Top 60 Charlie Murphy Quotes

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 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.

I was into basketball, football, karate, boxing.

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

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 guess I must have a good metabolism.

When you don’t have money, you fall under the influence of anybody who has the appearance of having it.

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

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

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

Don’t underestimate the power of the Web.

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.

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.

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.

What I’m pretty much giving you when you see me onstage is me; it’s not a fake character.

Don’t take people for granted.

Comedy has bits, has jokes, has stories, and it has characters.

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.’

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I would say I was an all-American teenager.

Prior to the ‘Chappelle’s Show,’ you know, no one would even listen to me, in the frame of, ‘Oh, he is trying to be funny.’

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.

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.

Charlie Murphy has been around for a long time. I’ve worked with a lot of exciting artists, and it was a thrill to be around to watch them display their skills.

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.

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.

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?’

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

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

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?

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

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

Nobody gave me anything.

While I have been to Switzerland, Stockholm, and other parts of Europe and Canada, I don’t have a specific place that is my favorite. I just represent Earth.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 look at the world and I find the funny in it, because there’s funny in everything. No matter how ugly it may be, there’s a funny way to look at it.

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.

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.

The audience is my hardest and best critic.

As the older brother, I was expected to make sure no one messed with Eddie when he went to the park. He didn’t have to deal with anyone saying, ‘I’ll get you after school.’

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.

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

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

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.

Gangs are formed by kids who want love.

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