Dick Gregory Quotes

Most stand-ups, once they have done it, think of it as their default job. I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart still feels that way now. You are a stand-up first; other things come and go.

I'm funny. I'm a comedian. I'm not a clown.

Two things I really wanted to be: a stand-up comic or a New York Yankee - or a really funny New York Yankee.

All I ever wanted to do was tell jokes for a living.

Jack is really the new breed, a wild-man comedian. America's funnyman.

I liked comedy, but didn't know it was something you could do for a living. I actually wanted to be an attorney.

He's the sort of guy that gets a laugh out of people.

Mr. Frazier makes me laugh out loud.

I was known for being a bit of a clown. I remember my dad got me aside and said, "Just remember, everybody likes a clown, but nobody pays him." I've often been tempted to call him and say, "Remember how you told me...?" "Yeah?" "Yes, they do."

People keep referring to me as a standup, and that just doesn't sit well with me because a lot of my friends are standups and they're brilliant at writing jokes, and I'm not.

If I can make a teacher's salary doing comedy, I think that's better than being a teacher.

If you tried to sell Mike Birbiglia as a concept, no one would buy it.

I was the jokester, the one who made the family laugh.

For my first gig, I got $75. I could make money being funny, so I pursued it as a career and have turned it into a lucrative business.

I did stand-up for a good number of years while I was still living in New York, and those people primarily knew me as 'the kid stand-up.'

I was a stand-up comedian for 10 years, if you can believe it. And I gave it up at age 22.

It was football I enjoyed most. When I moved to L.A. to become a stand-up comedian, I thought it might be a good comedy hook to also be the punter for USFL club The L.A. Express, so I started practicing for the tryouts. Luckily, my stand-up took off, and I didn't need to do it.

I worked as a comedian for 23 years, 51 weeks a year.

My whole life, I knew that I was going to be funny for a living.

I feel like I've always thought of myself as a comedian.

From the very beginning I knew I had to be a comedian, and thus preferred being one.

American comic Bill Burr makes me laugh a lot.

I wanted to be a director and comedian and my plan was to go to NYU. I wanted to be in UCB.

I tick that cliched box of being the class clown. I've always done impressions and characters, so I'm very lucky that I get to do that as a career now.

I just want to be known as a clown because to me, that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything - sing, dance and, above all, make people laugh.