I actually was class clown but I don't know how that happened because I've never been considered an outwardly funny person-as the people in this room will attest.

I didn't plan to be the rude middle-class comedian. You write a certain type of joke that you find funny and mine happen to be often rude. Yes it's juvenile but that's me.

I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It's embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally my body was changing my mind was changing and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness.

I was so afraid to even read a paper in front of my classmates. It is very funny because at that point my teachers would never have believed that I could speak in front of an audience of over 2 000 people.

You know the funny thing I don't get along with rich people. I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.

In closing I wish to say that while I was sorely beset by a number of white riders in my racing days I have also enjoyed the friendship of countless thousands of white men whom I class as among my closest friends.

That was the day I began cutting classes and returning to TV tapings it ultimately led to a friendship with Johnny O and an increasing fascination and respect for what he did.

I am not an anti to anything which will bring freedom to my class.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise and take chances and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

If they want to hang me let them. And on the scaffold I will shout Freedom for the working class!

The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is won not on the battlefield but in the classroom and the home. Teach your children the history of freedom if you want them never to lose it.

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect a party or a class-it is the cause of human kind the very birthright of humanity.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom and that was far more important.

And let me make this very clear - unlike President Obama I will not raise taxes on the middle class. As president I will protect the sanctity of life. I will honor the institution of marriage. And I will guarantee America's first liberty: the freedom of religion.

America is a such a melting pot I'm not sure if roast chicken is the classic comfort food for everybody.

This June I'll travel once again to the Food and Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen Colorado. For many years my dear friend Julia Child and I have teamed up to teach classes together at the event for the past seven years my daughter Claudine has been my cooking partner on stage.

You have to know the classics if you want to cook modern food.