Quotes About Improvisation

At some shows, the set list gets changed while we are on stage. I know Ed thinks about the set very hard throughout the day in order to make the best show possible for the fans and for us.

Throughout the evening I would be recording these long saxophone delays and about four hours into the concert, if I wanted to take a break I would just play back the saxophone.

I research every part thoroughly. I talk it out with my actor friends, but then I throw it all away when I get to the set. You have to be spontaneous.

You can throw away your script more easily than you can throw away your film.

When you're in a movie with Will Ferrell, well, it's time to at least sometimes throw the script away. And that character in 'Talladega Nights' I found a lot easier to kind of riff with because I related to it more, those kind of Southern, almost rednecky guys. That's a culture that I'm familiar with, that makes sense for me to spew.

I just throw it out and see what happens. If it sounds and feels right, then I continue.

In the studio, I'm always throwing people on different instruments.

We practice throughout the week throwing jump balls, throwing fades, throwing all these little things. But when the game comes, you never know what's going to come up.

I'm good at extending plays and finding throwing lanes.

Saturday Night Live is such a comedy boot camp in a way, because you get to work with so many different people who come in to host the show and you get thrown into so many situations and learn how to think on your feet, so filmmaking actually feels slow, in a good way.

With film sometimes you're thrown in there and you literally hit the ground running, taking your best shot and just leave it up to the editing.

'Piper's Pit' was totally unscripted - everything just happened - thus, innovation was a challenging must to accomplish.

If you're improvising with Paul Reiser, man, you'd better hold on tight!

Prototyping is about doing small experiments at low cost, using what you have to hand.

Waywardness is an ongoing exploration of what might be; it is an improvisation with the terms of social existence, when the terms have already been dictated, when there is little room to breathe...It is the untiring practice of trying to live when you were never meant to survive. It is the untiring practice of trying to live when you were never meant to survive.

I have no problem in moving a date one way or another or coming up with a subplot that gets my characters in (or out) of a fix more rambunctiously than the extant records show.

Acting is the only time when I truly maintain the spontaneity that I want to be present at all times.

Every time you build a golf course, it's not a golf course when you get there. You have to improvise.

You have to be ready to sing and perform at any time.

In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth.

People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home.

Who knows ... we'll be playing Jazz and having a good time!

Most actors spend a lot of time training themselves to be an actor. And I kind of didn't do that. I just started doin' it in front of an audience and had to deliver.

When you want to have entertainment, it must be a waste of time. I don't like that. I don't like improvisation being pointless.