Quotes About Performance

Confronting a stadium audience, you can't see the whites of their eyes. It's just an amorphous mass of noise and, of course, you can't see the alleged billions watching at home either, so the degree to which you are intimidated is quite low.

One of the skills you have to master in theater is the ability to make the audience believe that things that aren't there are there - just like when you're acting against CGI. Also, in a theater, the people in the back row can't see the whites of your eyes. Or your lips moving as you deliver dialogue.

I was nearing the end of childhood when I started to pay real attention to jazz singers. Women excelled as jazz singers; they surpassed most of the men. Black women excelled as jazz singers; they surpassed most of the whites.

I'm quite a reserved person, but when it comes to being on stage, something just clicks, and I sort of run around like a mad man. I find myself jumping in the crowd, climbing up on things, and dancing absolutely atrociously. I like to see the whites of everybody's eyes, jump around with everybody.

Obviously, you want to wear the whites. If someone calls you a Test player, there is no bigger compliment.

I went to a friend's 40th in Manchester, and there was a karaoke machine, and no one was having a go. My mate said, 'No one's singing because you're in the room.' I said, 'Who am I, Frank Sinatra?' They made me sing flipping 'My Star' to a backing track that sounded like '80s Roxy Music. It was pretty embarrassing, but I did it.

I am never going to stop playing the villain. I would be foolish to do so because the audiences apparently enjoy watching me, and who am I to say no?

At least when you're acting you can be someone. In front of the camera you have to be yourself. And who am I?

I love being in a room in front of an audience who cares about the music, who knows the music, and who has lived with the music. It's kind of like an experience you share. I'm on stage performing it, but they're singing the words, too.

It's tough when take 1 is technically okay and take 2 has better acting. Out here (Hollywood) they print the first one. That's the one where we all hit the mark on the floor and who cares about the acting.

As a comedian, I don't know if they're laughing because it's funny or if they're laughing at me because I'm not funny. And I'm thinking, 'Who cares? They're laughing.' If you go on stage, and they're laughing at you full-on for 60 minutes? You know, whatever puts them in the seats.

Who cares about seeing 10,000 helicopter assaults? That's spectacle.

There's times, in certain songs, that I might be in my own world, and who cares about who's out there, you know? You have a job to do, so you do that job of singing that song or telling that story because that's what you're doing.

I still care about human behavior and the art that it takes to write a good piece and to get a cast together who cares enough to put 150 percent of their talent into a project.

Who cares about how many albums you've sold when you have sold out arenas and you're making money?

It's a dying art to play live anymore and just play raw. Who cares if you make a mistake? That's punk rock. Just go out and go for it and make some noise.

For some reason, people don't want to see a girl onstage. Whether it's a girl or a guy, if you like the music, who cares?

It doesn't matter if you have a six-minute match on 'Superstars,' go out and steal the show. Go have a great, solid match. Somebody's going to say, 'Who cares about 'Superstars?' Nobody watches it. And it's only six minutes.' That's the wrong attitude. That's a loser's attitude, and that's what I've told dozens of talents.

For me, I like to have explosive moments, whether it is a particular movement itself in the whole sequence. I like to have shocking moments; for audiences to feel, like, 'Whoa!' It's always been my forte.

I definitely think cheerleaders have no fear. When I took the 'Hellcats' job, I was like, 'Whoa, this is a sport.'

I don't think we were shy so much as we were terrified. Especially when we did 'Saturday Night Live' on live TV. We looked really animatronic because we were scared, but it came off as being this alien sort of attitude, which served us well, because people were like, 'Whoa, this is so weird.'

Normally when there are fans you are focused just because of that, because you know when you're going to make a mistake, everybody is like, 'Whoa,' you feel this mistake more. Also, you feel more if you score a goal. It's more emotional when there are fans.

I've said some things on stage where the crowd was like, 'Whoa, that's bad' - and I never say it again because that's the feedback I get.

I came up as a number 2 hitter. My first year I hit 16 homers, and I was like, Whoa, I'm rollin'!