In our music, in our everyday life, there are so many negative things. Why not have something positive and stamp it with blackness?

We can't wave a magic wand and get rid of any of these people's problems, but what they want is they want to be heard.

Also, I think having that comic gene kind of makes you look at things in a different way. If you take yourself so seriously, eventually you end up one of those people having a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on their lives. You see them drawing the curtains and they don't even realize that they've kind of drifted off somewhere.

Every two, three years there is a movie about the Holocaust because they want you to remember and they want you to be reminded of what it was. When was the last time you seen a movie about slavery?

I'd like to say I'm R&B's savior.

That's what's great about the arts. Everything inspires you, and you get a chance to grow from watching other people and how they do their work.

You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor, so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing, and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great.