Roseanne Barr Quotes

I always felt that it was easier to take a funny person and teach them to write television than to take somebody who was a television writer and make them funny.

I write 'Broad City,' so I connect it to me.

I recognise the pure gold that runs in Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's work for 'Outnumbered' on TV. And on radio, I really enjoy John Finnemore.

I was a writer on '30 Rock' for six years.

Sitcoms, I always figured that would be an easy gig, but man, it is not.

That's the easiest job you can have in TV comedy, being the guy who just delivers the funny.

I actually credit Twitter with fine-tuning some joke-writing skills. I still feel like I'm working at it.

I think the kick to doing comedy is just to get in a film with really funny people and let them do their jobs. I find that in most comedies, I'm not the funny one, which works out great.

I think with Sky and BBC Three and Channel 4, there are some great television platforms, and the stand-up movement in this country is phenomenal. It's like rock n' roll here. Britain's a funny place and there's a lot of funny people coming out of there and a lot of people are finding mediums to express themselves.

I listened to this interview once with Jerry Seinfeld that really influenced my comedy and all of my writing, which is that when you're starting out in comedy, it's the audience that tells you what's funny about you. And you need to listen to that and make a note of that.

I guess I considered myself just sort of a sketch comedian, you know? Actual screenwriting hadn't really occurred to me as a viable job - I didn't really know anything about it.

Coming from the Midwest, I didn't know about stand-up as an art. I just thought stand-up comedians were old men in suits talking about their wives.

I've yet to write a stand-up show that isn't autobiographical.

My dad would go to work every day and write in a room full of funny people. He enjoyed it. I know great writers who find the process agonising but to me, writing has always been sheer joy.

When you talk about a character on a situation comedy, it's not just the actor. It's the writers, too.

The hardest thing to write is sitcom.

Writing a whole series was a crash course in screenwriting, which is a very different muscle to standup comedy writing.

I always loved comedy, but I never knew it was something you could learn to do. I always thought that some people are born comedians ... just like some people are born dentists.

That's the best advice I can give - when you're trying to write a comedy, first write a drama, and then make it funny.

One of the funniest lines in my show was written for me by Alan Bursky. I really want to learn this routine!

I come up with my jokes by thinking of a topic.

Usually the beginning of a story that people hear a lot. For example, "My girlfriend is upset about her new haircut" or "My dad keeps losing his car keys." And then I just think of different ways the story could end. "My girlfriend is upset about her new haircut. I don't understand why she's crying. I'm the one who has to get a new girlfriend." Then I try it out on stage. I don't do a lot of re-writing. My jokes either work or they don't. The trick is just to write a ton of jokes.

My first writing jobs were writing Tom Arnold specials for HBO, so I love working there.

I never really write the jokes. I just sit down over a week or two and try to figure out what I want to talk about. Once I narrow that down, then I start working on the material, like "How do I make this stuff funny?"

At first I had no skills in writing comedy. I didn't know what a joke was, but, as someone once told me, your emotions follow your intent. If you create the intention of starting a comedy act, slowly your mind starts adjusting and you arrive at a new emotional state.