Quotes About Performance

The very first time I did standup, I went to an open mike on the Lower East Side at a place that doesn't exist anymore. And it was one of those open mikes that wasn't really just for comedy.

I started doing standup when I was in college, and I would incorporate a lot of characters into my act.

I'm a comedy geek so anything comedy related, whether that's standup shows, improv shows, I'm all over that. That's my favorite way to be entertained always.

Richard Lewis has this incredible ability to look like he's just... you know it's an act that's been honed. What you have to do in standup is create spontaneity, somehow; even though you've done this act a million times, you gotta look like you're almost just thinking of it now, to make it entertainer.

Podcasts feature comedians being as funny as they can be in a non-censored situation. It's really akin to standup in a way. When you go see a comedian in standup, that is the most pure, unadulterated form of their art.

I was a standup comic, which doesn't necessarily mean you interact with people all that much. In fact when I did shows, I wouldn't talk to the audience very much. Then my friend offered me a radio show, and I thought, you know, I'll try talking to people and see what kind of interviewer I was.

I think what I do in my acting world and what I do in my standup world is bring up a brand that I want to bring across. Once you figure out your brand and what you do, it's kind of easy at that. You end up getting your audience.

I never really saw myself as a standup comedian. I always just thought of myself as someone who used the eight minutes or 10 minutes she was allotted and had a blast.

I do standup every week in L.A. at the Laugh Factory and the Improv.

The thing is when I started doing standup, you had to have a clean act because that's how you got on television. There weren't all these cable shows. Also, I didn't want to have that kind of act in case my family came to see me or my kid one day.

I do standup once a year, when I host the CMAs.

From fear to bonding with the audience to getting more open - that's what standup is. It humanises you.

In standup, you don't have anything near you except a microphone. There's something a lot more self-conscious feeling when there's cameras coming in for close-ups. It makes you very aware.

Trying my hand at standup was exciting to me.

I come from standup and improv.

Standup is really the only thing in the entertainment business that you do totally alone.

I love doing standup, but I love watching it more. Watching people like Michelle Buteau or Baron Vaughn get up and do their thing - that is what comedy can be like.

I had a crisis of confidence and ran away from being a standup for a while.

I think any good standup or actor is part philosopher, part psychologist and sociologist, because you're constantly recreating behaviors.

You can't teach standup comedy. You can teach someone how to formulate a joke, but making it funny is different.

Technology can't eliminate the need for people going to want to go out and see theater and standup comedy.

Standup is just dirtier, a far more risque kind of thing.

It's important that when you do standup, you do small places like coffee shops and also big places like colleges. It helps you find the little nuances in your set that don't work, and you can shave off the excess.

In standup, it's just you. You're your own writer, your own critic, your own director, and it's never the same. You really don't always have it down. Your continue to learn, you continue to risk, and I really love it.