Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I know a lot for me, personally, the best moments have come from watching my kids have an experience I never thought about as a kid but then remembered as a parent. "

Related Quotes:

" I've been on predominantly 'white' shows before, and I had also been on predominantly 'black' shows. I would complain that when I was on a white show, they would only hire me because there was a black character or they needed a black voice. But then I would be mad if they went and hired a white dude in my position. "

Kenya Barris

Mad

Character

Voice

" Writers' rooms are terrifying. You take someone whose never done this before, and this is their life's dream that is about to happen or not about to happen - that is an amazing amount of pressure to have. "

" The PC way of handling culture has been to not talk about it. But we should be talking about it. "

" You get a little older, and you start understanding the world in a different way and what you don't have control over and what you do have control over. "

" Laurence Fishburne - he's a great actor, but he dances and sings, too? He can just do everything. "

" I've found that the more honest and true you are and can talk about a character and people's experiences, it's less ostracizing. It actually has the opposite effect than one would think. It makes the characters and the story more inclusive. "

" I don't know Channing Dungey well, but we have talked several times, and she seems like an amazing executive. "

" I set out to tell my story, which is based on my family. Dr. Cosby told his story in 'The Cosby Show.' The comparisons stop there in terms of my creation of the show. We just both happen to have black fathers at the center of it. "

" I think that's the key to any artistic endeavor: You want it to feel fresh and not have people look at it like it's re-creation of something else unless it's done in a really strong way. "

" My wife is a doctor, and we had a decent life financially. My kids were going to nice schools and had nannies. We weren't rich, but we were better off than I was growing up. And I looked around, and I was like, 'Who are these people?' It was the opposite of what I remembered growing up. "

" No one's pro-police brutality. "

Kenya Barris

Brutality

" When I was growing up, I never saw couples fight on the family sitcoms I loved to watch. Subsequently, when tough times arose in my own relationship, I wasn't prepared and felt so isolated and alone. Marital issues weren't a part of the narrative that television told me was a 'working relationship.' "

" The small moments I've had to talk with President Obama, I've told him, 'I get it.' His presidency was in some ways almost overshadowed by the fact that he was the first black president. "

" I would say any creative person has that: you can't just force a topic. Whether you're a painter, you want to do a cartoon. Anything. Something may come up that's not your style or suited to what you are working on at the moment. So you file it away and hopefully find a place for it. "

" At my core, I'm shy. "

Kenya Barris

Shy

Core

" What I did not want to be was a fad, because fads die. I had one of the George Michael Wham! neon-colored sweatshirts, and I thought it would never go out of style. Fads die. "

" Honestly, I regret not having spanked my kids. "

" Of all the 'Black-ish' characters, Zoey is most like my daughter, who goes to U.S.C. "

" My mom went through civil rights; my dad went through civil rights. My name was Kenya because they wanted to give me an African name. "

Kenya Barris

Civil Rights

Name

" When you walk past a painting in a museum, if it doesn't make you feel something, then it's probably a failure. "

" I feel like money is an interesting thing when you don't come from it. "

Kenya Barris

Money

Feel

" I wanted to be a doctor, because I grew up on 'Cosby.' "

" I consider myself a disciple of Norman Lear. And one of the things he did was topic-driven humor. "

" I'm doing another pilot about a black Democratic pundit who's married to a white Republican pundit. And the purpose of me wanting to do that show - and ABC sort of supported me in the way they did - is because I feel like, you know, the political system is like an old married couple. "

Kenya Barris

Black

Know

" Whenever you put a family together, they may share some points of views and morals, but there are going to be differences. "

" Black, white, rich, poor - we galvanize through the hard times. We really see it happen in relationships. In the best and worst of those moments, you come together, and you look for your tribe. "

" I love Donald Glover. "

" Comedy used to be a vehicle for change. Now, comedy has gotten to this quirky, nonsensical place, which I enjoy. But I do think there is room for discussion-based humor. We can tell those stories in a way that feels edifying. "

" For me, Shonda Rhimes is an amazing person that I look up to. She empowered a lot of her writers to go on and do other things while, at the same time, she made sure she kept her stamp on those things and grew her business. "

Kenya Barris

Business

Look

" The thing that I get so often with network comedies - and, I think, some of the most brilliant people in the world do them - but it's easy to hide behind a joke. I kind of feel like when you have to face things, and you don't have humor, it becomes very vulnerable; it exposes your deepest and darkest fears in some aspects. "