Steve Allen was on Johnny Carson one time - I looked for it, but I couldn’t find it - and he read the lyrics to 'Hot Stuff' by Donna Summer like a poet. He read them very seriously. I was maybe 8, but it killed me.
In true, narcissistic fashion, when my father was diagnosed as a narcissist, he called us all up individually to tell us, and he did it with true pride.
I think the thing I had going for me is a good pedigree and joke-writing ability. But a good pedigree, for the audience, doesn’t matter past the first 90 seconds.
The fear of public speaking is a primal fear. You can train your body to not be crazy when you're doing it, but it truly is a primal fear.
I think the best black screenwriter is Quentin Tarantino.
I'm not good at Reddit; I don't go to the most popular parts.
There are things that start small on Reddit, then they sort of gather and become major trends. Having said that, I mostly stay on the Top 100 page, so it's mostly just pictures of a dog looking like Chewbacca.
I generally don't read articles about myself/'Chappelle's Show,' nor do I read reviews. It's basically playing Russian Roulette. They're not all gonna be positive.
I get that money is important, and it’s scary to think that you won’t have enough. At the same time, we can set up reasonable social safety nets and take care of everybody.
Like, your body has to get used to being in front of people. Like - and you have to be like - you have to be kind of a ham, you know? Like, the thing about writers is they're generally self - comedy writers - self-loathing, sort of play small. And as a, like, performer, you have to think like a comedy writer but act like a performer.
I’m obsessive, I’m a control freak, I get snappy with people.
Everyone has some secret and some source of pain or sadness and I just said mine first and then everybody went after me. I get it every day in my Instagram direct messages, people thanking me for talking about depression and telling me how it helped them.
Being able to write jokes is great, but you still have to get used to performing them and being on stage - and enjoying being on stage, not just like tolerating it.
