Obviously the audience has veto power signified by whether they laugh or not, but you-not them-retain the ultimate power to decide what they're going to get the opportunity to laugh at.

You can't wait forever for an audience to get the joke, but you should give them at least two seconds to join in before you go on to the next one.

Moving to Australia was not a career move, but a quality of life issue. It has no guns, no God, and no gangster rap. As an Ethiopian cab driver said to me the other day when I was returning from a gig in Sydney, Australia is a peaceful, democratic place. I like the relatively stress free lifestyle. It's worth the drop in income.

Don't try to give a funny opinion; give your opinion in a way that will be funny.

When you take a pause before delivering your punch line, you will be using silence as a creative entity in itself.

Being black and speaking properly are not mutually exclusive. My father was an African, and he spoke beautifully at home. Nelson Mandela speaks beautifully. Should Mandela put his hat on backwards and say, 'Yo, homey, this is Nelson. Yo, Winnie, yo, this is def'?

Very few blacks will take up golf until the requirement for plaid pants is dropped.