Stand Up Comedy Quotes

• I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct.

  Steve Martin

  Originality, Fame, Comic

  Steve Martin (2008). “Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life”, p.15, Simon and Schuster

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• Stand-up comedy seems like a terrifying thing. Objectively. Before anyone has done it, it seems like one of the most frightening things you could conceive, and there's just no shortcut - you just have to do it.

  John Oliver

  Done, Shortcuts, Comedy

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• I keep my stand-up comedy notes in a pile on my desk. I don't organize my act. I keep myself in a state of confusion. It stresses me out, but I prefer creative chaos.

  Joy Behar

  Stress, Confusion, Creative

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• I think stand-up comedy is this - it's this kind of indulgence and narcissism.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Thinking, Comedy, Narcissism

  "Comic Jim Gaffigan On Stand-Up, Faith And Opening For The Pope". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. September 24, 2015.

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• I do podcasts for the same reasons I do stand-up comedy. I love it, and I don't care if anybody else gets it.

  Chris Hardwick

  Care, Comedy, Reason

  "Chris Hardwick, the King of All Things Nerdist and Host of @Midnight, Drops 20Q Science". Interview with Eric Spitznagel, www.playboy.com. October 8, 2014.

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• I just love entertaining. I will do anything - stand-up comedy, video games, fencing, internet shorts - I just want to keep being lucky enough to entertain people anyway I can. I try never to limit my art to a medium.

  Matthew Gray Gubler

  Art, Games, People

  "Matthew Gray Gubler: I really won the lottery with this show". Interview with Jarett Wieselman, pagesix.com. March 16, 2011.

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• My mom and dad are both in stand-up comedy, so that's where I started, that's where I got everything. My roots are holding the mic.

  Pauly Shore

  Mom, Dad, Roots

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• Stand-up comedy is tough right now. Anybody can come to a concert, tape you, and put you up on the Internet. You either fight it or embrace it.

  Jeff Dunham

  Fighting, Tape, Comedy

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I do think that stand-up comedy in general heavily favors masculinity and so I like to act a little feminine onstage.

  Bo Burnham

  Thinking, Favors, Littles

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• I took a job in a comedy club - not doing stand-up comedy, because that's my idea of hell, but in the office - and I went traveling.

  Phoebe Fox

  Jobs, Ideas, Office

  Interview with Emma Brown, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 13, 2015.

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• When I was 14, I told my mother I was going to drop out of high school and go do stand-up comedy. All she said was 'Oh maybe it's better if you just die,' because it was killing her that I was doing this.

  Margaret Cho

  Mother, School, Comedy

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• The beautiful thing about podcasting is it's just talking. It can be funny, or it can be terrifying. It can be sweet. It can be obnoxious. It almost has no definitive form. In that sense it's one of the best ways to explore an idea, and certainly much less limiting than trying to express the same idea in stand up comedy. For some ideas stand up is best, but it's really, really nice to have podcasts as well.

  Joe Rogan

  Beautiful, Sweet, Nice

  Reddit AMA, www.reddit.com. November 20, 2014.

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• My sense of stand up comedy would be so esoteric.

  Paul Rudd

  Would Be, Esoteric, Comedy

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• It's weird with stand-up comedy. It doesn't really translate worldwide. I want to figure out how do I make it worldwide. Do a special in Africa. Can't beat that. Pull that off, then I will have done something.

  Chris Rock

  Special, Done, Want

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Stand-up comedy - I love this job, and I gotta tell you, folks - knock wood - it's been working. 'Cause I was one of those kind of people, even when I had a regular job, I couldn't even call in sick right. You know, I was like, 'Hello? Yeah, I can't come in today. I have scurvy.

  Carol Leifer

  Jobs, People, Sick

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• I usually have sex to my stand-up comedy album. Power move.

  Jeff Ross

  Sex, Moving, Power Moves

  Source: www.spin.com

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• An aspiring comedian must be determined to get to his or her true feelings on a subject and convey that to the audience. Figure out what you're feeling or interested in because the goal is to get the audience interested in what you're interested in. Good stand up comedy is drawing people into your head.

  Franklyn Ajaye

  Drawing, People, Goal

  Franklyn Ajaye (2002). “Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy”

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• Learn as much as you can about performing. Live theater, improv classes, music, stand up comedy, dance, anything to make yourself confident and comfortable in front of an audience. It'll all come in handy when auditioning for producers and performing with other actors. The best voice actors all have a live performance background. And are competent, fearless, incredibly creative actors.

  Rob Paulsen

  Class, Voice, Creative

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• I'm going to try really hard not to be bossy, but I've only done stand-up comedy and then my own show where you're the total boss of everything!

  Rosie O'Donnell

  Boss, Trying, Done

  "Lunch Date: Rosie O'Donnell". Interview with Carole Radziwill, www.glamour.com. August 30, 2006.

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• I'd been doing some light-beer commercials for Budweiser and Coors, and I was doing stand-up comedy. I wanted to get into the acting world, and my agent sent me on audition and they liked it.

  Kevin Nealon

  Beer, Light, Acting

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• I was doing stand up comedy when I was 11, that's how I got started; not because I wanted to do comedy, but because we were broke, living in Echo Park in Downtown Los Angeles, from 1986, I saw the Rodney King riots; my parents didn't really work. But I wanted a new backpack, that's how I got into this business - I wanted a new backpack.

  Shia LaBeouf

  Kings, Echoes, Parent

  "Shia LaBeouf Sheds His Child Image for The Greatest Game Ever Played". Interview with MovieWeb, movieweb.com. September 30, 2005.

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• To me, being brave is an element that is so important with stand-up comedy. It's not essential. There are many comics who were just funny, and that's fine, too. But that's never been what I was trying to do in comedy. I was always trying to do something that involved not pandering to the audience.

  Bill Maher

  Always Trying, Brave, Important

  Source: www.usatoday.com

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• I can't imagine being a woman in the world of acting, like where you age starts to weigh you down - you go from being attractive to where they [directors] decided you're out... I feel like with stand-up comedy, it doesn't matter if I've gotten fatter.

  Jim Jefferies

  Acting, Age, Directors

  Source: www.portlandmercury.com

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• For me, stand-up comedy is a conversation between me and the audience. I have to keep them listening. When I'm making jokes about cake for twenty minutes, I have to make sure my audience is interested and following where I'm going.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Funny, Humor, Cake

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• In the stand-up comedy top, there's room for everyone - if you're good, there's room for everyone. You'll put on your own show - no one casts you. You cast your own show as a stand-up comedian. When you get good at stand-up comedy you book a theater and if people show up, people show up. If people don't show up, people don't show up. You don't have a director or a casting agent or anybody saying if you're good enough - the audience will decide.

  Jim Jefferies

  Book, People, Comedian

  Source: www.portlandmercury.com

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