Chris Rock Quotes

I've always got the road. Stand-up makes you so autonomous and self-sufficient that it really helps with that part of show business.

I love doing radio, and I love doing stand-up, obviously.

Stand-up keeps you alive. It is definitely the most specialized field in comedy because you need to stay sharp and well-tuned every night.

Acting is all about timing. I mean, who has better timing than the MCs?

Once I started doing stand-up, everything fell into place. That was when I started acting more; I felt like I'd found my place in the business.

I can tell you this: Stand-up is not glamorous.

I've been on shows that are very comedic and happy, and you really only get to see one side of my personality. They're not shows about my life or my music, or my struggle or anything like that. They're shows where you pretty much see me laughing and smiling all the time.

I loved stand-up, but I never thought you could do it as a job.

I call it 'new forms'. When you're starting out, they ask you to do four or five minute sets, but once you're a headliner, you do like 90 minutes. I try to think of different things to divvy up the show, like doing drawings, playing music... I gotta carry the show, that's the problem.

Performing comedy, you develop a rhythm of ideas and laughs. I live for it.

I'm in awe of comedians that do things that I can't do, whether it be a one-liner comic like Anthony Jeselnik, whether it be social issues commentary, whether it be - hell, Carrot Top. I can't be Carrot Top. I can't.

[Stand-up] might be ballsy, but I'd rather not be an actor. Actors are tools.

Dancing is still the hardest profession. Gene Kelly said dancing is a man's game Women have to do the same thing in heels, and have to sing and smile at the same time. Professional athletes don't even have to do that - and they get to wear sneakers.

You saw a lot of guys, especially in the early '90s, whose acts were a pitch for a sitcom. A lot of them were very funny, but there's nothing worse than watching comedians or musicians who are up there and are doing something they're not interested in.

You're always on duty because you're in a constant state of observation. That's one of the challenges of being a comedian. I think one of the other challenges is that, whether we like it or not, it's a profession that requires failure. It doesn't just encourage failure. It requires it because it's all trial and error. You need to know what doesn't work to know what works.

What's great about stand-up unlike athletes and other things when you get old you get old and rusty.

Probably the most fun I've ever had, actually, acting. Because it was the perfect extension of the stuff that I'd started to do on Late Night With David Letterman, and when I look back on all my work, it was probably the best possible incarnation of Chris Elliott, of me.

It's always been the same for me. I've always enjoyed acting, and I really love good actors; they're such unique characters. I wish I could tell stories well, or tell a joke. Any time someone can do that it's so satisfying. Sean Penn, for instance, is a really good actor, and he can tell a good joke or story. But it's hard to do. Most actors have special talents that make them attractive, but they're often odd characters.

Stand-up is mine. It's a part of me.

You would never do stand-up without an audience. I mean, no one would even consider it. It's like they're the instrument you're playing.

Sometimes when I do a joke and it doesn't get a lot of laughs, it kind of feels like I'm doing jazz. That's kinda cool because jazz is cool, but sometimes jazz sucks ... Maybe I'm the Kenny G of comedy.

My life is like a music-hall,Where, in the impotence of rage,Chained by enchantment to my stall,I see myself upon the stageDance to amuse a music-hall.

If I want to keep working as an actor, I'm going to become a comedian who does fart jokes.

I knew already when I was seven years old, that I wanted to be on stage and entertain people. I sell laughs. Here, you got one for free!

I'm a comedian, and I like to work on my live show, and if I'm doing television, I don't have time to work on my live show, and I can become a lame comic, and that sucks.