Charlie Murphy Quotes

I respect everybody. You don’t have to earn my respect. You earn my disrespect.

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.

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.

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.

My whole life is a funny moment, man.

If you don’t know things, you know, you just go by your instinct.

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

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.

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.

I don’t think I have any hobbies.

If you can’t laugh at yourself, you don’t deserve to laugh at anybody else.

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

The audience is my hardest and best critic.

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 think I have had a remarkable and colorful life, so I decided to share it.

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.

In the military, the reason you take the right path is they eliminate other choices. I needed that. They set me straight.

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.

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?

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.

I guess I must have a good metabolism.

I was always proud of my brother. He helped me tremendously, but we’re family, so we were never in his shadow.

Don’t take people for granted.

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

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

When I was nine years old, I was in a movie called, ‘Landlord’ with Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett, and Beau Bridges.

I don’t hang out with soft cats.

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

I went into the military because I wanted to get an education, not because I wanted to fight anybody.

When you’re in the military, you get accustomed to sleep deprivation.

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

Gangs are formed by kids who want love.

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.

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’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 never went around saying who my brother was. Everybody else was doing that.

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 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.

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.

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.

Don’t take life for granted.

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

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

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.’

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.

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.

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.’

There’s a lot of racism when I was in the Navy, and I had to deal with that.

I wake up every morning, and I am ecstatic.

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

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

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

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.

I feel blessed to be able to do my stand up comedy all over the world, because some people never even leave New York.

If you want to laugh, see a comedy. If you want to cry, see a drama, and if you want suspense, see a thriller.

Don’t underestimate the power of the Web.

Nobody gave me anything.

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.

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

Aaron McGruder is a straight-up G. I call him Champ.

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

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 far as stand-up comedy, I got into the business later than most, yeah.