Quotes from Charlie Murphy

I respect everybody. You don't have to earn my respect. You earn my disrespect.

I have people tell me all the time, 'I was expecting you to be mean.' Why is that? Because you saw me in a movie? That's acting.

I would say I was an all-American teenager.

I protected Eddie. He never had to fight, because people knew who his older brother was.

Most of my good friends have fights with me. Those guys know that I was in martial arts for 12 years fighting on the circuit.

Back when Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin were doing roasts, they were all friends. They knew each other's children, each other's wives, each other's families. It wasn't about being disrespectful. It was about being funny.

I like to tease people. I hate when people do it to me, though.

Don't take people for granted.

Don't take life for granted.

Other comedians got love for me. But don't get it twisted - I'm not a clown, I'm a comedian and work hard as an artist. Clowns go to college.

Everything was a lot more challenging for me because of who my brother was. If I were in the film, someone would had said that I got the part because Eddie's in the film. If I wrote a script, folks would say that I didn't really write that: that Eddie did and I threw my name on it.

Charlie Murphy has been around for a long time. I've worked with a lot of exciting artists, and it was a thrill to be around to watch them display their skills.

If you want to laugh, see a comedy. If you want to cry, see a drama, and if you want suspense, see a thriller.

I went to jail for a year when I was 17. When I got out, my mother took me to the recruiting office, and I spent the next six years in the Navy.

Every script I've read for 'Black Jesus' has been hilarious.

I don't think I have any hobbies.

You make shows, and you don't go into it thinking, 'Our show's going to be number one'; you go into it hoping to stay on the air.

It's easy to go on television and say horrible things about somebody. And it's cowardly.

I think I have had a remarkable and colorful life, so I decided to share it.

At the end of the day, when Charlie Murphy ain't here no more, I'll have a body of work that people can laugh and remember me by.

Every barbershop has a guy who wrecks shop every time he comes in. He has the whole barbershop laughing. That doesn't mean he's a comedian.

I've become a writer, an actor, producing films, and having a TV show. I'm pretty successful and proud of it.

When I first started, it was a dare. Someone basically said, 'You're a tough guy... but I'll bet you won't get on a microphone in front of a bunch of people.' I was terrified, but I did it. Once I broke the ice and got onstage and got some laughs, I thought, 'That's not so bad.'

If you look at my acting career, I never played a role that was similar to anything my brother played. I was always cast as the bad guy or a gangster, because my brother didn't do those kind of roles.