CHRIS ROCK is 47 years old.  And apparently, 47 is the new 80.  Because Chris steps into grumpy old man territory in the new issue of "Vanity Fair", by complaining about the current state of comedy.  Asked if today's comedians are better than those he grew up on, Chris says, "Hell [effin'] no."

He explains, "Show me one guy or woman as funny as Rodney Dangerfield or as good as George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, or Joan Rivers.  There are a lot of good comics out there, no doubt, but as far as the quality of the comics goes, I think what you have is a bunch of situational comics.  What we have now is black comics that work only black crowds, gay comics that do only gay crowds, and southern comics that only work down South, and so on with Asian, Latino, Indian, midgets, etc.  The previous generation's comics were better because they had to make everybody laugh.  Richard Pryor could do 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and play the Apollo."

As for who stands out, he says, quote, "[Jerry] Seinfeld can work any crowd.  Ellen [DeGeneres] can work any crowd.  [George] Lopez can work any crowd.  And a few more, but the rest of them are just situational comics."