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Be kind to the folks you meet along the way.
It's a lesson Sherman Golden learned early in his career as a standup comedian.
The 1979 Warren G. Harding High School graduate was working regularly at a comedy club in Atlanta. One of the other performers there still was in high school and didn't have a car.
"You'd get out of the comedy club at 1:30 in the morning, there's no buses running, no trains running and nobody wanted to take him home," Golden said.
It wasn't an area where anyone should be walking alone, so Golden often gave him a ride.
The kid was Chris Tucker, who went on to star in "Friday," "The Fifth Element" and the "Rush Hour" movies.
These days Golden is Tucker's touring partner, writing material for the comedian and opening for him at larger venues around the world.
Those who grew up with Golden in Warren might be surprised by his career path. Unlike most professional comedians, Sherman wasn't a class clown in school.
He really didn't have much exposure to comedy growing up.
The one thing he remembers is one of his friend's parents had 8 track tapes of comedy albums by Dolemite, a risque comedian who made party records.
The parents had a car where the tape player would work even if the ignition wasn't turned on, so they'd sneak into the car, recline the seats so they couldn't be seen and listen to Dolemite's jokes.
Classmates would remember Golden more for his athletic prowess. He played wide receiver and defensive back at Harding.
"Remember that North-South All-Star Game they had every year? I played in that. (Future NFL player) Todd Blackledge (from North Canton) was the quarterback and I played wide receiver," Golden said.
He planned to play football at Youngstown State University, but a winter break visit to Atlanta changed that.
"There was four, five feet of snow on the ground when I left and it was 80 degrees in Atlanta in December," he said. "I called my mom and said I ain't ever coming back."
She told him he better find a way to support himself, so Golden went to a technical school, where he learned plumbing and heating / air conditioning repair and started managing apartment buildings.
"There's nothing I can't fix," he said.
Comedy became an interest when he visited an Atlanta club and wasn't impressed by the acts on stage. He was mouthing off about the talent, not realizing the club owner was behind him.
The club owner told him if he thought he was better, he should come to the weekly open mic and prove it.
"It turns out I was funny," Golden said. "He asked if I wanted to join their improv group. I said, 'I don't know what improv is, but I'll try it.' That's where I met Chris Tucker."
A Warren connection led to his first TV appearance. Comedian D.L Hughley grew up in Los Angeles, not Warren, but he visited many times and spent several summers here in the '70s.
Hughley recognized Golden at the Atlanta club.
"He told me, 'I'm about to get a TV show called 'Comic View.' I'm gonna put you on it.'"
Golden didn't think much of it, but he got a call from someone who worked on the show and made his television debut.
Los Angeles also had a thriving African-American comedy scene at the time, and many of those performers started playing Atlanta regularly. Hughley told them to look up Golden when they got there.
"That's how I met Jamie Foxx, Martin Lawrence," Golden said. "I was in the right place at the right time. I got on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" because of Martin, and things started taking off from there."
Golden has plenty of family still in the area, but he doesn't get back this way very often, especially since his mother died a couple of years ago.
He'll be close next month as he hits the road with Tucker for a 36-date tour that extends into January 2024. He'll play KeyBank State Theatre in Cleveland on Oct. 12 and Benedum Center in Pittsburgh on Oct. 19.
In addition to his own set, Golden writes material for Tucker's act. It's a partnership that started more than 20 years ago, when Tucker was shooting "Rush Hour 2."
"He got saved and didn't want to cuss no more," Golden said. "The 'Rush Hour 2' script was full of cuss words. We took all of them out and kept it funny without the cuss words."
Golden joked that his greatest accomplishment is putting his three daughters through college "without a job," but he admitted he's had a charmed life.
"I've been around the world about five, six times," he said. "I've done things most comedians couldn't even imagine."