The success of my comedy has been not being afraid to touch on subject matters or issues that everyone else is politically scared of.

I've introduced myself with comedy, and once you've introduced yourself as something, that's where people keep you. That's where people like to hold you.

I came up in the community center. I used to be physical director of the South Central Community Center in Chicago on 83rd. It's still there. It used to be around there when I was a kid.

I don't ever watch myself. By watching, you try to perfect yourself, become a robot.

You can't change what happened. Just like you can't change the future by worrying about it. You just have to keep moving.

You're never going to see me playing a buffoon.

I was born October 5, 1957, on the South Side of Chicago, in the Woodlawn area, a neighborhood that hasn't changed much in forty-five years. Our house was on 66th and Blackstone, but the city tore it down when the rats took over.