Catherine Tate Quotes

Comedy is an amazing calling. Once you get that first laugh, it's hard to turn away. Then, of course, you're hooked and you have to learn how to survive in the business.

People who want to do stand-up from the start - I mean that's an extremely self-centred thing to want, isn't it?

As far back as I can remember though, I always loved performing.

Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the first one that was opened up for me was acting.

After I graduated, I tried Broadway, which was difficult for me. It was tough to get a part on Broadway, so I just started talking to audiences at different social gatherings, and little by little I became Don Rickles - whatever that is.

I love the theater. I love being on stage; I love the live audience. I also love dressing up and all of the make-believe.

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.

After I got my first laugh on stage, I was hooked.

I was a failed actor but I still wanted to show off, so I ended up doing live comedy.

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

I think I was drawn to acting just as a way of getting noticed.

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.

I left home to become a singer and didn't realise when I turned comedian.

The minute I started doing comedy, the doors opened.

I think I probably would have gone into stand-up.

I started performing non-professionally at birthday parties and family gatherings doing 'Saturday Night Live' impressions at four. Then I started for real at seven.

I got into standup because I wanted to be an actor, and then I ended up loving standup for the next eleven years.

I started standup at age nineteen. I decided that the only way I was going to try show business as a career was if I could make total strangers laugh.

That's part of show business: the moving.

The moment for me, thinking I might actually want to do comedy professionally, was when I did public speaking at school. I found out I was good at getting up in front of class. In the fifth grade, I did a speech on comedy.

I did a standup show called 'Show Me the Funny,' so from that I got some TV stuff and people would book me for gigs. I wasn't really good enough at that point, so had to catch up with expectations.

A lot of people get into stand-up as a back door into acting or something. But I really like writing jokes and telling jokes.

I've been entertaining men with my comedy for many, many years, and I don't plan on stopping.

We're entertainers. We're theatrical.

We spent night after night out there learning the art of entertaining a crowd.