“I do everything with a purpose, and I don’t really pay attention to the negativity.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Broadcast TV has a very classy but old-fashioned way of doing television. That’s what it’s always going to be. But you’ve still got to introduce young talent and ideas and shows to the masses. That’s the way you build a bigger and younger audience, introducing younger writers, comics, TV shows to viewers.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I was the black kid in school who’d skate and wrestle, who was really into outer space and botany and kung fu and hip-hop. I was into everything.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I grew up watching people and companies commercialize Black History Month. I watched old McDonald’s commercials, and they’d blacken up the commercials for 28 days then go back to normal in March. It got annoying to me.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I like glazed donuts.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Man, that’s all I can do, just be myself.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I felt so contained at home. I always really felt like I couldn’t be myself at home, so I was always quiet. I remember I used to sit in my room and listen to Bone Thugs and close the door.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Black Panther is a cool superhero and all, but let’s be honest: He doesn’t quite have the legs to prop up a blockbuster on his own.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“We can all agree that the best part of ‘Black Panther’ was his female army, the Dora Milaje. They made the movie.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“In Hollywood, it’s not what you know but who you know.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Spider-Man is supposed to be ‘neighborhood friendly,’ but I’ve never seen that dude at a Black Lives Matter march.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Nick Cage is so underrated.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Knowing what jokes will work is second nature; you just feel it.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I want to star in an action-comedy, like ‘The Rock’ or ‘Con Air.’ Those are the movies I wanted to star in since I was a kid.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“When you chase a dream, and no one understand or has your back except seven friends from high school and your grandma, it’s not going to be easy.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’m a movie fanatic. I watch probably four movies a day – not because I’m a lunatic, but because I just love movies.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I wanted people to know that my grandmother was the reason why I did comedy in the first place. She pushed me to really get out there and pursue my dreams.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’m a ’90s kid. I can’t wait until the day when more people start appreciating the ’90s.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“When comics are in the room, people have a tendency to try to make them laugh. That doesn’t really make you funnier. It makes you a comic’s comic, but you aren’t going to get a fan base doing that.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I was influenced by a lot of comedy growing up, I had good parents. They were funny, too. My mom was hilarious; my dad was hilarious. I guess being at home around the environment was just a good stage to get started.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I started pursuing stand-up comedy in 12th grade.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“My friend gave me a VHS tape of Eddie Murphy’s ‘Raw.’ I watched it so many times, I fell in love with it. I would watch it every day, just picking it apart. And then I started doing open mics around Maryland and D.C.: that’s where I’m from. And I haven’t stopped since.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Comedians play off of social commentary.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I have a lot of energy, and as you get to know me, you will quickly learn that! I channel my energy into my acting, my writing, everything.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’m a comic; we get hecklers every night! It’s really just part of the job.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I don’t do anything for press.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Flying is just such a hassle. If I had a million dollars, I would teleport.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I could never lie to someone to benefit myself, so telemarketing was something I was terrible at!”
― Jermaine Fowler
“In entertainment, if you have a message in a film, no one wants to be spoon-fed the message. No one wants to be told how to feel. At least, I don’t.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“’V for Vendetta’ is an amazing movie, and it had an obvious message, but it was done so perfectly. I got out of the movie, and I wanted to march so hard. I wanted to be an activist.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“You can’t teach standup comedy. You can teach someone how to formulate a joke, but making it funny is different.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“When I got nominated class clown in school, I remember my mom said, ‘Don’t be no clown.’ So I went to my vice principal in my school and said, ‘Can we change this to just the funniest?’”
― Jermaine Fowler
“CBS garners a predominately older white audience, and by having a show like ‘Superior Donuts’ on their weekly programming, it distorts what people are used to seeing in a positive way. It’s a show I think was necessary.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“The millennial generation is very vocal.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I used to record ‘Futurama’ episodes on my cassette player and play it to help me go to sleep.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“My parents argued a lot. It was pretty tumultuous at times.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Humor was how I got through everything in my life. I used to find a funny way to get out of situations. That’s who I was. That’s who I am!”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I got into standup because I wanted to be an actor, and then I ended up loving standup for the next eleven years.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“My dad kicked me out of the house when I was 18. I was supposed to go to community college. I wasn’t really into going because I wanted to do stand-up, and he felt I was wasting my time.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Dave Chappelle – he’s one of my favorite icons. I can’t think of anyone who’s funnier.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’ve always navigated my way around the comedy writing rooms because I didn’t want to cater to this side and that side; I just wanted to be liked by everybody.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I grew up around a mix of a lot of people, so I got a lot of different perspectives. As a kid, I appreciated that.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Humor and comedy have always been the best way to deal with real life issues and just reality.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I don’t know what the secret to doing standup well is, but I do know the goal is to be yourself as much as possible. And working harder than everyone else.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I grew up in a very, very diverse neighborhood back home in Maryland. And when I see that on TV shows, it makes me want to watch it, personally. I just gravitate towards that.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I love comedy, but more than that, I love comedy that has a message and that has some stakes.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I speak from experience, and I speak from the heart, and I speak only what I know and what I understand; and on what I don’t know and what I don’t understand, I’m a good listener.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I worked check-to-check, worked in dead-end jobs my whole life before I got into stand-up, and even during stand-up, I was working at a retail job and Starbucks, all those places.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I grew up watching shows like ‘Martin’ and ‘Fresh Prince’ and ‘Moesha,’ and I was inspired by all these shows. When I was growing up, there were so many black people in TV. That’s just the world I was around.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’ve never been the guy to sit back and wait until someone approved something I was passionate about.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’m pretty much a comic that dwells on what happened to me instead of what’s happening to me.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’ve been poor most of my life.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I just love pranks, man. They’re great. I don’t understand why people don’t do ’em more often.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I like whatever I’m doing to have depth.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“You don’t expect to be touched by comedy. But when it happens, it’s beautiful.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’d been writing sketches since high school, but ‘Friends of the People’ really taught me about structure – how to wait out a joke, how to stick with it for a while. It also made me more confident onstage as a performer.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Society, they look down on teenage moms and dads, but I think those people are just jealous because they’ll never know what it’s like to be raised by someone who’s still being raised.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I did my first set at a talent show, and I couldn’t finish because the judges didn’t like my jokes. They were ‘offensive.’”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I see myself touring internationally – everywhere, every theater, every arena – and putting out stand-up comedy specials until I can’t even stand no more. Even then, I’ll probably do my comedy special in a hospital bed.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I was always causing trouble in school. Doing impressions of Bart Simpson, interrupting class – I liked the attention and entertaining people.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I probably wouldn’t have pursued comedy further if my friends didn’t tell me that my getting kicked off the stage was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I’ve always loved the idea of the rookie cop vs. the grizzled veteran. A lot of comedy can be mined from that.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Growing up, I’ve always made a point to not be placed in a box.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“’Crashing’ was my first scripted TV gig.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I was raised watching sitcoms, and I love long-form comedy.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I believe the more you talk about everyday issues, the more it helps other people deal with it themselves.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I make my own opportunities no matter what.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“Comics are just mirrors. People can either laugh at the reflection or be disgusted by it.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“As comics if you aren’t rubbing people the wrong way, to me, you suck.”
― Jermaine Fowler
“I sat down with CBS, and we talked about me developing a show for them. At the time, I was meeting with a lot of networks. And I told them, ‘I don’t want to be acting on your show as the token black guy. I want to do something that will change a network and will change the way people view African-Americans on TV.’”
― Jermaine Fowler
Leave a Reply