BYRON ALLEN

I think you develop strong instincts when you're a comedian. You have to pay your bills by making people laugh every six seconds... or not. I had to do that for 22 years.

Al Sharpton is not important. He's nothing more than a black pawn in a very sophisticated white economic chess game.

When you look at America and its diversity, it's not a coincidence it's the best country on earth. Subtract that diversity, and it wouldn't be the greatest nation.

I personally knew and worked with Sammy Davis, Jr. Sammy hired me to open for him at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas when I was a 19-year-old standup comedian, and that's where my fascination with his incredible story began.

Black America now has the power to achieve economic inclusion, which we rightfully deserve because we built this country. This is a conversation that white America doesn't really want to have.

Hollywood is a casino. You have to put your chips on the table and hope for the best.

What we have to do is get the corporations to understand you must include African-American-owned media.

When 'Real People' aired in 1979, we did OK in Los Angeles and New York. What kept that show from being canceled were the ratings from the middle of the country, and that's what kept us in the top five. I learned then from co-hosting that it was important to focus on the country between Los Angeles and New York.

There has to be a place carved out for independents, films where the heroes don't fly around in capes, but there are journeys and struggles we need to learn from and be inspired by.

African-Americans don't need handouts and donations; we can hire ourselves if white corporate America does business with us in a fair and equitable way.

I have to have a seat at the table. I have to have a say on how we, as African-Americans, are produced and depicted around the world. Along the way, I'll be very fair to white people.

What we have to do is get the corporations to understand you must include African-American-owned media.

At the very least, you must make the Internet free in areas that are poverty-stricken. Without the Internet and access to information, poverty-stricken households will never catch up to households above the poverty line - throwing the African-American community deeper into the stone ages.

I personally knew and worked with Sammy Davis, Jr. Sammy hired me to open for him at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas when I was a 19-year-old standup comedian, and that's where my fascination with his incredible story began.

When 'Real People' aired in 1979, we did OK in Los Angeles and New York. What kept that show from being canceled were the ratings from the middle of the country, and that's what kept us in the top five. I learned then from co-hosting that it was important to focus on the country between Los Angeles and New York.

There has to be a place carved out for independents, films where the heroes don't fly around in capes, but there are journeys and struggles we need to learn from and be inspired by.

I think you develop strong instincts when you're a comedian. You have to pay your bills by making people laugh every six seconds... or not. I had to do that for 22 years.

I'm listening to the audience. Too many people in Hollywood make what they want to see and not what we want to see. I'm about us. Not about me.

I'm not chasing independence, I'm chasing Walt Disney. I'm looking for a large piece of that box-office pie, not a tiny piece of that box-office pie.

When you look at America and its diversity, it's not a coincidence it's the best country on earth. Subtract that diversity, and it wouldn't be the greatest nation.

African-Americans don't need handouts and donations; we can hire ourselves if white corporate America does business with us in a fair and equitable way.

It's odd to say we had our first African American president before our first African-American-owned movie studio, but we're making progress.

Al Sharpton is not important. He's nothing more than a black pawn in a very sophisticated white economic chess game.

We need one America - one that includes housing, education, jobs, access to capital, and economic inclusion for every American. This will create a stronger America.

Hollywood is a casino. You have to put your chips on the table and hope for the best.

Black America now has the power to achieve economic inclusion, which we rightfully deserve because we built this country. This is a conversation that white America doesn't really want to have.

When you start punishing and censoring comedians, that's a real bad sign of us as Americans losing our First Amendment rights. As a comedian, I'm gonna push the boundaries. Some things you're going to love, and some things you're going to hate. But this is America. Great people died for us to have this right.