Stephen Colbert Quotes

My heroes, growing up, were people like Andy Kaufman and Groucho Marx and people that very rarely drop the persona.

I was heavily influenced by Andy Kaufman and Steven Wright.

You put funny people in funny costumes and paint them green and we could talk about anything we wanted to, because that was the only thing that fascinated Gene about this particular genre.

I really just love making comedies; I love doing characters.

I've been acting for years. I always act surprised when Marco Rubio says something stupid.

I never set out to do a sketch show.

The one that was most fun was That's My Bush; the part that I did for Comedy Central. That was a hoot. That was more fun that one should be allowed to have.

I've never been an impressionist. I was doing Sofia Vergara and Elizabeth Dole. I'm sometimes so low-confidence and self-aware, so characters that are confident and ignorant and wrong are my favorite.

Comedy will always be central to what I do, it's just an instinct for me, but I am a writer and always have been.

Every day I think, 'Gosh, I wish I could be like George Carlin, Bill Maher: I want that edge.' But every time I start to get that edgy thing, I get kind of mean.

I'm a light comedienne; that's really where I live the most often.

Creating a wonderful drama is an art form, while comedy is just entertainment.

When I talk to Steve Martin, he's joyful when he talks about comedy.

I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.

I don't know what Tracy Morgan does onstage, but I can assure you, it's no act.

Every movie I do, or when I'm on the sketch comedy show, I don't really get into it until I have an outfit or something funny with my head or face or something.

If you're watching a comedian on television and he's making a political point, I would say he's gotten too serious.

I started doing standup when I was in college, and I would incorporate a lot of characters into my act.

'SCTV' was the concept of a group ensemble doing satirical things. 'Saturday Night Live's sketches were broader than ours, more universal.

When I tell people I'm a comedian they say, 'Oh, are you funny?' I say, 'No, it's not that kind of comedy.'

Chris Farley, I was a huge fan of his growing up. I would love to do something kind of slapstick and funny, maybe where I could change my look even a little bit.

I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy.

I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City.

You know, I'm a comedian the same as Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. We all came up the same way. The three of us have interest in politics; I call us fundits, we're fundits! We're not pundits!

Dick Van Dyke spent most of his time setting everybody else up.