Annaleigh Ashford Quotes

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

Standup led me to acting because I liked standup, and I saw people on a stage, and the closest, nearest thing to me was doing plays. It was like, that's the same thing as standup - people are on a stage; they're being seen and saying things - so, because of my love of standup, I moved towards acting.

I was always the lead role in plays. I like entertaining people. I like when you're on stage doing crazy stuff and the audience gets it.

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

I never do impressions, but I probably should. People like that stuff.

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

Acting is all about timing. I mean, who has better timing than the MCs?

I've been performing on stage since I was six years old.

I was at college doing performing arts, and just spending all my time mucking about, and the lecturers thought I would be pretty good at stand-up, so I gave it a whirl.

I started in improv and went into different kinds of things.

You can teach somebody how to be a brain surgeon, but you cannot teach them how to walk on a stage and make people laugh.

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

I realised that I really liked to be on stage, and that I wanted to pursue it.

When I was in third grade I taught myself ventriloquism... What's hard is to learn to be an entertainer and make people laugh. I was a few years out of college before I felt I had enough material. Then in 1988 I moved to L.A. and started to do some shows at comedy clubs.

I can work as a writer, but I wanted to do stand-up.

I sort of consider myself a comedic actress, not a comedienne. I think it's different. You know, I'm not a stand-up or anything, but playing into comedic situations is sort of where, I think, my strength lies.

I was born to do sitcoms, where you get an immediate response from the audience.

I never set out to do a sketch show.

I love being on stage, I love being able to tell a story, I love the fact that the audience listens and laughs at it. It makes me happy, and it's what I live for.

When people come to see my stand-up, they get a chance to see my characters interact with each other. I enjoy pushing my characters to the limit. No matter how far out there I go, I look for things that make the characters human.

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

I wasn't really qualified to be on Saturday Night Live - I'm not like an impressionist or anything.

As a kid, I always wanted to be Carol Burnett or Johnny Carson. I love to chat and entertain.

To get a job where the only thing you have to do in your career is to make people laugh-well, it's the best job in the world.

I love doing radio, and I love doing stand-up, obviously.