Chris Rock Quotes

I always wanted to be a comedian, but I wasn't sure how you do that.

It takes many years to be a great comedian.

I always tell comics you got to hang with your stand-up.

I never became a road comic.

I started comedy as a hobby, really, and it still doesn't seem like a proper job.

I started going to the open mics every day in 2003. You make the comics laugh, they get you work, and you build up your reputation. It was a slow process.

When I was doing comedy in New York, before I was in movies, I was never known as the deadpan actress. I was just a comedienne.

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.

It took forever for me to get work because I was a political comic, and now it's become good business, and God knows how long that'll last. You have to do it night after night after night to kind of make it. I still find myself on 'Piers Morgan' or on some show and I think, 'I hope this is funny.'

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

I mean, I guess I started during the comedy boom, so it was literally like, on Sunday you could decide you wanted to be a comic, and on Monday, you could be on stage.

It used to be if you wanted to be a comedian, you used to just do sets. You'd go up three times a night, just get better, and then some people would see you and you'd do 'The Tonight Show,' and then boom, you're a comedian.

Comedy is an amazing calling. Once you get that first laugh, it's hard to turn away. Then, of course, you're hooked and you have to learn how to survive in the business.

My mom and dad are both in stand-up comedy, so that's where I started, that's where I got everything. My roots are holding the mic.

It seems like when I first started, people got into comedy because they wanted to be good comedians.

People see me on the 'Daily Show' or 'About a Boy'. But the reality is that I only got into this business to do standup comedy.

I thought they may have presumed too much knowledge of certain things for people who are not comedians. Like Montreal. A comic understands what it is and its importance, but someone else may not know about it.

After I got my first laugh on stage, I was hooked.

The only way to stay sharp is to do live shows. There is no part-time comedy.

The minute I started doing comedy, the doors opened.

I'd like to try comedy, at some point, but no one ever hires me for comedy, ever.

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

There's a lot of open mics, a lot of comedy clubs. Whatever money I could make was OK with me. As long as I could pay the rent, eat food, and tell jokes, doing it was good enough for me.