Quotes from Del Close

No one else has performed in a play after they've died, and I want to be the first person to do it.

If we treat each other as if we are geniuses, poets and artists, we have a better chance of becoming that on stage.

The more you know, the more you can make fun of.

Treat your audience like poets and geniuses and that's what they'll become.

Follow the fear.

I'm tired of being the funniest person in the room.

The only rule is that there are no rules.

The kind of improv that I'm particularly addicted to is the kind that... aims at creating a momentary, fragmentary experience that has a totality to it. It's kind of like fireworks. It's the more ephemeral of art forms - once it's gone, it's gone, baby.

Trust...trust your fellow actors to support you; trust them to come through if you lay something heavy on them; trust yourself.

The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention.

The world is a slightly better place for having improvisation in it than it was before. There's something about it that says something positive about the human spirit, that a bunch of people can get together and by following a few simple traffic rules can create art and can entertain an audience and can thrill and exalt each other.

There is something irresistibly funny about a funeral. More basically, I think the point is that beyond the deepest tragedy, there is laughter. Even in the midst of tragedy, there is always the possibility for it.

If the whole is to be Art, the parts must not try to be.

It's a grim business, this being funny. Every time you come up with a strong, satiric idea, the world tops it.

Treat your audience like poets and geniuses and they'll have the chance to become them.

I'm tired of being the funniest person in the room.