When you watch TV, I didn't know black people were that happy. I had no idea they were that happy. I'm trying to find them.
— Paul Mooney
I could drop dead tomorrow, the truth will be here. Truth is forever; when you read our history, truth is forever, and it always outs itself.
I got my sense of humor from my grandmother. You know, my grandmother was very funny.
I like comedy, I mean, in all forms.
People don't want to hear the truth; they never do. They wanna live in some kind of fantasy.
I have known Michael Richards for something like 20 years. We're friends.
There's no such thing as reverse racism.
I have such an ego 'cause I'm a double Leo. I can't let go of me, you know, so it's very difficult for me to be somebody else and not me. I'm so into me.
You got to remember that slavery's very complex. It has a lot of levels to it.
Whatever that thing is that white people like in blacks, I don't have it. Maybe it's my arrogance or my self-assurance or the way I carry myself, but whatever it is, I don't have it.
I like when people are trapped in the joke, when there's no escape. I like to lead people down the wrong path and then trap them.
Handshaking means, 'I don't have a weapon.'
I love Obama because he is proof all black people don't look alike. Nobody every told me, 'Good morning, Mr. President.' We don't all look alike.
If you're happy with what you're doing, then you don't get bored.
There are still plenty of movie people peddling black stereotypes. I guess Tyler Perry's probably the most massively successful.
I think about never losing my voice, never giving in, never selling out, always keeping black, always sticking to the street. Staying neighborhood and not Hollywood.
Robin Williams learned technique. He has the technique of being funny.
When they were making black films in the '60s and the '70s, everyone knew their place, if you get my drift. You understand? Everyone knew the rules, and everyone knew their place. Everyone knew what to say. They had the written rules in Hollywood film, and the unwritten rules.
Arizona has always been anti-black.
A woman can tell me about her having a baby, but I'll never know what it is to have a baby.
The king of comedy is dead. Richard Pryor was the king of comedy. The rest of them are the king of copycats.
When you know who you are, you know who you are. That's the real dangerous thing in Hollywood, because they all want to create you and mold you.
Listen, we've got one little ol' black president, and white folks are upset, but they've had 43.
You know who you are. If my mother is a nun and someone comes up to me and they go, 'Your mother is a prostitute.' It is not going to bother me, because I know my mother is a nun, she's not a prostitute.
Comedians period, in general, have demons, and myself included.
I do celebrate anything with freedom in it, you know.
When I was 16 or 17, I saw Lenny Bruce being taken to jail. They took him off stage because he talked about race.
America is racial. America was founded on race. Race is America. The code name for America is 'race.'
My grandmother was the best. She loved you for you. She loved me for me. She was old-school. They broke the mold with her. They don't make them like that any more.
My comedy is a nuclear bomb inside my mind. It's a weapon that's never been tested. It just blows up and flattens everybody.
If you have money and you have fame, but you don't have any confidence in your blackness, then it's all for nothing.
What does it mean to be too black for Hollywood? It's self-explanatory. Hollywood has certain kinds of blacks that they like.
I've never seen anyone more messed up over success than Richard Pryor. For him, it's a constant battle between success in the white world and keeping it real for his black self.
I'm passionate about what I do. I'd be naive to be passive.
Tennessee Williams knew about the South, but he would clean it up and lie about it.
White people are very good at acting like they're not racist. They deserve an Academy Award for that.
An audience can be like a pack of wolves.
Sometimes, what you do you have no control over because it's predestined. It's gonna happen in spite of you. There's nothing you can do about it.
I can't change the past, but one person can change the future - anything can happen.
What does America love more than one white male?
I am very concerned about Barbara Streisand using the 'H' word - 'honkey.' That's what I am concerned about. I am worried about Barbara.
I don't want affirmative action - too much affirmative, not enough action.
I think I have a mental nappy attitude.
If your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed. If your hair is nappy, they're not happy.
Hollywood doesn't even have respect for itself. Hollywood lies to itself.
There's always a message in my comedy.
People ask me, when was my best time? I always say, 'Today.'
Hillary Clinton could say she was a woman and running for president. And Sarah Palin could say she was a woman and running for vice-president. But Obama couldn't say, 'I'm black and I'm running for president.' It couldn't come out of his mouth. He couldn't say that because, if he did, he'd lose votes.
You white folks see UFOs in your dreams. You don't hear about Martians in Harlem.
I was born a comic.
