You can't make everybody laugh. You gotta just do what you think is funny. Just be obstreperous to everybody.
So that's why one of my rules of parody writing is that it's gotta be funny regardless of whether you know the source material. It has to work on its own merit.
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.
You know we don't have any decorative sprigs of rosemary we're not placing little matchstick radishes onto an hors d'oeuvre... The food's gotta taste good. The concept's gotta taste good.
You gotta have a body.
I have a really really really normal family. And by normal I mean we're all nuts on some level. I think you've gotta be a little nuts to pursue any kind of creative job. I was also a really good kid. I know that sounds really dull but I didn't rebel in the traditional sense.
Growing up I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in you gotta stand in the doorway.
You gotta lose 'em some of the time. When you do lose 'em right.
I've never had issues with popularity. I was always a popular guy... I've always had friends and loved ones and everything so it wasn't like 'Oh man I gotta fill some void that was left by high school.' I had a great high-school experience.
If you're the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams you've gotta be resourceful to make sure you can do it. I came out to California when I was 21 thinking my New York credentials would take me all the way. I came back home a year later all dejected and a failure.