.
- Running Gag: Constantly quitting her jobs for one reason or another, all while boasting about how her man has two jobs.
- Sassy Black Woman: Her loud and outspoken attitude is her defining trait.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The loud, cheeky, Energetic Girl to her levelheaded, cautious husband Julius.
- Stepford Smiler: Rochelle becomes this when her father dies right at the dinner table from a heart attack.
- Sweet Tooth: She loves chocolate Turtles dearly. When Julius forces her to cut back on them for budgetary reasons, she goes through symptoms of withdrawal, scrambling to find any source of candy or sugar, drinking syrup like it's alcohol ("Some people had wine, my mom had Aunt Jemima!"), stealing Drew and Tonya's candy, and during dinner time, she loads her Kool-Aid to the brim with sugar (even more cringe-inducing since Kool-Aid is packed and typically prepared with loads of sugar). The kicker?(after chugging the tall glass of Kool-Aid) "Needs more sugar!"
- Trademark Favorite Food: She has a passion for chocolate Turtles.
- The Un-Favourite: Her mother is quite critical of her and makes insults to her.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: When her father dies, Rochelle becomes very submissive and Chris becomes concerned for her. When Maxine insults her one too many times, Chris stands up for her and isn't told off by Julius or Rochelle for it. After losing her temper, Chris is relieved to have her back.
- When Rochelle finds out Chris had deliberately been acting like a jerk to impress a girl, she tells him that the girl isn't worth it if he can't be himself around her. This was also after Rochelle had kicked him so hard in the ass that she got her shoe stuck and Chris needed to be hospitalized.
- When Rochelle finds out that Tonya snuck a bra into the house because she had been getting insecure about her body and had been it secretly, she quickly calms down and takes a nurturing approach. This was also after she openly threatened to murder Julius in front of their children just because she thought he or a woman he met up with snuck that bra in.
Drew
Played by: Tequan Richmond
Chris' younger brother, and the middle child of the family. Compared to Chris, he's a lot more popular around the neighborhood.
- The Ace: Excels at basically everything, much to Chris's jealousy. When it comes to singing, however, Drew's voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard, to say the least.
- Always Someone Better: How he is seen by Chris. This is a plot point in "Everybody Hates Drew", where Chris finally admits to Drew that he's tired of Drew being better than him at everything. It's revealed that there's some Mutual Envy, as Drew is jealous that their parents always put Chris in charge when they leave the house, and also that Chris can go to school in Brooklyn Beach.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In one episode, he was willing to forgive Chris for "accidentally" breaking his arm. But when Chris reveals that he did it on purpose, well...
- Big Little Brother: Much to Chris' embarrassment, Drew is a few inches taller than him. Subverted in the latter half of the series, where they are around the same height due to Chris' actor getting a growth spurt.
- Big Man on Campus: He may be in junior high school, but he's good at damn near everything he (and other people) does, can "get girls at 12 that [Chris] couldn't get until [he] was 30," and even had his class melt down in a frenzied panic when he was absent due to skipping school
- Character Catchphrase: "Wasn't me." note
- Chick Magnet: Much more successful than Chris when it comes to romance, but doesn't always care for it.
- Dreadful Musician: In "Everybody Hates Superstition", it is revealed that Drew cannot sing at all. This is the one thing that Drew is not better than Chris at, but he doesn't know that. As a result of this, he resorts to lip-syncing while the song plays near the end of the episode.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: Downplayed in the first few episodes. As he grows up, he becomes smarter and more levelheaded.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: He doesn't need professional training to master a trade. He can literally just watch someone do it once and perfectly mimic it, as best exemplified through his karate skills.
- Lovable Jock: Very athletic and good at hockey and karate.
- Middle Child Syndrome: Averted. He may be the middle child, but he's considered much more handsome and popular than Chris.
- Nice Guy: Generally very cool and easygoing.
- Not So Above It All: Given that he's still a kid, Drew occasionally has moments where he can be quite stubborn and mischievous. A prime example of this is when he skips school in an effort to meet his hero, Wayne Gretzky.
- Occidental Otaku: He displays great interest in and appreciation for Asian cultures, particularly martial arts.
- Stage Magician: Aims to be one at one point.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's scared of spiders, thanks to The Fly (1958).
Tonya
Played by: Imani Hakim
Chris' younger sister, and the youngest child of the family. She's a very bratty little girl.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: In spades.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Before becoming a Bratty Teenage Daughter in the later seasons.
- Character Catchphrase: "I'm telling!"
- Daddy's Girl: She is Julius' favorite.
- It's All About Me: Very self-centered and manipulative.
- It Will Never Catch On: She constantly insinuates that Michael Jackson steals Billy Ocean's shtick.
- Jerkass: She's a brat who enjoys getting her brothers in trouble.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She shows this with Chris in the Season 1 episode "Everybody Hates the Laundromat".
- Laser-Guided Karma: If she ever takes her bratty behavior too far, she doesn't usually get away with it.
- Loony Fan: Of Billy Ocean. She spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to win tickets to one of his shows and ended up charging the family with a huge bill trying to buy a bunch of his records for what was advertised as "a penny".
- Manipulative Bitch: Often takes advantage of her parents to get what she wants. To get Drew in trouble, she yelled that he hit her when he didn't do a thing. It worked several times, until she tried it one too many times.
- Mouthy Kid: A smart-mouthed little girl.
- Sassy Black Girl: Probably learned some of her mannerisms from her mom.
- Spoiled Brat: Especially spoiled by her father who tends to give her what she wants.
- Ship Tease: With James. They actually end up dating at one point, but they presumably stop thanks to Julius' intervention. This ship seems to have sunk after James becomes a Crazy Jealous Guy and scares off a boy who tried flirting with Tonya.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Despite claiming to be scared of absolutely nothing, she's afraid of clowns, which Drew uses to his advantage. She was also scared of werewolves in "Everybody Hates Eggs".
Corleone Junior High / Tattaglia High School
Greg Wuliger
Played by: Vincent Martella
Greg is Chris' best friend at school. And probably one of the only real friends he has.
- Butt-Monkey: Not as much as Chris, but Caruso still picks on him.
- Character Catchphrase: “Dude, you are so in there!”
- Cowardly Lion: Despite the fact that Greg is indeed a "I'm running like a bitch" guy, he had enough nerve to enter the bad part of Bed-Stuy for an untold reason and he manages to dissuade Chris from going along with being a lookout for the "cool kids", a group of delinquents who hang around the Arcade, because Chris would be named an accessory if the cops made the connection between Chris and the "cool kids". After Chris considered his options, he decided to forego being cool and they both make a run for it after the police show up.
- Heterosexual Life-Partner: With Chris.
- Hopeless Suitor: Even worse than Chris.
- Lovable Coward:Chris: There's "got your back" guys and "I'll be back" guys. Greg was a "I'm running like a bitch" guy.
- Nice Guy: Despite his weirdness, Greg is an easygoing guy.
- Only Friend: Chris's best and only friend.
- Token White: In the main cast. Though he's no more dorky than Chris himself.
- You Are Grounded!: In the episode "Everybody Hates Greg", Art (Greg's father) grounded Greg for bring Chris at his home without his permission and he tooked his Atari for a week.
Joey Caruso
Played by: Travis T Flory
Caruso is the school bully, who frequently harasses Chris, Greg, and other kids.
- The Bully: He tends to call Chris names and beat him up every now and then.
- Characterization Marches On: In "Everybody Hates the Pilot", Caruso is played more as a Barbaric Bully whose racism is even more evident by calling Chris the N-Word hard r. In episodes following that, though Caruso is still a racist, he doesn't ever use the Hard R (though he does come close with calling him "a silly Negro"), preferring to be more creative with his put downs towards Chris.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He gives Chris a break after learning his grandpa died.
- Evil Redhead: A redheaded bully.
- Freudian Excuse: He apparently has a family that brought him up to be racist.
- Fat Bastard: He's a racist, unpleasant bully who's also overweight.
- Hate Sink: He has absolutely NO redeeming qualities, which is the sole purpose of his role in the show.
- Hidden Depths: After being hinted at throughout the series, he admits in the Grand Finale that the only reason he bullies Chris (and by extension) others is to cope with severe self-esteem issues.
- Jerkass: Big time. He not only acts obnoxious to Chris, but to the other kids in his school too.
- Karma Houdini: Caruso rarely gets in trouble for picking on Chris.
- Karma Houdini Warranty:
- The closest he gets to comeuppance is being beaten up by a kid he bullied once, but he still gets back on top by the end of the episode.
- Chris tries to inflict karma on Caruso by framing him for a prank on the last day of the school year, which results in Caruso getting punished with a session of summer school. Unfortunately for Chris, he too is forced to take summer school (with Caruso) because he failed his science class.
- At the end of "Everybody Hates Sausages" Chris finally got his revenge on Caruso by having him and his cronies spend time in detention after the principal caught them pelting Chris with batteries.
- Last-Name Basis: He is better known as Caruso.
- The Nicknamer: He always refers to Chris as a different black person, real or fictional.
- Pet the Dog: When he learned that Chris' grandfather died recently, he didn't pick on Chris that day (though he did beat up a Chinese kid instead).
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Towards Chris, constantly calling him black names.
Ms. Vivian Morello
Played by: Jacqueline Mazarella
Chris' teacher, and later the principal of the school. She's always saying something that offends Chris.
- Condescending Compassion: Displays this to Chris as often as she can.
- Flat Character: Sort of. She never really displays any character other than her paradoxical 'racism towards black men' and 'attraction towards black men' traits.
- Innocent Bigot: She keeps unwittingly making patronizing comments to Chris that sound racist.
- Irony: She always makes innocently racist comments towards Chris, but she also has an attraction for black men.
- Jerkass: She (unwittingly) acts very rude and condescending to Chris in almost all of her appearances.
- Out-of-Character Moment: In "Everybody Hates the Gout", she doesn't show her usual aloofness or racist tendencies and comes across as a sharper, regular teacher who shows legitimate concern over Chris faking a report card. This is particularly jarring as in another episode she is willing to give Chris a passing grade even after he fails a test on purpose.
- In "Everybody Hates Dirty Jokes" when she reprimands Chris for disrupting her class by making the other students laugh at his dirty joke, she doesn't say anything racially insensitive. She instead issues Chris a detention for disruption. Though not anything out-of-the-ordinary for a teacher to do, it stands out for Miss Morello as she her normal response to Chris's bad behavior is to chalk it up to him acting on his "Black nature" and to be more lenient as a result.
- Race Fetish: She's disturbingly quick to throw herself at any handsome black men.
- Satellite Character: Her interactions are almost always with Chris; she rarely ever interacts with anyone else.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As the show progressed, her comments towards Chris got more and more mean-spirited.
Lisa
Played by: Monica Anne Parales
A fellow Corleone student. She is almost always antagonizing Chris.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: She's an exemplary student and is constantly trying to better Chris or otherwise boss him around.
- Asian and Nerdy: She takes her studies very seriously.
- Insufferable Genius: She's clearly very smart, but also unnecessarily rude and confrontational.
- Intrepid Reporter: In "Everybody Hates Promises", where she's constantly trying to get Chris impeached so she can get a juicy scoop.
- Jerkass: Most of the time towards Chris, and even Greg by association.
Bedford–Stuyvesant Residents
Keisha Ridenhour
Played by: Aree Davis
Chris' neighbor of whom he has a crush on. She just sees him as a friend and prefers Drew, though.
- Girl Next Door: She lives right next door to Chris and he has a huge crush on her.
- Kick the Dog: Yelling at Chris at the Halloween party when he asks for a dance. To be fair, she did invite Drew, who gave Chris the invite so he could go trick-or-treating, but she didn't need to be so cruel.
- Love Triangle: Chris likes her, but she has eyes for Drew.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: She leaves Bed-Stuy in the Season 2 premiere. Where to? Compton. We get a Cutaway Gag of her family's car getting shot up.
Tasha Clarkson
Played by: Paige Hurd
A girl who moves next to Chris' family in Season 2.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Once they start officially dating, she becomes far too clingy and needy for even Chris and they break up.
- Love Interest: To Chris for a while.
- Ship Tease: Consistently with Chris, in contrast to Keisha. They even kiss and temporarily get together.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Keisha, as another Girl Next Door who Chris falls for.
Cleavon "James" Barris
Played by: Blake Hightower
A boy who lives in the neighborhood and goes to school with Tonya.
- Always Someone Better: In "Everybody Hates Minimum Wage", he always gets hired at the last place Chris quits due to low pay/taxation and ends up being paid fairly.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone refers to him as James. His real name is only revealed in Season 4.
- Free-Range Children: He at least has a mother at home, but she never makes an appearance while he's always hanging around with grown-ups and hoodlums.
- I Have This Friend: This seems to be a common tactic of his. When trick-or-treating, he tries to scam Julius out of more candy by claiming that the previous two visits were his "brother". Then, when in the Big Brother program with Chris, he refers to a "Cleavon" as if he were a different person, when Cleavon is actually his real name.
- Ship Tease: With Tonya. They were an item at one point but Julius drove a wedge in that. That hasn't stopped the teasing until James becomes a Crazy Jealous Guy and scares off another boy trying to impress Tonya.
Risky
Played by: Mike Estime
A black market dealer who sells stolen or illegal items.
- A Day in the Limelight: Works Julius' paper route with him in "Everybody Hates Math", only to try and sell his stolen goods out of the back of the truck.
- Lovable Rogue: Sells stolen goods and is generally shady but also good natured and amicable.
- Phrase Catcher: "Damn Risky!"
Doc Harris
Played by: Antonio Fargas
A convenience store owner whom Chris works for.
- Cool Old Guy: He's a jolly fellow who is one of the few people consistently nice to Chris. Notably, he came over to pay his respects when Chris' grandfather passes, installs a new game into his store to cheer him up, and makes some macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving when Chris accidentally burns it.
- Dirty Old Man: His girlfriend in Everybody Hates Doc's is an extremely attractive woman at least a decade younger than him.
- Intergenerational Friendship: He's one of the few consistently friendly people to Chris.
- Like a Son to Me: He has this dynamic with Chris.
Jimmy "Monk" Harris
Played by: Todd Bridges
Doc's nephew and co-manager, who is also an ex-soldier.
- Actor Allusion: "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Monk?"
- Disappeared Dad: His father abandoned him when he asked Monk for some money for a bus ticket.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: A foolproof way to set him off is to remind him of his time in the army, which is extremely easy to do.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The name "Monk" is just a nickname, most likely his callsign from back in 'Nam.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's rather paranoid due to his experiences in the Vietnam War.
- The Vietnam Vet: He served in 'Nam, which left him extremely paranoid and distrustful of authority.
Louise Clarkson
Played by: Whoopi Goldberg
Chris's rude, uptight neighbor and grandmother of his crush Tasha.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has a very cutting tongue.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Loves her granddaughter Tasha.
- Hate Sink: Rude, nosy, condescending, generally not a nice lady in the slightest.
- Mama Bear: Is VERY protective of Tasha, especially where Chris is concerned.
Jerome
Played by: Kevontay Jackson
Another friend of Chris. He gives Chris advice in exchange for a dollar.
- Character Catchphrase: "Hey! Little dude from across the street! Let me hold a dollar."
- Cool Big Bro: He has this dynamic with Chris after he warms up to him. For all of his hustling, he does genuinely care for Chris.
- Disappeared Dad: Implied that he is a deadbeat dad. He once offered Chris some tips on how to save money in child support.
- Friendly Enemy: Is an antagonist in his first episode, who is thwarted from stealing Chris' bike. The two later become friends. Technically still accurate as Chris still sees Jerome "holding his dollar" as robbing him.
- Hustler: Almost every time Chris walks by, he shakes him down for some money, usually a dollar.
- Lovable Rogue: Robs Chris of a dollar in almost all of his appearances but is also genuinely nice to him for the most part.
- The Nicknamer: He has a nickname for just about everybody, usually the local children he robs. Chris is "Little Dude From Across The Street".
Mr. Omar
Played by: Ernest Lee Thomas
A sleazy funeral director who lives in the same apartment building as the Rock family, renting out an adjacent suite as their tenant.
- Ascended Extra: He only appeared in a single scene in Season One before becoming the Rocks' tenant for the rest of the series.
- Character Catchphrase: "TRAGIC!"
- Characterization Marches On: He was bald in his first appearance, and he lacked most of the attributes that would define him in his later appearances.
- Everyone Has Standards: In 'Everybody Hates Snow Day', he is asked by Julius to watch Drew and Tanya. While reluctant at first, he ends up having fun playing Monopoly with them and sticks to his promise even after his widow of the week angrily decides to leave.
- Intergenerational Friendship: He actually is pretty friendly to Chris for all his sleaze. He also warms up to and plays board games with Drew and Tonya when babysitting them in "Everybody Hates Snow Day", which is surprising considering he initially wanted to neglect them for a widow he was planning to sleep with.
- Large Ham
- Manipulative Bastard: In 'Everybody Hates The English Teacher'. When Julius tries to raise his rent, Mr. Omar demands that the apartment be brought up to code. Everything is fixed up except for the breaker panel, which Mr. Omar pays for out of his own pocket...and deducts from his rent, meaning he'll be paying the Rocks the exact same amount as before.
- Really Gets Around: He meets a lot of widows in his job that he tends to make time for seducing and bringing to his apartment for sex.
Malvo
Played by: Ricky Harris
A notorious criminal with whom Chris has a number of run-ins.
- Big Bad: Of his first two appearances.
- Being Evil Sucks: Ultimately decides to change his criminal ways and pursue an education.
- Beta Couple: He and Peaches, Tasha's mother, become this to Rochelle and Julius.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Chris, after he reforms, though Rochelle and Julius are still wary of him.
- Know When to Fold Them: He wisely decides to leave Chris alone when the much larger Julius threatens him with a baseball bat.
- Would Hurt a Child: He routinely intimidates Chris in their initial encounters with threats of violence.
Edgar "Kill Moves" Devereaux
Played by: Jeris Lee Poindexter
A local homeless man. Not very sane. His nickname comes from the fact that he knows all kinds of deadly martial arts.
- Cloudcuckoolander: As mentioned, he doesn't have a tight grasp on reality.
- Crazy Homeless People: Homeless and almost completely insane. He does sharpen up a bit when visiting his mother but goes right back to being a crazy old hobo once he's back in Bed-Stuy.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only referred to as his real name by his mother, naturally.
- Hidden Depths: Turns out he's a skilled pilot, and that was his occupation before the layoffs under President Reagan.
- Riches to Rags: In a later episode, it turns out that he's actually from a wealthy family, it's just that he prefers to live as a hobo.
- Sudden Name Change: He was known as 'Mr. Jackson' in his first episode.
