Bob Newhart Quotes

I'm not one to dwell on rehearsal or preparation. I like to just go out and do it. Of course, that doesn't mean actors are free to do whatever they like, they're always being directed.

I never rehearse. Never! I think it's a waste of time.

90 percent of the records I make are spontaneous.

My whole act is off the top of my head.

All my performances have been unrehearsed.

It's just a lovely way to do comedy, where you have the freedom to try stuff, but then you also have a really strong, solid script to go back to if you're brain dead and tired.

I need to be spontaneous sometimes. Sometimes I find that the little detail or nuance that you add to it that's based on what's happening at the time that's not very rehearsed often ends up feeling like the funniest thing.

For me, the more talented the actor is that I'm working with, the easier my job is because the circumstances of a scene are easier to believe when the people around you are in the moment just as much as you are.

Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.

I wish I had a really cool, esoteric answer, but what the process is to me is going onstage night after night after night after night until I get a new hour. And then once that hour is solidified and recorded, I move on.

When you're coming up with new material, it's not always gonna be good. The only way to learn is for it not to get a laugh, so you can adjust it and come back the next day to see if it's working right. Next time, you might get a different laugh. You're constantly rebuilding.

I ad lib. I've gotta bring my own into it.

I went to Second City, where you learned to make the other actor look good so you looked good and National Lampoon, where you had to create everything out of nothing, and SNL, where you couldn't make any mistakes, and you learned what collaboration was.

I don't know why people think I'm this ad-lib dude.

I never record anything like a demo, I just go for it.

I don't write any of my material down. I like to improvise and be spontaneous.

I'm not as incredibly prolific as Louis C. K., and I'm definitely not doing a completely brand-new hour probably by the beginning of the tour.

'The State' had never done improv. We used to go over scripts for weeks and argue about every joke. But I don't know how we would have scripted 'Reno.'

The way that I write is I just write a ton of music in the background of my life, and then I just bring it into rehearsal. It's, like, 'Okay, guys. It goes like this. Let's smooth it out.'

I have this habit of not rehearsing a lot; I don't go on practicing my dialogues, pauses, and actions.

I am spontaneous and not a method actor.

I always imagine people give succinct answers. I have no prepared thoughts on what I do.

Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn't working - it's horrible, and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.

There's nothing like the spontaneity of making something work on stage.

Ninety percent of my material is made on stage, but I feel like you're missing something by abandoning sitting down to write entirely.