David Byrne Quotes

You know. I'll try anything. I'll do anything. I'll explore. Try different takes. All that kind of stuff to do sometimes, to do good performances, but always conducive to having a good time creatively.

So much about getting onstage is creating a connection with an audience that allows you to go different places and try different things.

I never had a gimmick. All I had was a pair of boots and a pair of tights.

I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it.

I have more artistic control in a smaller show. But it doesn't really matter. Sometimes you can have the smallest role in the smallest production and still make a big impact.

No matter what you're going through, as long as you have some specific emotion, whether it's positive or negative, it is all stuff that you can use on stage.

I don't think I would have made 'Blank Project; if I hadn't made 'Cherry Thing.' I think that was a real rebirth in a way, and a remembrance of how I like to make music best, the most. Like being in a more chaotic place, maybe. Like a place of making and being creative where the mistakes can be left in.

As an actor, you have to be open to doing things where you look stupid, to be experimental.

When you do a lot of acting your entire life, you see the entire set from one point of view. To have a chance to step back and pull it all together is really exciting. You want to do it all; you want to have a hand in everything.

There's an impression that actors make a lot of choices. I just take what's there.

An actor is an instrument. One needs to control them.

The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

I prefer the smaller budget versus the bigger budget because the mentality that goes along with big budget filmmaking doesn't really suit me; the mind-set that money is the answer.

The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.

I'd like to be a director who gives my actors complete freedom while collaborating with them to find performances.

Every time I'm preparing a new production, I'm trying to reinvent my style and offer the audience several choices.

There are definitely some set topics I go onstage with and want to talk about, but there's also an element of improvisation and spontaneity that I like to bring to each performance and talk about uniquely in that room.

If it was up to me, every show would start at midnight, and I'd give people the best of me.

One of the ways that I think about my being an artist and an actor is... it's an experiment.

I don't need a stage to perform. We just need something to stand on.

I like to choreograph and create and design the costumes and do it all and then step back and watch it and then move on to the next project.

If I want to be a real comedian, I can't let you dictate my material, so I started creating more new material.

I'm really impressed every time Kanye comes to perform at 'SNL' because he finds a new way to make that space work for him.

I love working with actors who will just go, 'Oh O.K., let's try it and see where it goes,' and 'Let's see what we can discover.'

I try new stuff every time I perform. I have steps I do that I know are definite, and stuff I can make up right then and there and then forget.