Quotes About Standup

When I became a standup comic, my hero, one of them, was Richard Pryor, and you know, I think that comedians, like, comedians talk about hacks, and what a hack is, is someone who does stuff that's not original.

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 did all this standup comedy in college, and from that point on, I tried to develop myself and get my name back out there.

Acting is completely different from the standup world. You have these 12- or 14-hour days, but you have a great time doing it. It's like hanging out with your friends.

I've done a lot of dramedies in my career. You know, I started as a standup comic, and then the movies that I was doing, like 'Up Side of Anger' were kind of like - they're hard. They're hard to sell; they're hard to get made, you know.

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 don't enjoy writing newspaper articles any more than people like reading them. I'm a standup comic, not a journalist, although sometimes onstage I will say: 'What else is in the news?' Writing is work, which I'm not comfortable with.

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

My standup is observational, but it's self-observational, and it's self-deprecating, definitely.

I just kind of went from being a standup, one-man band, to then kind of breezing back and working with other people. And now I'm just trying to be a legitimate guy who pays the rent, you know.

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.

The standup thing has been really fun, really seeing the United States instead of reading about it.

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.

I come from standup and improv.

I just loved jokes so much as a child. I remember wanting to perform at, like... age seven by reading from a kids' joke book, and my parents being like, 'That's not what standup comedy is,' and me being like, 'Not yet it isn't! I'm going to change the game.'

I did a lot of standup from ages 19 to 24 but then stopped to focus on sketch with Broken Lizard.

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