Quotes by Nipsey Russell - Page 1

Jack Paar was my first TV patron saint.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Patron
Jack
Patron Saint
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I don't want to get in a one-character rut.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Want Get
Rut
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Comedy is based partly on mean-spiritedness.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Partly
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I talk about things that are front page news.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Front Page
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I start with the joke line and write backward.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Jokes
Lines
Writing
Backward
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I haven't got a Cadillac. I've got a subway token.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Subway
Cadillac
Token
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If the social evolution leads to jokes, I use them.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Leads
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There aren't any messages in my social protestations.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Messages
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I'm living the life of liberty, happiness and pursuit.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Pursuit
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When you a 'has-been', just think of where you HAS-BEEN.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Has Beens
Thinking
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My exercise is pall-bearin' for athletes and food faddists.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Athletes
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He who turns the other cheek will get hit with the other fist.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Cheek
Fist
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Our country's social revolution lends itself to jokes and I use them.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Lends
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I use mother-in-law jokes, kid jokes, tax jokes - anything that works.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Mother In Law
Tax
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I was so scared the first time I flew the flight attendant called me Whitey.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Flew
Time Me First Time
Attendant
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Game shows are like golf and tennis are for some men. It's not like going to work.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Game Shows
Some Men
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I've always had the ability to manipulate words and communicate ideas and thoughts.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Communicate
Manipulate
Always Thoughts Words
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Some college athletes don't want to turn pro, they don't want to take the cut in pay.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Athletes
Pro
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My only mission is to look for fun, the lighter side of life. I spell it fool-osophy.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Lighter
Spell
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For artistic fulfillment I prefer to work live. For career advancement, I go to the media.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Advancement
Fulfillment
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I'm all for ERA. I want to see women equal to men - not so damn superior like they've been.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Work
Men
Want
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I used to say, 'We've always had integration in the South... we just want it now in the daytime.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Daytime
Integration
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There's no money in television, but TV provides the wherewithal to get the dollars for live performances.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Wherewithal
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I feel the life expectancy of a comedian is 30 seconds. If you don't hook an audience in half-a-minute, you're dead.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Expectancy
Hook
Life Expectancy
Seconds
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Pro and con are opposites, that fact is clearly seen. If progress means to move forward, then what does congress mean?
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Funny
Humorous
Moving
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Humor is based on the way a man looks at life's ironies, and being a member of a minority group can certainly be ironic.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Ironic
Minority
Minority Group
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Truck drivers stop me and say, 'What is the poem for the day?' or 'Give me a poem for my girl.' I have one on almost every subject.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Drivers
Truck
For The Day
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One character mistook me for the model and remarked 'That Man-Tan sure works wonders!' That ain't Man-Tan. I'm tan, man. From my head to my toes.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Toes
Tan
Character Man Me
Mistook
Wonders
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If you owe too much on American Express, and your Diner's Club notes are too hard, take a loan on your Visa, and pay it off with your MasterCard!
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Clubs
Credit
Diners
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I've dropped a lot of race humor from my routines, not because I think it is in bad taste, but because I don't want to be guilty of telling old jokes.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Bad Taste
Guilty
Dropped
Routines
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Real progress will have been made when people don't care or even notice the color of a comedian when they'll just be concerned with whether he's funny.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Comedian
Notice
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The kids are saying 'Make Love, Not War', and I'm beginning to think they're right. For war costs millions of dollars a day, and love--just a few bucks a night!
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Kids
War
Night
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If you see me on the street, don't just say, 'There goes Nipsey.' Walk over and say, 'Hello Nipsey,' and give me a warm slap on the back and hand me a few dollars.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Hello
Slap
Warm
Walk Me Street
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America is the only place in the world where you can work in an Arab home in a Scandinavian neighborhood and find a Puerto Rican baby eating matzo balls with chopsticks.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Balls
Chopsticks
Neighborhood
Work Home World
Arab
Puerto
Puerto Rican
Rican
Scandinavian
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I knew racial discrimination at its worst in the 1930s. I lived with the humility of it but I never lost my sense of humor. Humor is the escape valve from the deadly reality of adversity.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Adversity
Discrimination
Humility
Sense Of Humor
Valve
Deadly
Escape
Racial
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As far as television is concerned, I'm just not interested in working on a series. Why should I settle for being someone's second banana? And that weekly grind is unrewarding and too demanding.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Grind
Not Interested
Banana
Demanding
Settle
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I began working on stage in Atlanta when I was 3, doing a dance act with the Ragamuffins of Rhythm. Later I became a juvenile straight man for the older comedians. After that I worked out a stand-up act.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Dance
Atlanta
Juvenile
Rhythm
Stage
Became
Began
Comedians
Older
Straight Man
Worked
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Divorces are getting so common that a woman I know doesn't bother getting a new marriage license. They just punch her old one and give her a transfer. You can't teach an old dog new tricks - so she keeps changing dogs.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Marriage
Bother
Common
License
Teach
Divorces
Dogs
Old One
Punch
Transfer
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During all the years I entertained at the Baby Grand night club in Harlem, 90 percent of the audience was white. But when I tried to break Into television, I was told that white folks wouldn't understand what I was talking about.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Entertained
Grand
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You see, the patience of an audience is very short, particularly with a non-entity. You're an intruder, and you must make them laugh within three or four seconds. My poems fit the requirements, and I'm always thinking up new ones.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Requirements
Seconds
New Ones
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The great part of appearing on game shows is that when you answer a question the camera takes a close-up of you every time. You get more close-ups than in a movie, and that's terrific for audience identification. The people have to see you to like you.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Appearing
Game Shows
Identification
Terrific
Time Great Game
Close-Up
Great Part
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Many times good actors I have known in New York accept series. I tune in at the beginning of the new season and think 'He's really working.' But six months later, if I tune in again, the actor is on a treadmill, grinding it out as best he can, and he can't help it.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Good Actors
Grinding
New Season
Treadmill
Tune
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Six good guest shots on top shows during one season are more than enough and any producer who wants to make me happy could offer some floating guest dates for discussion and panel shows. It's generally agreed that I love to talk, so shows of this kind are right down my alley.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Discussion
Floating
Love Good Me
Love Good Enough
Agreed
Alley
Dates
Guest
Panel
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In all my years in show business - on stage, clubs and TV shows - my audience has been 75 percent white. In Las Vegas and Atlantic City I look out at the crowd and only see a few black faces here and there. But I can't allow myself to be conscious of the race factor. I couldn't perform my best under those conditions.
Nipsey Russell / Comedian
Conditions
Faces
Las Vegas
Show Business
Tv Shows
Vegas
Best Business Myself
Atlantic
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Nipsey Russell Quotes - Page 1

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