Charlie Murphy Quotes

I'm probably more of a stand-up comedian than an actor.

I've been doing stand-up since '89.

I spent 25 years as a stand-up comedian.

I will always do stand-up, even if my acting career takes off. Stand-up is my life.

I grew up watching stand-ups and thought it was so entertaining and unique - you didn't see that as a job description anywhere.

I worked as a comedian for 23 years, 51 weeks a year.

I got into comedy so I could stay out all night.

Stand-up will always be my first love, and it has been the primary way I've expressed myself since I was 17.

Stand-up is the foundation to my career. It's what I started out doing.

Improv seemed to replace stand-up, which was very big before that. Stand-up comedy was real hot in the late '80s and through the '90s.

I had no desire to be a stand-up comic until I decided to do it.

Coming from the Midwest, I didn't know about stand-up as an art. I just thought stand-up comedians were old men in suits talking about their wives.

I think I probably would have gone into stand-up.

I don't know that I'd be a comedian if I stayed in Canada.

I started comedy in 2006. I didn't even think it was a thing I could do.

I have always been a comedian - that has always been my job and it is what I want to do for a long time to come.

No, I never really set out to be a stand up. I wanted to be a writer of some sort. I thought I'd do a bit of stand up and hopefully that will lead to stuff and little did I know it kind of snowballed. Before I knew it I was doing stand up 300 nights a year.

I started doing stand-up when I was 15 and doing Letterman when I was 20. So I've been doing stand-up comedy and clubs for over 30 years. That's a long time.

From the very beginning I knew I had to be a comedian, and thus preferred being one.

I loved stand-up, but I never thought you could do it as a job.

I don't want a chat show or to be on telly every day, as that's not my business; my business is standing in front of people and making them laugh, and I want to see how far I can get with that.

I've not really been angling to be a comedian. I knew comics and I loved them and I loved being funny, but I didn't understand the whole concept of becoming one. My first couple of times on stage, I was like, "This is what I'm doing for sure." I was so excited.

I think being successful in comedy is being funny and making jokes - anything beyond that is the icing on the cake.

I started doing stand-up at the age of 20. This was back in 1976, around the time (coincidence?) that the first comedy clubs were starting. The young comedians of today gasp when I tell them how many shows I did that first year: 500. Five nights a week.

I've been trying to bust into the comedy business my whole life. It's hard in Hollywood to do different things. I know this. It's a struggle.