Charlie Murphy

I've been in a lot of different arenas of life.

My own son called me Eddie Murphy's brother once. Once.

There are many styles of standup, but the comedians I like are people like Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor. Because Richard Pryor told the truth. Chris Rock. I love Chris Rock. He's funny, but he's also poignant. He's not there just to make people laugh; he's there to make people wake up, too.

Every barbershop has a guy who wrecks shop every time he comes in. He has the whole barbershop laughing. That doesn't mean he's a comedian.

I didn't want to do anything that could possibly tarnish my brother's career.

If you look at my acting career, I never played a role that was similar to anything my brother played. I was always cast as the bad guy or a gangster, because my brother didn't do those kind of roles.

I have people tell me all the time, 'I was expecting you to be mean.' Why is that? Because you saw me in a movie? That's acting.

My name is Charlie Murphy. I was born into this name, and I've been rolling how I've been rolling my whole life.

I don't think I have any hobbies.

I'm always working, and I'm a single parent, so I don't think I have time for stuff most normal people do.

Most of my good friends have fights with me. Those guys know that I was in martial arts for 12 years fighting on the circuit.

Nobody gave me anything.

I didn't go to no school for acting. I learned it all by trial and error.

I wasn't drawn to comedy: it was drawn to me - from fighting in school to going to jail, then joining the military and getting into Hollywood.

I was a bodyguard for somebody I love. That's not a good combination. I was always ready to beat somebody up.

My background is part of my comedy. Your experiences are where the jokes come from.

I bombed in front of 5,000 people. Anybody that's ever stood in front of 5,000 people that don't like them can tell you, it's an energy associated with that. You don't want to feel that. You ask yourself, 'Do you really really want to do this?'

People who know me know that I'm the last person on earth that wants to be somebody else.

There's only going be one Richard Pryor. You know how many came out after Richard Pryor and died trying to be compared to him? Or Bernie Mac? You got to be like you.

Don't underestimate the power of the Web.

You make shows, and you don't go into it thinking, 'Our show's going to be number one'; you go into it hoping to stay on the air.

The whole thing with the Rick James story sketch and the Prince story sketch - I recounted my past, you know? - and that's what I was doing. It's not like I sat down and said I want to come up with a great story about Rick James. That stuff really happened.

I don't need to wait for someone else to get a bright idea and say, 'I wanna work with this guy.' I can do my own thing and drop it right on the Web and bypass you and your bright idea.

Carolines is the best. It has great sound, you can hear from the front all the way to the back with the same quality. If you want to see the top comics, go to Carolines.

I don't like to go to regular, big stores - I don't like to wear anything anybody else does.

Back when Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin were doing roasts, they were all friends. They knew each other's children, each other's wives, each other's families. It wasn't about being disrespectful. It was about being funny.

As a man, if you lose your wife, it's a horrible experience, especially with kids. But when one person passes away and you're still alive, people still depend on you - that's what you have to lean on.

If the 'Chappelle's Show' had stayed on, I seriously doubt I would have developed this fast as a stand-up comedian. I probably would never have taken stand-up comedy really seriously.

Most actors can't write. Most writers can't act. Most comedians can't act. I can do all three, so why wouldn't I do that?

Before stand-up, I didn't even have an agent. Once I started doing stand-up - boom. I got an agent. In fact, I got three agents. I got a lawyer. Now I get taken seriously.

The audience is my hardest and best critic.

There's no one on the road that I tried to pattern myself after. There's no one in history that I tried to pattern myself after. Because one thing I was told that in standup you want to develop your own voice.

Before I started doing standup, I knew that I had what it takes to develop an act. I went down to clubs with not many people there, and I just worked on it, man. A lot of my friends are comedians, so that part had a lot of encouragement, even though the shows were very caveman-like.

At the end of the day, when Charlie Murphy ain't here no more, I'll have a body of work that people can laugh and remember me by.

If I'm afraid of something, I'll deal with it and get past it.

A comic's like anybody else - he does what he does to support himself and feed his family. But if a comic says the wrong thing, there's a chance the audience will want to take you down.

I used to irritate people. I'd give them a hard time, and when it drove them crazy, that was funny to me.

It's easy to go on television and say horrible things about somebody. And it's cowardly.

If you can't eat incredible food, then what's the point?

Every script I've read for 'Black Jesus' has been hilarious.

I was the dude you didn't wanna go to school with, because I would come to school and get on your shoes. If you had a hole in your pants, I'd talk about it all day long. If your hair was messed up, if you had buck teeth, I'd talk about it all day long. And I made people laugh doing it, but it wasn't like I thought I was a comedian.

I went to jail for a year when I was 17. When I got out, my mother took me to the recruiting office, and I spent the next six years in the Navy.

Eddie had the perfect template of what not to do. His big brother did all the wrong things.

I protected Eddie. He never had to fight, because people knew who his older brother was.

I'm an entertainer, period. I can write it, I can speak it, and I can act it.

If I want to be a real comedian, I can't let you dictate my material, so I started creating more new material.

I'll put it like this: When I was in high school, I would never win a popularity contest back then... it was always somebody else that got picked first for whatever reason. But all those people that went before me usually dropped the ball... then I'd get my shot.

I've been called Mr. Eddie's brother, but I don't trip on that. Whether you realize it or not, that's a sign of disrespect. If you address me, call me by my name. You can't lower me or make me feel uncomfortable.

Other comedians got love for me. But don't get it twisted - I'm not a clown, I'm a comedian and work hard as an artist. Clowns go to college.

I've become a writer, an actor, producing films, and having a TV show. I'm pretty successful and proud of it.