Patrick Stewart Quotes

'The Simpsons' is like Charlie Parker or Marlon Brando or Richard Pryor: Comedy couldn't go back to the way it was after 'The Simpsons' came out.

When I hit the scene, there was Billy Connolly and Max Boyce. It was all mother-in-law and Irish jokes, and we broke the mould. Now there are thousands of comedians out there, and I don't think I can be above it all.

There hasn't been an original voice in stand-up since Sam Kinison.

I think a lot of studios today are run by women, and we are entering a time when a lot of women have evolved in Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade and wanted to become writers and comedians.

I'm like the Davy Crockett of comedy... after Davy Crockett opened up the West and helped everybody... they didn't need him anymore. I freed a lot of comics... if I never would have done comedy, it would've been a different art form... I'm sure of it.

In the '90s, comedy was at a very low point, but these days, you've got people like Hannibal Burress, Ron Funches, Maria Bamford - people who can play any club, anywhere.

I kind of thought that stand-up comedy would suffer from the Internet because people seem to know more about the craft of stand-up than ever before. I thought it would seem trite. Kind of like if you know more about magicians, you wouldn't love them.

I think as time goes by you'll get female comics who are weirder - you'll get a female Mighty Boosh.

I cannot believe that in all the years that there have been female stand-ups, there has never been a show just for them.

When I came on the scene, there was The Nualas, who were doing character comedy, but there weren't any other women doing stand-up because Michelle Read had gone more into theatre.

We didn't used to be so precious about women in comedy back in the old days.

There were very few women comics when I started out doing stand-up. But I always saw that as a great advantage.

Comedy is something that I'm definitely looking to get into. I had a little taste of it and I do intend on going to classes for it because I think it's a different muscle, and it's hard to find female comedians.

Aditi is a comedy superstar over in India. She's only one of three female English-speaking comedians in India.

I think 'Bridesmaids' has changed things socially and culturally. Before, it was really difficult for women to do scatological humour without seeming gross.

'Saturday Night Live' will always be this amazing, powerful behemoth, but it's also not the only thing happening in comedy anymore.

Starting probably with Janeane Garofalo and that era of stand-up ladies who were starting to be more brainy and strong and clever, guys started noticing those girls as sexy smart. I always called it smarxy.

There are certainly other female comics who are moms, but I don't know any who are actively touring with their kids. But there are more and more becoming moms, and it's awesome. I feel we're in a super sisterhood.

The problem isn't that there's not enough women in panel games. The problem is there's not enough women in comedy in general.

A lot of women do stand-up as a gateway into acting, but I love stand-up, and to be a good stand-up, you have to go on the road a lot. It means going to places in America where they've never seen a Vietnamese person in their life.

Moms Mabley blazed a path for female stand-ups in a housecoat and floppy hat. Phyllis Diller worked equally hard to make herself unattractive to men and non-threatening to women.

'Bridesmaids,' I think, opened up a door to allow women to show a bunch of different women in different ways of being funny. It was kind of like an arrival moment.

Ruth Gordon was such a delight to watch in 'Rosemary's Baby' after I had first seen her in 'Harold and Maude.' And Ellen Burstyn is a hero of mine from 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,' The Exorcist,' 'Requiem For A Dream.' These women impacted me greatly as an actress.

I don't think stand-up comedy is becoming too serious, in fact, I wish it was. We are still mostly doing frivolous stuff.

There were never that many women stand-up comics in the past because the power to make people laugh is also a power that gets people upset.