Quotes About Improvisation

I tell jokes, chat with people, and make stuff.

I'm not even really a joke-teller. I can do ad-lib and banter, but I don't do jokes.

As an actor, it's always fun when you're able to feel like there's freedom to explore things and try out jokes and be funny.

The thing that's frustrating about improv is that even if you have the best show in the world, it's over when it's over. You get to build stand-up - I really like that aspect of it. I like writing jokes, and you don't get to do that in improv.

Early on, I had a girlfriend come see me, and she was like, 'Yeah, it was good, but you were funny at a dining hall at the University of Maryland.' That's when I realized I was contrived. I was reciting jokes. So I really worked on - no matter what - sounding like I was just talking to the people.

One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.

Use the meal mats as toilet paper.

A crossbow?" Pigeon asked. I left my battle-ax in my other jeans," the man said.

What was keeping this ship together? Spit and prayers?

You have a plan?" she asked. "There isn't much time for a plan. This is more of a hunch with scaffolding.

There isn't much time for a plan. This is more of a hunch with scaffolding.

Qué clase de cosas puedes romper? -De todo tipo. Puertas, dispositivos electrónicos, mesas... Una vez rompí un pollo. -¿Un pollo? -Sí, estaba de excursión. Me... frustré y cogí un pollo. Cuando lo solté, se le cayeron de golpe todas las plumas y, a partir de entonces, se negó a comer otra cosa que no fuera comida para gatos.

What doesn't exist you have to create yourself. Even a dream can be plucked out of your head and shaped for a purpose.

At present men make shift to wear what they can get. Like shipwrecked sailors, they put on what they can find on the beach, and at a little distance, whether of space or time, laugh at each other's masquerade.

So when I got the chance to do my first talk show, 50 years ago last month, I never had any writers. There was no budget - it was just me and the camera and my friend who was the director. I talked about what I'd done that week.

I always give the encore over to chaos, so people can yell out requests and I can hack my way through a song that I don't really know anymore.

All improv turns into anger. All comedy improv basically turns into anger, because that's all people know how to do when they're improvising. If you notice shows that are improvising are generally people yelling at each other.

Yes, there's a lot of the blues in my playing.

I think it's very important to live in the present. One of the great things that improvising teaches you is the magic of the moment that you're in because, when you improvise, you're in right now. You're not in yesterday or tomorrow - you're right in the moment.

The good thing about acting is that it always keeps you on your toes... It's not like any other job where you can go in and do the same thing as yesterday.

I never publicise in advance what I'm going to be singing because I never quite know until I start. I often change my mind halfway through. I sometimes throw in stuff about politics or Shakespeare or do songs in Yiddish.

I always write on unlined typing paper and write the first draft in longhand, using cheap Bic pens. I try to write about four pages a day, which usually yields a first draft in six months. I don't plot ahead of time, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants for the first draft.

I could be a yoga instructor. I'm not certified, but I could do it. Once I did a class where the instructor didn't show up, and I just went to the front and did it, and everyone followed. So I've done it before, and I love it.

I have never planned anything. 'Kung Fu Yoga' was also never planned or anything.