Quotes About Comedy

It is really sad that there's no recognition at the national level for comedy.

It is true that I got recognition. But however good the comedies are, nobody will accept a good comedy director as a good director. That is the sad part of it. Nobody knows who directed the 'Laurel and Hardy' movies. They know only Laurel and Hardy. Directors will never get a good name if they direct a comedy film.

Even in comedies, you've got to feel safe for things to just happen in a way that is natural and free, and recognizable as human.

I usually get recognized for Spaceballs.

To me, there were comedies that should go up for Oscars. I think Eddie Murphy in 'The Nutty Professor' was one of the greatest acting performances of all time, but it'd never be recognized that way. They always go for De Niro and Pacino, but Eddie Murphy played seven different people!

It's really fun to get recognized for 'Step Brothers.'

I recommend anyone who wants to pursue comedy to go to The Groundlings.

I would recommend that anyone who wants to do comedy on TV to do radio first.

I try not to think before sleep otherwise it keeps me awake - I usually stick on an episode of The Golden Girls which makes me laugh and have nicer dreams - I highly recommend it!

I used to do stand-up when I was in high school. But I was also making beats for this rap group, and when we got a record deal, I sort of stopped doing the comedy and focused on the music instead. When that ended, I decided to go back to school, take broadcasting, and start my show on public-access TV.

I wish I had a really cool, esoteric answer, but what the process is to me is going onstage night after night after night after night until I get a new hour. And then once that hour is solidified and recorded, I move on.

Before I did comedy, I'd freestyle with all of my friends. In high school and into college, I recorded songs with my friends, not to perform but just to play for them. So I've had interest in music for a while. Early on, I'd host a lot of music open nights or hip-hop nights, so a lot of my early experience performing was around music.

I have been recording every single one of my shows since 1994. Every single joke I've ever done is on a hard drive. I can tell you when I wrote every joke I wrote. I can tell you the first time I said it, when I made it different, when I made it better.

What we're increasingly seeing is comics are becoming better known across the world. They're recording shows wherever they are, then putting them online for everyone. It has definitely changed in that way.

The people who were in college in the '50s were my first real audience, and their kids, the people who found my records in the cabinet during their 'Mad 'magazine years picked me up also.

Breaking records is not something you expect to be doing. That's like a sports thing, it's not usually a comedy and writing thing.

The best comedy you can ever have is when you're in the pub with your mates. You can never beat that. That's what I try to recreate in stand-up.

Live comedy in a club, with an audience - it's hard to recreate that experience in a digital world. With Zoom, your face is there the whole time, and you feel like you have to always be on. You feel like you always have to be paying attention, and it can be exhausting.

Can we all admit that 'Parks and Recreation' is horrible? Is this something we would all know, but don't say? Maybe everything should not be improv'd.

Aziz Ansari was on 'Parks and Recreation' for, I don't know, what, seven years? And he was a really popular stand-up comedian. He even says that his Netflix show wouldn't have gotten made unless he created it himself. No one was probably willing to put someone like Aziz as the lead in a show until he actually created it himself.

I love the NBC comedies. I DVR 'Parks and Recreation,' 'Community,' 'The Office,' '30 Rock.' I love most of the HBO shows. I love 'Archer.' 'Archer's a great show. I'm big on Netflix; I've seen every episode of 'Freaks and Geeks.' We need more shows like that.

Some of the best comedies now are led by women who are very involved: 'Parks and Recreation.' 'Veep's' incredible. I love 'Girls.'

I wish I could have a recurring role on 'Modern Family'. I think 'Modern Family' is the best comedy on television. It's extremely well written, extremely well acted and directed.

I had always been heavily influenced by stand-up. I was in a comedy team called Red Johnny And The Round Guy.