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Years ago, when this first came out, I read this. Rarely one to read biographies (they're so self-serving), this was during the height of the Chapelle sketches and he was Eddie Murphy's brother, so I gave it a shot. And I'm glad I did. I instantly became a Charlie Murphy fan for his down to earth-ness and awareness of how blessed he was to achieve his dream. Dude was real. An excerpt: After bombing in St. Louis and Cleveland, we rolled up to our next show at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. By that time, all sorts of crazy, negative thoughts were swirling inside my mind. This was the very same venue where Eddie had performed his breakout stand-up triumph, Delirious, in 1983. Suddenly I was terrified all over again about standing in front of a live audience. As the car approached the venue, I looked out at the soldout crowd of 3,702 people climbing the steps into the performance hall. My palms were slick with sweat. My heart kept throwing itself against the inside of my chest like it was trying to bust down a door. I turned to my cousin Rich and said, "This is it. I'm gonna die here tonight. If I bomb tonight like I bombed the last two nights, it's over for me, man. I quit." I made up my mind that bombing in Constitution Hall would be all the proof I needed to know I wasn't the real deal; to know, once and for all, that I wasn't a professional stand-up comedian, and that I was never going to be one. As soon as I got inside the venue, I was told that a very famous stand-up comedian was waiting for me inside my dressing room. I didn't want to talk with anyone, especially since I was sick with the feeling that I was about to bomb for the third straight performance and that my career as a stand-up was all but over. When they told me who was waiting to speak with me, I thought, What does that brother want? I was horrified. As it happened, all that brother wanted was to say hello and to pass along to me a crucial piece of advice that would change my whole approach to stand-up comedy from that point forward, teaching me how to ingratiate myself to an audience, and saving my career in the process. But before I get into who that comedian was and what he had to tell me, allow me to introduce myself. www.mafoombay.com

This may be slightly off point. But I have been watching the PBS series on the 100th anniversary of America's entry into the the First World War and any semblance i ever had to patriotism was quickly banished. This country have never lived up to its promises. President Woodrow Wilson was racist, misogynistic, 2-faced and Southern-born, in the forefront of ignoring women's suffrage movement, not supportive of equal rights for Blacks, praising the blatantly racist movie "Birth of a Nation," all the while championing the war as being fought to "preserve democracy". He also gave silent consent to other citizens turning on German Americans and, in one case, did not condemn the lynching a WHITE German suspected of being a sympathizer of the Kaiser. When this war broke out, thousands of young black men wanted to show their love for America by enlisting in the army where, once they were inducted, were treated like dirt, not allowed to train at regular military bases, assigned to ditch diggin, and dangerous tasks like like loading ammo. While stationed in South Carolina 13 black soldiers were sentenced to death and executed for participating in a riot started when black service men ventured off base and were met with hostility by the nearby townsfolk. All of the famous military brigades refused to annex black units into their ranks and it wasn't until they were shipped off to France at the urging of this country, which was desperate for soldiers of any color to help stave off the "Huns", that black troops were allowed to prove themselves in battle, and eventually were cited by American General John J. Pershing for their bravery. They were also decorated by the French government, having had to leave their own country to gain the recognition which still wasn't granted when they returned to America. This situation was duplicated to a lesser degree during World War 2. I couldn't care less about being an "American". To me America is just a country I happened to have been born in and I have no love or take no pride in its revisionist history and tainted legacy. If I have to choose a label for myself, I would just say I'm "black" because I am neither white nor African, so black wins by default. I don't care how other people classify me. As for Jenifer Lopez , if she says she's Puerto Rican, has a surname that identifies her as Hispanic, then to me she's a Puerto Rican. This seems to be an issue that inspires self-contradiction among debaters. Obviously in "The World According to Pioneer" he is a do-it-yourself arbitrator.