Todd Barry Quotes

If I'm not in the theatre, I'm in an open mic night or doing a guest set at the Comedy Club, or whatever, just trying to develop stuff.

You can't be a proper comic unless you've been out on stage and felt the fear.

For me, the way I stay consistent is through stand-up comedy.

I'm not a stand up at all, it's such a fear of mine. My sister does it, and she's really great at it.

I do love live performing, but I'm not a stand-up naturally, and I don't like the lifestyle of working just in the evenings at clubs and stuff - not a natural gig-er.

I never wanted to be road comic.

When I was in college, I would go out, and I would go to these open mic nights at Stitches and Nick's Comedy Stop, so I was going to classes during the day, and then at night, I would be signing up on the lists.

There are so many really good comedians, and I would never be as good as they are. It's not my calling.

I don't really do stand-up.

I started comedy in 2006. I didn't even think it was a thing I could do.

The thing about stand-up is that you end up meeting your idols.

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.

The first night you walk down to a comedy club, at least for me, I had my voice, and then I went on stage and I lost it.

You say a line and you wait for them to laugh, then you say another line and you wait... It felt weird to me. But it's interesting and the energy is almost like theatre, I suppose, with all the people there.

I've been doing stand-up since '89.

Stand-up will always be my first love, and it has been the primary way I've expressed myself since I was 17.

I will always do stand-up, even if my acting career takes off. Stand-up is my life.

But I love stand-up, and it's where I came from creatively, so it's something I never want to walk away from.

Theo does comedy now, and he's traveling around the country doing comedy, and I actually just saw him, he's from Louisiana, and I just saw him when I went home to visit my family in Louisiana. I saw his comedy show and he was brilliant.

Stand-up is the foundation to my career. It's what I started out doing.

I haven't really done a lot of comedy. It's something that terrifies me.

I'm hardly a known name, but I don't want to go, like, 'Oh, people call me a storyteller comedian, let me just go up and just talk about my day.' I don't want that to happen.

I've actually done a lot of comedy.

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

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