This is about marginalized people in Harlem that needed to heal from pain, just know in 2022 -- this is not just a 1969 story about marginalized people in Harlem.

Chris Rock

I think if I were to get as big as I could get, it does change your mind-state. I think like the little man. I think like the underdog. I don't want to change that.

change men thinking

If a woman tells you she's twenty and looks sixteen, she's twelve. If she tells you she's twenty-six and looks twenty-six, she's damn near fourty.

women twenties funny

The only acting you ever see at the Oscars is when people act like they’re not mad they lost. Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide, she should have won an Emmy at the Oscars for her great performance. I was like, "If you’d done that in the movie, you’d have won an Oscar, girl."

rocks girl should-have

An entertainer's reputation as a live act is the most valuable thing he or she can have. If people know you give good shows, you'll never be broke for the rest of your life.

rest-of-your-life giving people

Being a comedian is a lot like being an athlete. If you're Carl Lewis and you're the fastest, then no matter what you're the fastest.

comedian athlete matter

Every comedian has a moment in his life when he realizes he's a little bit different from everyone else. It's like being the only guy in a movie who sees the ghost. The ghost talks to you and you talk to him. Then you turn to your friend and say, "Hey. Do you see that ghost? And he says, What ghost?"

comedian guy different

In the world of animation, you can be anything you wanna be. If you're a fat woman, you can play a skinny princess. If you're short wimpy guy, you can play a tall gladiator. If you're a white man, you can play an Arabian prince. And if you're a black man, you can play a donkey or a zebra.

zebras princess men

Comedians are the one who have to tell the emperor he has no clot... by Chris Rock

Comedians are the one who have to tell the emperor he has no clothes on.

emperor comedian clothes

The thing that surprised me the most is just how much money women that weren't rich were paying for their hair. When you're in a beauty parlor in Harlem next to abandoned buildings and somebody's paying five grand for a weave, that's a bit much. I think this is, in a weird way, part of the health care debate. It's like, hmm, there's people with $2000 weaves that could have bought health care with that weave money.

hair people thinking

I can see the humor in just about any situation. After I lost my dad, I realized that none of us should take things too seriously, because everything except death works itself out.

dad should lost

Kids always act up the most before they go to sleep. And when I see the Tea Party and all this stuff, it actually feels like racism’s almost over. Because this is the last - this is the act up before the sleep. They’re going crazy. They’re insane. You want to get rid of them - and the next thing you know, they’re fucking knocked out. And that’s what’s going on in the country right now.

party crazy country

Here's what I knew about doing a play: I knew it would make me a... by Chris Rock

Here's what I knew about doing a play: I knew it would make me a better actor.

I was at Michael Jackson's house, and this kid runs out, 'Wait, s... by Chris Rock

I was at Michael Jackson's house, and this kid runs out, 'Wait, save me!'

humor running funny

I love having somebody there - that companion thing. You know who you're going to eat with, who you're going to see a movie with.

companion knows

Eddie Murphy is to comedians what Nicki Minaj is to Spanx. by Chris Rock

Eddie Murphy is to comedians what Nicki Minaj is to Spanx.

murphy spanx comedian

Stand-up is the only career like that where once you get really big at it, people kind of encourage you not to do it.

careers kind people

The only plan I have is to not do anything I don't want to do - a... by Chris Rock

The only plan I have is to not do anything I don't want to do - and to never work just for money.

The only reaction that frightens me is people not laughing. It's extraordinary to me when you get a laugh. That you can go in front of a bunch of people you never met before, you can say some stuff and they all laugh in unison - that's amazing. It's a miracle.

miracle laughing people

I like talking about subjects that aren't funny in the first place and making them funny. So anything down and depressing is something I'll talk about.

down-and depressing talking

I never had the confidence to say I was going to be in front of the camera as a comedian until I saw Eddie Murphy years later.

comedian cameras years