I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.

I was a victim of a stereotype. There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class, and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry. Well, everybody knows - except us - that all Negroes have rhythms, so they elected me class poet.

Even the 'Negro' shows like 'Amos and Andy' and 'Beulah' are written largely by white writers - the better to preserve the stereotypes, I imagine.

Writing is like travelling. It's wonderful to go somewhere, but you get tired of staying.

The true essence of comedy is a baby seal hunt.

The most difficult character in comedy is that of the fool, and he must be no simpleton that plays that part.

Is everything funny? For me, yes. There's a positive to every negative. Even my divorce? For me, yes. If you go back and look at it, why it happened or how it happened, there's something in there that'll make you laugh.

Comedy is much more challenging, because you have to have the same level of belief but you have to make people laugh, and that's definitely a challenge.