American comedian Chris Rock performed at Perth Arena in June and the experience has clearly stuck with him.

Not in a good way.

The stand-up comic joined actors Kate Winslett and Idris Elba as guests on popular The Graham Norton Show in the UK last week and was asked by Winslett how much of his show is scripted and how much is improvised on the night.

“It depends on the night,” Rock explained.

“Some places, the audience gives you back so much that you just run with it and then some places it’s like, ‘OK, now we’re almost doing a play’.”

“And do you have audiences where sometimes you just go, “Oh s..., I’ve got to really pull something out,” Winslett asked.

“Yeah, I had a really weird one in Perth, in Australia, and I was like, ‘Ooh, OK, I gotta use all of my Spidey senses tonight’,” Rock replied.

Camera Icon Chris Rock performs at Perth Arena. Credit: Duncan Barnes

We’re not sure how channelling Spider-Man is helpful to a comedian but we were at the Perth show and can recall that some of Rock’s thought-provoking diatribes on American life went over the heads of some in the crowd.

However, we do remember the comic getting a huge laugh from a local reference he dropped into his set, listing Rockingham — along with porcupines and quicksand — as one of “God’s mistakes”.

Unfortunately for Rocko residents, it was no random mention.

Rock told Norton that he researched each town he visited to ensure his local references were accurate.

“I do a little homework, OK — did your mayor sleep with anybody, what’s the popular street, what’s the popular hotel. I try to insert all that stuff in the act,” Rock confirmed.

Rock scored brownie points with West Australian fans during a surprise performance in North Perth during his visit this year.

The comedian was in town for his show at Perth Arena as part of his worldwide Total Blackout Tour. But he treated comedy fans to an impromptu show the night before at the Charles Hotel’s live stand-up comedy night.

Play Video Chris Rock performs to comedy fans at North Perth's Charles Hotel. The West Australian Video Chris Rock performs to comedy fans at North Perth's Charles Hotel.

Comedy Lounge director John McAllister said at the time that the “pretty packed” crowd of 170 people were stunned into silence.

“It was meant to be top secret so we couldn’t say anything to the audience, but then the MC got on stage and said ‘Please welcome to the stage our special guest Chris Rock’,” Mr McAllister told The West Australian.