Henry Rollins Quotes

When I came into improv, it was almost like an outsider art form.

There's such a freewheeling nature to 'Second City,' and the greatest thing about 'Second City' was having a sophisticated audience night after night who appreciated what it was. They knew it wasn't all going to be great when you improvised, so they were very forgiving that way.

I've been doing improv since high school, and I've been getting paid for it since I was 20.

I don't write anything. It's all done onstage, which is why I always tell younger comics that they just have to go do it. You have to get up, talk, and take a thought or a word and just expound, and you find it in there. I don't sit down and write.

People come to my shows on purpose as opposed to coming to a 'comedy show.' Which was always my goal.

I did improv for about 10 years professionally, and before that, I had done it in high school as part of an improv team. It was definitely a big part of my upbringing.

I went to art school for fine art and then I started doing performance art, and then I started making fun of performance art, and it turned into comedy.

I've always loved improv. It's my thing.

I definitely am a performer, and there are different styles of stand-up; I mean, some people are writers and they get onstage to get jokes out, and that's definitely not what I do. I like to just go up and, if I'm telling a story about someone, I'll play his or her part.

I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City.

When I'm not on T.V. or working on a movie, I'm on the road doing stand-up. That's my roots.

Being an actor started me writing, and that led to directing.

Improv has been immensely beneficial to me as both an actor and a writer.

Stand-up is kind of like my home base, and doing stand-up in New York is what I like doing most.

There aren't any concrete steps to becoming a comic.

It's an awesome thing to be flung out onto the stage twice a weekend in front of 250 people, and you have to make it up as you go along.

At some point, all comics have to go out and be retail salesmen doing door-to-door. And this idea of somebody who totally knows their craft having to get up for free in front of a crowd to work out some stuff they're thinking in their head, still, after as much success as you can get, is really interesting.

I realize as I get older that stand-up is a huge part of who I am. I think I'll do it for the rest of my life.

You can't improvise without a skeletal structure; you can't just go in and start talking. This is a very misunderstood craft because no one else makes movies like this.

I did this play, 'Expedition 6,' that I worked on for three years in between other things. It was a good, interesting time for me because I trained as a theater director, and I went back, and we toured it around.

After working with Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Jonathan Mangum, I said, 'I am never going to talk about improv again.'

There's a steady forward march of a creative process that some of us stay with and don't give up - that should be an admirable thing - from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to Miles to Ornette and some people who are not even known today - some kids coming up - people who are out to change the world.

I'm always in awe of improvisers that make something out of complete nothing.

I'm definitely not frowning on improv; I mean, I've been doing it for years. I just think that there's some styles of comedy that warrant a tighter pace.

'Curb' is 100 percent improvised, which is wild. I'd never done anything like that.