Dave Chappelle

Most of the people around me have a vested interest in how much money I make. You know, so a celebrity could find themselves in a position where people could have meetings about their life without them involved. And when I say 'their life' I mean not their professional life either. They could talk about their personal life.

I get a little heated when I talk about the past. But I wanted to be clear - I'm not mad at anybody - not anymore.

Every black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak 'job interview.'

You know you must be doing something right if old people like you.

Because I was surrounded by so much negativity at some point that it took me going back and doing stand-up to realize, you know, people really like me.

If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself.

I don't want the money. I don't want the drama. I just want to do my show. I want to have fun again.

I felt in a lot of instances I was deliberately being put through stress because when you're a guy who generates money, people have a vested interested in controlling you.

You can't get un-famous. You can get infamous, but you can't get un-famous.

The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It's dismissive.

People don't know what it's like standing up there onstage, when you have a wall of people smiling at you.

Whether it means having a show, or a movie, or just being on a stage, I need an avenue to say what I have to say.