Ricky Jay Quotes

I really enjoy creating music onstage, to participate in making music live.

I definitely love performing live because there are moments of spontaneity. And as much as you're performing on stage, I feel like the audience is performing, too.

I don't miss television. It's too much hurry up and sit around, wait till they do this and do that, and get the lighting just right. I'd much rather go out on a stage anywhere and just play and sing for an hour.

I love to create something new every night onstage; that makes a big difference.

I never write anything down. I write onstage.

Improvisation is just writing in front of an audience.

I come from the world of improv; I love any show or any vehicle that gives me an opportunity to be in the moment.

I would just stand there puzzled, then realize this would be a great place to make a show.

I literally left school and went straight into music via art college for a year, and I've been so involved in my job of writing songs that the more actively involved part became channeled into standing on the stage and saying things that way.

With a play, for me, there's no time to sit back on it. You're living on your instincts. And every night there are subtle changes and adjustments, because what's in front of you is a living, breathing audience.

I've been a live performer longer than I've been a television performer. For me, live is where it's at.

I want to express myself in a different way. I have a performing inclination.

I think I started lip-synching about halfway through the first day, and it's not as easy as you think it would be. But it's definitely better than a day job.

I'm very proud of my records, but my most natural creative tendencies have been in live performing. There's a beautiful element to recording and making records, but I've always felt a little shy with it.

A lot of my best stuff is just ad libs on stage, and that's one thing that I've gotten back to at the live show.

So what's so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place... There's a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that's something that theater affords you.

Stand-up keeps you alive. It is definitely the most specialized field in comedy because you need to stay sharp and well-tuned every night.

I'm always trying out new stuff onstage. That's where I do all my writing.

Performing on stage is what I've done since I was a kid and it's where the passion that has started from the very beginning for me, and that's what I'm going to enjoy.

As an actor, I've grown considerably. For example, it's taken me years to get comfortable doing a romantic scene and dancing on stage in front of a live audience. I do it a lot better than I ever did. I've really opened up a lot. And I'm glad I have because I'm being appreciated for it.

I love this acting stuff.

I would totally, if Alan Cumming is tired of doing Cabaret, I'd be like, 'I'll do it tonight.' I would have such a good time doing that.

Ever since I was a little kid, whenever my parents would have company over, I would put on shows, whether they would be magic shows, singing shows, dancing shows, little skits.

I love performing. I love getting out there. It's kind of like why I make music.

I always was a writer, but then I wanted to do stand-up because I thought that was a way that I could perform what I wrote.