A celebrity, whatever I am, you get cut off sometimes from people just by circumstance.

After a while, a joke, if you say it too much, just becomes contrived, or fake-sounding.

The hardest thing to do is to be true to yourself, especially when everybody is watching.

If I can make a teacher's salary doing comedy, I think that's better than being a teacher.

I'm famous today. People like me today. Might not like me tomorrow. You can't count on it.

I have a very good life, a high quality of life. I have both money and time. No one has that.

You can become famous but you can't become unfamous. You can become infamous but not unfamous.

I love the fact that I have a show where you can run over a kid and everyone busts out laughing.

I don't really frick with Africa cause people are starving to death and that's not ballin' to me.

Remember what the Bible says: He who is without sin, cast the first rock. And I shall smoketh it.

I don't want the money. I don't want the drama. I just want to do my show. I want to have fun again.

I don't do any jokes that old. I might have maybe one or two jokes from high school that I still do.

If I put forth a legitimate effort, then I feel like, if that doesn't work out, that's all I can do.

I'm cool with failing so long as I know that there are people around me that love me unconditionally.

Every black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak 'job interview.'

Comedians by and large are some of the most sensitive people on earth. Even if they're socially callous.

The mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete, and everything after you bears your mark.

When I'm on stage, I get real happy there. Maybe that's the only time in my adult life I feel like myself.

I just like seeing people. I just like meeting people. I like finding out new walks of life and new ideas.

People don't know what it's like standing up there onstage, when you have a wall of people smiling at you.

Everyone around me says, You're a genius! You're great! That's your voice! But I'm not sure if they're right.

If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself.

Whether it means having a show, or a movie, or just being on a stage, I need an avenue to say what I have to say.

The world can't tell you who you are. You've just got to figure out who you are and be there, for better or worse.

I get a little heated when I talk about the past. But I wanted to be clear - I'm not mad at anybody - not anymore.

I got married recently. So far, so good. Less sex than I expected, but other than that, it's a pretty good lifestyle.

The way the people around you position themselves around you to get in your pockets and in your mind is infuriating to me.

I support anyone's right to be who they want to be. My question is: to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?

My father told me 'Name your price in the beginning. If it ever gets more expensive than the price you name, get out of there.'

You've got to say 'yes' to your destiny. Life's happening right now, look around you. There goes some life. Come on, Mamma, live!

I was doing sketches that were funny but socially irresponsible. I felt I was deliberately being encouraged and I was overwhelmed.

My wife asked me once if I weren't a comedian what I would do. I couldn't answer the question. I never imagined doing anything else.

My wife asked me once if I weren't a comedian, what I would do. I couldn't answer the question. I never imagined doing anything else.

I have all these weird fantasies. Going coast-to-coast on my motorcycle and having random barbecues all over America. No show, no nothing.

I'm happier in the way a guy gets happier when he starts to mature. It doesn't make things easier, but I'm so much better at handling them.

I still think people do have racial hang-ups, but I think one of the reasons I can joke about it is people are shedding those racial hatreds.

Ralph Nader has slavery reparations on his platform, which makes me think he's not serious. If he thought he could win he wouldn't even say that.

Because I was surrounded by so much negativity at some point that it took me going back and doing stand-up to realize, you know, people really like me.

I got my hat pulled up low and no one can really see me. I'm ducked out. People do recognize me, and I have a pretty interesting fan base. It's a diverse group.

I don't want anything bad to happen to the United States, but if North Korea ever drops a nuclear bomb on this country, I swear to God, I hope it lands in Hartford.

You know, be able to do something great in your life, you're gonna have to realize your failures. You're gonna have to embrace them and figure out how to overcome it.

One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interest in controlling you.

If you're Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and your marriage is breaking up - that's an awful thing. But to see that speculation in people, it's gotta sting a little bit.

Something about New York, man: You can do more comedy there probably than you can anywhere in the world. If you're interested in being funny, New York is the place to go.

I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interested in controlling you.

Weed's not as bad as everything else... 'cause weed is a background substance. You know what I mean, you can smoke some herb and still function. You ain't crisp... but you'll function.

I started when I was 14. I figured out that's what I wanted to do when I was 14. Even when I was six, I can remember people telling me, "You're gonna be a comedian," and all this stuff.

I want to tell my jokes. I want to have time with my children. I want to entertain people. And at one point, I'll walk away from show business. But I don't want to walk away empty-handed.

Jerry Seinfeld, he was doing Letterman show all the time, so he kind of had an excuse, that people know the jokes already. He didn't have time to do stand-up. A guy like me, I have no excuses.

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