Before, if your phone was busy, your phone was busy. You had no cell phone. Now people work 24/7, their BlackBerry keeps them busy, and e-mail - and when do they have time for other pursuits? When do they have time to be politically active?

My job, as an actor, is to entertain people. My contribution to society is to be a respite from everyday life. People go home and watch television or they go to the movies, and they get to escape their reality. But if I can do entertainment that also maybe can educate people, educate myself, move people's hearts and minds, in some way, and bring light to some injustice, that's when entertainment is at its best. And if somebody wants to get more involved in a socially active way, that's when you've done the thing that I've always wanted to be a part of.

I think the age we're living in is starting to get scary.

I'm black because that's the way the world sees me.

A movie is painting, it's photography, it's literature - because you have to have the screenplay - it's music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it's a tragedy.

I feel like movies should stick to a genre and give the audience what they want, and then surprise them with the unexpected, and not just do the same thing you've always seen.

You just can't take yourself too seriously, especially in comedy.