Dan Fogler Quotes

My favorite thing as a performing artist is to get a pile of raw material from a writer who says, 'Will you help me make this real?' There's nothing like starting from scratch.

Late night is no different than making a film, really, except that it's faster, and if you do a crap one, you can do a better one tomorrow. Writing a novel and doing stand-up - that stuff is very similar.

As an actor, our very palette is one of imagination. So it is a walk onto an empty space and then imagine the world beyond it is what we do.

The way I like to work is to attach personal experiences to what I'm doing, so it helps tremendously if I can write my own play under what the writer has written.

With acting, there's a certain amount of independence you have within the framework of the storytelling. When it's done well, it's a collaborative medium.

I think as a filmmaker and as a director, you shortchange yourself if you inhibit the ability of your actor to bring their own personal experiences to the characters.

I'm trying to do the kind of projects that I want to see in the theatre.

The beautiful thing about stand-up is you can create and immediately deliver, perform, and get paid for what you do.

I hate the actor and audience business. An author should be in among the crowd, kicking their shins or cheering them on to some mischief or merriment.

It's your job as an actor to fill out the blanks. I love doing that. To fill in the bones.

I started improvising the Cliff character, based on someone I grew up with.

There's a tremendous amount to be gained from being a performer, and being an artist, and being an actor.

Characters don't belong to anyone, not even the person who plays them.

I love making stuff. There's a joy in having the first molecule of an idea, then testing it in front of audiences at secret shows that people only know about the day before. I videotape those, study them, enjoy being in the character and figuring out the movie.

I learned that the best way to work is to allow the scene to live on its own before making major adjustments, whether in rehearsal or on film.

Acting is an imaginative leap, really, isn't it? And imaginations prosper in different circumstances.

I started doing radio pieces with no clear, preconceived idea, except that I have a tendency to be theatrical.

I try to see interviewing as performance art, and just take it as it comes.

I never dreamed that the little ditties I wrote about annoying customers or bagel recipes would turn into a full-length musical comedy. But a very wise person told me to 'write what you know'. So I did.

I see myself as not a typical theater person, but a person who uses the theater as a place to meet people and explore ideas.

Improvisation is a compositional method.

Doing acting opened up other creative outlets; it made me feel freer as an artist.

I believe that acting in any medium is the same thing, it's discovering the truth in where you are.

Doing animation is closer to pretending than anything else you get to do. It's much more like when you're a kid putting on a character.

I want to entertain people, whether it be with a comedy, a drama or a movie. An idea's an idea.