Rock of Ages

03/11/1999 at 12:00 AM EST

Last weekend's Essence Awards ceremony in New York lauding a "New Power Generation" of African Americans was no sweat for comic Chris Rock. He told PEOPLE: "It's just a nice awards show. You don't have to be famous to get one. Like I was at the GQ Awards . . . that was nice, but everybody was famous. I've gotten quite a few (awards) this year. I'm getting another one from Harper's Bazaar next month. I should warn my wife."