Garry Marshall Quotes

I did a show called 'What A Country,' with Yakov Smirnoff and Don Knotts. I used to write jokes for Yakov's stand-up act.

The best sketch shows are from a group of tight-knit people who've worked together for a really long time.

I always was a writer, but then I wanted to do stand-up because I thought that was a way that I could perform what I wrote.

I was a standup comedian, which is kind of like writing and directing yourself.

Comedy is my passion. I'm going to do this until I drop.

I'm probably not very funny. The scripts just don't come in, or the ones that do aren't that good. I suppose I'm just an old drama queen, really.

I started out being a stand up and writing my own material. That took me to 'Talk Soup,' where I was writing and performing for TV.

I stopped doing standup because it stopped being fun. And the reason it stopped being fun was it was harder to write - and this was before the Internet - it was harder to write new stuff. It had gotten so crazy.

I am not so secretly a comedian. I write a lot of my own material if you've seen videos I've done. I write jokes.

That's what comedy is like: You have to force yourself out in the world because you're always one experience away from new material.

I just realized at a certain point that no matter how much writing I did, I'm still a gym rat for comedy clubs.

I'm a huge fan of comedy. I write material whenever I can.

My gift was in comedy. I found out I could make jokes. I could tell jokes. I could write them. So over the years, that's what I've done.

I've never written jokes. I mean, I'll write things on a piece of paper and riff on them onstage.

Doing actual comedic material is just about the most joyful endeavor ever. That's the truth. The only time it's not funny is when business gets in the way.

I love writing stand-up so much and tinkering and looking for ideas.

I enjoy writing the same way I enjoy doing standup. Part of the challenge is being creative and making it work no matter what the constraints.

I think comedy is the most difficult thing in the world, I really do.

Monty Python paid me £20,000 to write, direct and assemble them - the cheapskates! I told them I'd never earned less in a year since leaving Cambridge. The first show sold out in 43 seconds and we ended up performing ten in total. We had no idea there would be such demand.

Sometimes when I'm under pressure, if I think somebody is expecting stuff from me, I'll do better than if I was just left on my own. I can sit down - I'm a skilled writer, I've been doing it all my life - and I can get down to it.

All I knew is that I loved movies and comedy and TV, and I wanted to perform. I made a bunch of shorts and movies in college, and that was always fun too. I directed some plays in college. It was taking it all in and trying to immerse myself in as much of it as possible.

Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk-away from any open flames-to remind yourself that if you don't write daily, you will get rusty.

There are a lot of great jokes you can sit down and write, but that's just a written joke, versus the comedy of the situation. Ideally, you're pulling as much comedy out of the situation as you can.

I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped.

When you're a comedian, you're just by yourself.