This is the show that you won't have seen dodgy, wobbly clips of on YouTube. Despite it having a different title, Tamborine, directed by Bo Burnham and filmed at the classy Brooklyn Academy of Music, is pretty much the show Rock performed in the UK recently as part of his Total Blackout tour when mobile phones were – praise be – locked away in pouches during the gigs. And while Rock might not have the anger of his Bring The Pain youth any more, it confirms that he is definitely one of stand-up's greats.

It's a more genial Rock that we see here, strolling rather than strutting around the stage. Maybe not surprising, giving that he is now 52 – though he doesn't look it – and has recently come through an emotionally draining divorce. But that doesn't mean the material is soft-centred. From the get-go he is on the (sadly topical) subject of gun control and race, suggesting that maybe the police should should a few more white kids every now and again just to keep the ratio of black-to-white deaths up. He is also very good on religion, comparing it to salt: "A little’s good. Too much will fuck up the meal."

As a father of two daughters he is concerned about the next generation. He thanks the audience for buying tickets to pay for his kids' private education but at the same is not so sure that they are getting the right kind of teaching. Their school has zero tolerance on bullying, but Rock thinks that maybe learning to deal with bullies is a useful skill that America has lost. That's why, he suggests, the country does not know how to deal with Trump.

While there is some hard-hitting political material here, the meat of the latter part of the set is more personal as Rock relfects on the breakdown of his marriage and subsequent expensive court case. He was addicted to porn and was unfaithful. "I was an asshole," he confesses. He has belatedly learnt that a relationship is like being in a band. You have to play your part and you can't always be the lead singer. Sometimes you have to play the tamborine - hence the (American spelt) title of the show. It is a show of humility here, whereas elsewhere Rock does have some old-fashioned views, seeing the man as the provider.

But then maybe it is not surprising he has old-fashioned. He is in his fifties after all. He had something of a wake-up call about his age when after his split he tried to chat up Rihanna, only to be given short shrift. He might as well have been her elderly aunt, he realised. But he hasn't given up on women and says he is on Tinder. You could check him out there but you should also check out this thoughtful, skilful, expertly delivered set from a storytelling master.

Watch on netflix.com now.