It seems like every time Dave Chappelle picks up a microphone, he murders. Last week, while accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, he did just that. Chappelle not only made us all laugh, but he stood up for the art of comedy and gave a beautiful shoutout to his mother. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Chappelle’s acceptance speech:

Lions and Lambs

“I was a soft kid. I was sensitive, I’d cry easy and I would be scared to fistfight. My mother used to tell me this thing…’Son, sometimes you have to be a lion so you can be the lamb you really are.’ I talk this s**t like a lion. I’m not afraid of any of you. When it comes word to word, I will gab with the best of them, just so I can chill and be me.”

The First Amendment

“I know comics that are very racist. I watch them on stage and everyone’s laughing, and I’m like ‘Hmmm, that motherfucker means that shit. Don't get mad at em. Don’t hate em. We go upstairs, have a beer, and sometimes I even appreciate the artistry that they paint their racist opinions with. Man, it’s no that serious. The First Amendment is first for a reason. The Second Amendment is just in case the first one doesn’t work out.”

Defending The Art Of Comedy

“There’s something so true about this genre when done correctly, that I will fight anybody that gets in a true practitioner of this art form’s way because I know you’re wrong. This is the truth and you are obstructing it. I’m not talking about the content, I’m talking about the art form.”

On Playing Like Yourself

“Miles Davis said so much cool shit, but one of the things I always loved. He said, ‘It took me years to learn how to play like myself.’”

Photo: Herman Leonard Photography, LLC, courtesy of the Miles Davis Estate

On Being A Griot

“I knew the word griot when I was a little boy. A griot was a person in Africa who was charged with keeping the stories of the village. Everyone would tell the griot their stories and they would remember them all so they could tell future generations. When they got old, they’d tell them to someone else. They say in Africa that when a griot dies it’s like a library was burnt down. My mother used to tell me before I ever started doing comedy, she said ‘You should be a griot.’”

Thank you, Dave, for inspiring me and so many others.

Check out the full acceptance speech below:

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