Well, there were definitely elements of my rise in radio that had to do with my being black. But going back as far as Walter Winchell, Army Archerd and Hedda Hopper, legendary wags would grab a radio microphone and talk about what Errol Flynn and other stars were up to.

Being tall and big was probably more painful than being black.

Doing the show. That 10 AM feeling when the doors open up. Forget about it! Also, my son coming home with a respectable grade on something that I know he's worked hard on. And good health excites me, too.

Thank God I am 20 feet tall, so my crying is never mistaken as weak. It can be mistaken as weird, but not weak.

Maybe it's your obligation to use your celebrity for more than just your new BMW. I use mine to make people smile.

Being on TV in front of people is a lot different than sitting in a dark room with a microphone. When I had my radio show, I was on four hours a day for 20-something years. If you put a live microphone in front of Mother Teresa for that amount of time, she'd piss somebody off.

I'm not a dancer, and it was very time-consuming. But I met great people, and it was flattering to be asked to be on. You don't understand how demanding that show is until you're on the inside. That is real work. Real work!