Tonight, HBO is premiering Chris Rock’s newest standup special, and ideally his biggest and blackest yet. It’s called “Kill the Messenger,” and I’m hoping the title’s significance will illuminate after viewing.

I’ve been trying to sort out if Rock is the Messenger, and he’s simply toying with the his trademark reputation for viciously and hilariously telling it like it is, for “bringing the pain,” if you will. Then, I started thinking about the whole notion of how a comic is always striving to “kill” with a really great set, and I became less confident with my original hypothesis. I became even more confused when I remembered the movie “The Messenger,” staring Milla Jovovich, and wondered if perhaps Rock was referencing that. After watching that piece of crap, I started vomiting out of my eyes, and the only person I wanted to kill was myself. In conclusion, I guess all questions about the title remain unanswered until later tonight.

“Kill the Messenger” will be on HBO at 9pm eastern, and it’s a pretty big event. Not only is it the first Chris Rock special since “Never Scared,” which was four years ago, but it was shot in three different countries and cut together as one performance. Pretty cool, no?

I will admit my favorite special is by far Rock’s first one on HBO, “Bring the Pain,” but Chris’ appearences on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Howard Stern Show earlier this week have proven he’s just as sharp– and vicious– as ever.