I don't like to go to regular, big stores - I don't like to wear anything anybody else does.
— Charlie Murphy
When I first started, it was a dare. Someone basically said, 'You're a tough guy... but I'll bet you won't get on a microphone in front of a bunch of people.' I was terrified, but I did it. Once I broke the ice and got onstage and got some laughs, I thought, 'That's not so bad.'
Comedy has bits, has jokes, has stories, and it has characters.
'Chappelle's Show' was like the Tupac of TV shows. It came out, it got everybody's attention, it was a bright shining star, but it burned out, and for some strange reason, it burned out quick.
I don't have beef with anyone, only martians.
I think I have had a remarkable and colorful life, so I decided to share it.
Don't take life for granted.
Everything was a lot more challenging for me because of who my brother was. If I were in the film, someone would had said that I got the part because Eddie's in the film. If I wrote a script, folks would say that I didn't really write that: that Eddie did and I threw my name on it.
I don't think there's a person in the industry that wouldn't love to work with Dave Chappelle. That's a no-brainer.
As the older brother, I was expected to make sure no one messed with Eddie when he went to the park. He didn't have to deal with anyone saying, 'I'll get you after school.'
If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't deserve to laugh at anybody else.
I've never felt like I was living in anyone's shadow. My life was what it was.
I was into basketball, football, karate, boxing.
When I was nine years old, I was in a movie called, 'Landlord' with Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett, and Beau Bridges.
In the Navy, you're around a lot of people from different parts of the country. They've got different accents, different upbringings. I learned to love country-western music.
When I was nine, my father passed away. It's one thing when you're a kid and your father wasn't there for you. My father was there, and then he was taken away.
I don't hang out with soft cats.
If you can't eat incredible food, then what's the point?
One thing helps the other. My stand-up helps my writing; my writing helps my stand-up; my stand-up helps my acting. They're all interlocked.
You have comedians who just do jokes, and they're called comics, not comedians. You have comedians that do bits - a person that has a lot of jokes that have a beginning, a middle and an end, but it's not a real story. And you have someone that does great stories, the one that blends those things together - that person is doing comedy.
I feel blessed to be able to do my stand up comedy all over the world, because some people never even leave New York.
I wake up every morning, and I am ecstatic.
Several of my uncles are comedians. My father is a comedian; my grandfather was known for his jokes. It definitely runs in the family.
I never went around saying who my brother was. Everybody else was doing that.
Charlie Murphy has been around for a long time. I've worked with a lot of exciting artists, and it was a thrill to be around to watch them display their skills.
I went into the military because I wanted to get an education, not because I wanted to fight anybody.
In the military, the reason you take the right path is they eliminate other choices. I needed that. They set me straight.
When I first started doing comedy, I was 42 years old, and I was the brother of one of the most celebrated comics in history who made his name in the game 20 years earlier.
When you're in the military, you get accustomed to sleep deprivation.
My whole life is a funny moment, man.
Prior to the 'Chappelle's Show,' you know, no one would even listen to me, in the frame of, 'Oh, he is trying to be funny.'
When you don't have money, you fall under the influence of anybody who has the appearance of having it.
I like to tease people. I hate when people do it to me, though.
There's a lot of racism when I was in the Navy, and I had to deal with that.
I guess I must have a good metabolism.
I may make you angry or make you feel sorry for me, but in the end, you appreciate my show because it's not one-dimensional.
Richard Pryor - he had stories, he had characters, he had short jokes, and he had bits. He had all those things. Eddie Murphy has all those things, and he can sing. A comedian is a bunch of stuff; it's not just one area.
While I have been to Switzerland, Stockholm, and other parts of Europe and Canada, I don't have a specific place that is my favorite. I just represent Earth.
What I'm pretty much giving you when you see me onstage is me; it's not a fake character.
Don't take people for granted.
If you want to laugh, see a comedy. If you want to cry, see a drama, and if you want suspense, see a thriller.
I look at the world and I find the funny in it, because there's funny in everything. No matter how ugly it may be, there's a funny way to look at it.
If I look at my family tree and follow every generation before us, going all the way back to the slaves, then Eddie Murphy is the highest achievement as far as my bloodline is concerned. How could you be jealous? You can only be proud, unless you got some serious issues.
I've always had the luck or blessing that someone would say, 'I liked what you did in that movie. I'd like you to be in my movie.'
I was always proud of my brother. He helped me tremendously, but we're family, so we were never in his shadow.
I would say I was an all-American teenager.
If you don't know things, you know, you just go by your instinct.
As far as stand-up comedy, I got into the business later than most, yeah.
Gangs are formed by kids who want love.
I have a very good talent at finding out exactly what it is about yourself that you don't like and then keep bringing it up.
