Sykes: "I'm here today because I refused to be unhappy. I took a chance."

Sykes: "My shows and my material are grounded in reality. It's pretty much something that's either happened in my life or in the news, and I start there and give you my take on it."

Sykes: "I don't like doing the same material over and over again. It's not fun."

Sykes: "If you feel like there's something out there that you're supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it."

Sykes: "It's easier to rip somebody to shreds while you're making them laugh."

Sykes: "I'm always thinking of stuff; I just don't sit down and write it. I come up with material more as I go along; if something funny happens, I'll make a note of it on my phone."

Sykes: "I'm here today because I hated everything else."

Sykes: "If something stinks, I say it stinks. But I try to massage it a little and not be as cutting, come behind it with a joke: Hey, I cut you deep, but now let me put a couple of stitches in you."

Sykes: "My comedy is in your face, and it comes from a place that's real."

Sykes: "Sometimes black people really want to hold onto our oppression - 'This is ours! This belongs to us.' You can't just talk about equality for somebody else. Let's pass it on. Let's pass it on to somebody else. At the end of the day, it is all about inequality."

Sykes: "If you're passionate about your work, it makes the people around you want to be involved too."

Sykes: "That's why I talk about the breast cancer: because I want women - and everyone - to stay on top of things and get checked. I know how scary it can be. When I dealt with it, I was like, 'Oh my God.' And I have so many other friends who have gone through it or have suffered a loss."

Sykes: "Men don't hear women."

Sykes: "I remember, when I was a kid, my summers were pretty much running around, riding your bike, and then complaining about you were bored."

Sykes: "I think it's harder for women because comedy is so opposite of being ladylike."

Sykes: "I knew I was outspoken when I was a kid because, whenever my parents had company coming over, they would pay me to leave. 'Go see your grandmother. Get out of here.' That was my first paying gig."

Sykes: "Don't bother me while I'm eating, or when I'm coming out of the crackhouse or something. Just let me get going."