So I started to relax and would work on my act eight hours a day, sitting at a desk writing at my grandmother's house, and I would put on Richard Pryor Live on Long Beach and would play it like a loop and think and write.

I love comedy and I would write things to myself as an exercise in writing. I didn't do well for years, and I quit. I started to break down why I was afraid and started to look at people I admired, like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Freddie Prinze, George Carlin and all.

The king of comedy is dead. Richard Pryor was the king of comedy. The rest of them are the king of copycats.

As Richard Pryor was to Eddie Murphy, that's what Kurt Vonnegut was to me.

I wish I was this dark genius artist - like Richard Pryor or something.

People walked out on Richard Pryor and he's the funniest man alive.