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Are things funny everywhere? Will a scathing political joke in New York get the same reaction in London or Johannesburg?

Chris Rock made the experiment the basis of his latest HBO special, "Kill the Messenger," which had its premiere Saturday night. Unlike other specials, it cut freely from one continent to the next to the next, while he was in the middle of the same routine.

He didn't mask the locale switches; indeed, he wore a different outfit at each place. But it was remarkable that the routine didn't seem to change one bit from one place to the next. Sure, the best routines are those that have been honed to a fine edge, with nary an extra word. But it ruins the illusion that comics bring their material fresh to an audience for the first (and only?) time live.

There was something of an urgency to getting the special on, especially since the first portion had to do with the election and won't have the same punch in seven weeks.

The McCain/Obama stuff is outrageous and hilarious at the same time, going beyond the usual old jokes for McCain to a new level ("he was too old to be president 10 years ago!").

To promote the special, he's been parsing out the jokes late night, as is the common practice of comedians promoting a new show. That's where that comment about Sarah Palin killing moose from a helicopter vs. Michael Vick's dog handling came from.

The Obama riff began to move to the territory of controversy within the black community when he declared the country was ready for a black president but not a black woman for first lady (there's no way she would play second fiddle, he said).

From there the gender and race card turned to the sex card as well. And though it wasn't quite as funny as the first part, results of the scene-switching revealed: People like the crude sex jokes all over the world as well.