Nobody Made Muhammad Ali Laugh Like Chris Tucker — His Funniest Moments JJ

Nobody made Muhammad Ali laugh like Chris Tucker. His funniest moments. When Chris Tucker is in the room, keeping a straight face is practically impossible. Muhammad Ali laughed at almost nothing. He had been in rings with the most dangerous man alive, had stood in front of presidents and cameras and courtrooms, and had maintained across 30 years of public life the specific composed authority of a man who does not break.

Chris Tucker broke him every single time. These are the moments that made the greatest laugh. What is your family’s reaction to your success? Oh, they all quit their jobs when they found out I was making $20 million a year. They said, “Man, we rich. We rich.” I was like, “No, I’m rich. I’m rich. You can get your jobs back before it’s too late.

” We all know that one person who somehow knows everybody in boxing and beyond. That person is Chris Tucker, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, a sitting president, and every name comes with a story too wild to make up. These are his funniest moments. I used to get on teachers nerves. They used to hate me. They used to get mad. They said, “Listen, Chris, if you act up again, I’m going to call your mama.

” I said, “If you going to call my mama, you going to have to pay the phone bill cuz the phone’s been cut off for 2 weeks. Go to the principal’s office.” I didn’t care because I was in the principal’s office so much. I was cool with the principal. We were tight. He’d be like, “What you do this time? Get in here.

Close the door. Sit down. Call my mama. Pay the phone bill. Man, you crazy. You crazy. Ask Chris Tucker about any name on earth and the answer is always the same. It is never a question of whether he knows them, only how well. He knows everybody. Like, I’m not even kidding. You can bring up a name.

It doesn’t matter if it’s like Muhammad Ali, Paul McCartney, Jesus. You know, Chris is like, “Yeah, yeah, that’s my boy.” I’m like, “What do you mean that’s your boy?” How do you know? You know everybody? I kind of do, you know. I mean Dave Chappelle, he always jokes around. You know everybody, man. You everywhere.

Where are you right now? I’m in Saudi Arabia with the king. Okay. How about Stevie Wonder? You know Stevie Wonder? I know Stevie. Steviey’s Oh man, he called me. Keep trying. You’re going to have to go way deep into Stevie Wonder. Muhammad Ali is He was like, “Yeah, I met Muhammad Ali. I know Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali.

” He said, “You a funny mother, Tucker.” I said, “What?” Met Mandela, met Mandela, went to Africa, and he was like, “Where’s Chris Tucker? I want him to meet my grandkids.” Now you know why I want to be Chris Tucker. His closest friendship in boxing was also his most complicated. But catching a simple movie with Muhammad Ali turned into a full operation every single time.

Do you ever go in public anywhere with Muhammad Ali? Because what’s that like? You know what? We go to the movies sometime. We go to the movies. Both of us like going to the movies. So, we go to the movies, but it’s hard because Ali got to sneak in the movie right before it starts. So, Ali coming in with a hat pulled all the way down, collar up, hiding in all black.

All of a sudden, I’m sitting there and I’m like, where’s Ali? And then I turn around and he’s like, hey, Chris. I’m like, oh man, how long you been here? About 5 minutes. I’m sorry. Did I scare you? And all of a sudden, we’re watching the movie and he is the loudest person in there. Really? Yeah. He’s watching the movie like, “Hey.” I said, “Ali, would you sit up so people can see you?” I’m sorry.

It was funny, Chris. One trip to the grocery store, Ali decided he could walk around without being noticed. Out of every disguise on earth, he picked the one guaranteed to draw a crowd. We did. One time we was We went to a grocery store. We was out. Ali wanted to get something. He forgot he was famous.

He was like, “I got to go in there. Go in the store.” And we was like, “Ali, you can’t go in the store, man. You forgot who you are.” He said, “Well, let’s go.” And the only thing in the car was a pair of sunglasses, big ones, old ones. So Ali said, “I’ll put these on.” We’re going in. We get out. I said, “Ali, you can’t do that, man.

” Ali’s like, “No, it won’t, Chris. It’ll work. It’ll work.” We go in the store and he was getting away with it until people figured out because I was with him and somebody was like, “Chris, is that Muhammad Ali in those sunglasses, man?” Nah, that’s that’s Muhammad Ali. All of a sudden, the whole store went crazy and they had to scoot us out.

You should have seen it. There was an unspoken rule inside Ali’s world that nobody warned Chris about. Get on his good side and he would give you anything. He took full advantage right up until he pushed it one gift too far. And Ali was just so generous, man. You’d be around him and you’d just feel good. He would give you anything.

Like I was just admiring these boxing gloves he had signed from one of his big fights and he gave them to me. I was like, “Ali, I didn’t want them. I was just looking.” But then something came over me. I started saying I liked everything after that. I was like I said, Ali, I like that car. That’s a bad car right there.

Not the old one, the new one right there. He was like, “You like it, Chris?” I said, “Yeah, I like it.” He said, “You sure you like it?” I said, “Yeah, I like it.” He said, “Well, you better go buy one because I ain’t giving you my car.” People assume a friendship this close started at some big event. It actually started with the single most expensive decision Chris ever made in midair. Yeah.

Because I took a private plane to New York because Ali told me, “You know, when you’re in town, come see me.” So, I knew he was there. I called them before I went there cuz I was going there for something else and I kept leaving a message. Ali, I’m in New York. If you’re around, I’d love to see you. And I didn’t hear anything.

So, I got on that same private plane, flew back to Los Angeles. I was done. As soon as I landed, I got a message saying, “Ali wants to meet tomorrow in New York City.” I was like, “What?” I went right up to the captain’s seat and I said, “Take me back to New York.” He said, “Well, you know this is going to cost.” I said, “I don’t care.

You got my credit card. Just take me back. My brothers, I invited them down to the club. You know, being a comedian, you might not get to go up. So, I didn’t get to go up that night. So, I had to ride all the way home. And they was in the car. I thought you was a comedian. You know, you didn’t go up and all this stuff.

And I said, “Okay, one day I’mma go up. Y’all going to see.” So, now they asked me for money every day. And I said, “I thought you was going to pay me back.” Family worked for me at my comedy club. And I went there. The club wasn’t making no money, but everybody had new cars. My brother was drinking up all the inventory.

He said, “I got to try this stuff, man. Make sure it ain’t spoiled.” How long did it last? About a year. That was it. Who made the call to shut it down? I did. I was like, “This is over. I’m not making no money. This is going to mess up everything.” Were they upset with you? My dad was upset with me cuz he was the cook.

He was like, “What am I going to do now?” He my daddy. Training with Ali meant being around the most disciplined man alive. Every day I couldn’t wait to come to the gym to see Ali. I was late most of the time, but when I got there, Angelo Dundee was there waiting with his arms crossed, saying, “Where is Chris Tucker? We are late.

Have you ever introduced anyone to Ali?” I don’t know. Ali wanted to meet everybody, though. He always said, “I want to meet soando.” He called me one time. I was asleep. He called my assistant to answer the phone. Can I have who’s speaking? This is My assistant said, “This is who?” Ali. My assistant said, “Ali, what?” Muhammad Ali. Okay, I’m sorry.

Then my hang up the phone. Then afternoon I wake up. You know big brother they call him. You know who called? Muhammad Ali. I said no. Yes, Muhammad Ali called. I said why didn’t you call me yourself? Why didn’t you call me? He talks like he’s giving a speech at all times. My assistant probably thought it was someone doing an impression.

Yeah, well, it could have been. Speak up, Ali. Muhammad Ali, thriller in Manila. Rumble in the jungle. Getting anything out of Ali took real conversation. Getting a story out of Joe Frasier, that took about one question. And Frasier refused to stop. Man, Joe Frasier, I’m going to tell you, one of my best friends. We don’t hang out that much, but Joe let me come to his gym one time, man.

When I was like, I don’t know, just starting out. And I said, Joe, can I come watch you train? He was like, “Okay, sure.” I was like, “What?” I kept coming back so many times he forgot he told me I could. He said, “Do you have permission to be here?” I said, ‘I think I do.’ He said, ‘Can please check.’ I said, ‘ Okay, okay.

I hate my neighbors, man. I got neighbors that borrow stuff all the time. You ever had a neighbor to borrow your stuff and keep it so long you had to borrow it back? His impressions are the thing that keep getting him in trouble. The worst possible moment to pull one out in front of Ali himself with Angelo Dundee refusing to let it go.

Chris, I was at Ali’s gym one time with Angelo Dundee. That was something, man. We went to like three, four different training sessions together. I started doing impressions of Ali and Angelo started liking it. He was like, “Oh, that sounds just like him. That sounds great.” He invited me everywhere after that.

Everywhere we went, he wanted me to do them. We were hanging out at night. Angelo, come do Ali. Come do Ali. Come on over here. Every place we went to. Finally, I got tired. We were somewhere important and Angelo wanted me to do it in front of Frraasier. And I was scared. I was like, “If I mess this up, Frrazier will never let me come back.

” I said, “Angelo, I’m tired. You know, it’s been a long day. Maybe I won’t do it this time. Tucker, come on now. I need you. I done set it up. Come on. Don’t let me down. You want a ride home, right? Huh? Commercial or private? You let me know, Tucker. That’s a long way home, Tucker. That’s a long He can do almost anybody, including the one man who decided to fire the impression right back at him.

Is Muhammad Ali still the greatest? You mean Ali? Are you serious? Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. I know Chris Tucker. He’s a great comedian, great guy. I like him. It’s true. I do like him. I met him. Well, I didn’t say much, but I said hello. Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. What did you spend your money on first? I spent I was spending too much money.

I didn’t know. I was just acting crazy. I bought two houses right next to each other. He was crazy. I’ll take that one, too. I don’t want nobody bothering me. I was borrowing stuff from myself. It was crazy. Being the person who makes Muhammad Ali laugh makes you assume you get recognized everywhere. One city corrected that assumption in seconds.

My fear is that everyone in Hong Kong will think all Americans are like Chris Tucker. Oh man, Hong Kong. I was the only black person in Hong Kong. I was looking for black people. I said, “Where the black people at?” No black people. No. No. They thought I was Kobe Bryant. Man, they didn’t know who I was. Kobe.

Kobe, sign my autograph. Kobe, we love you. Where’s Shaq? You know, people think stars live in Hollywood. You’re back and forth everywhere. Everyone musically and creatively seems to be everywhere at once. Yeah, I’m from Decada, Georgia, so I’m back and forth. I’m halfway in California, halfway in Georgia, man. So, I love it down there.

Do they leave you alone in Georgia? Uh, sometimes, man. But people, they sometimes cuz they don’t see a lot of celebrities, so they come up to me looking at me like, “Hey, man. You you?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m me. You you?” They’re like, “What you doing out here in the grocery store shopping?” And I’m like, I got to eat, too.

I’m getting some food. You think I’m a superhero? I got to wait for my car, man. For all the private planes and famous friends, one person was never impressed by any of it. His mama. And church on Sunday was never up for debate. Mama made us go to church. Made us. We ain’t even seen the sun yet. We still had to go to church.

Like, get up. You are going to church. I’m like, wait, can’t the preacher come here sometime? We always going to him. Can he preach on the kitchen table? Mama, get up. You are going to church. Make me sick. Make them make me late. So they tell me we making her late. And she ain’t dressed neither.

Walking around with her bra on. You are making me late. I can’t get dressed fooling around with y’all. You see this? SHUT UP. SHUT UP. You hear me? Shut up. And I knew she couldn’t get up and move cuz it was in the middle of the church. So I said, “Mama, you shut up. Mama, mama, boy, you done went crazy.

What you going to do?” My mama’s so mad at me. They go, she was shouting. She mad at me. Oh Lord, I’mma get him, Lord. I’mma get him. But if you ask Chris for the one night he still cannot explain, it is this one. Two of the greatest voices you could ever hear. One living room and the only audience was him and Ali’s dog.

One time I did something real cool at Ali’s place. I went over to Dundee’s house one night. You know, Angelo Dundee. I was like, “Damn, this is something.” And we were sitting there and all of a sudden both of them, Ali and Dundee, start singing. They were singing, “How deep is your love?” How deep is your love? [singing] How deep is your love? I really need to know because we’re living in a world of fools breaking us down and we’re all surely and then Dundee came in.

I believe in you. I said then the dolphins I believe in me and then I got caught up and came in. Come to you all the suffering you know I can stand and you know it. And then Ali was like, “Chris, no Chris, you are not my brother. I’m not your brother. All the stuff we’ve been through.” If you enjoyed watching Muhammad Ali break for Chris Tucker, please subscribe and share this with someone who needs to see the greatest completely lose it.

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