Mort Sahl Quotes

Showing your movie to an audience... it's like your kid doing a piano recital. 'Just let it not fail. Please.'

It's frightening to be facing an audience. There is always the fear of what they think of you, what they are saying about you.

I get really nervous when I'm performing or meeting new people.

I was once so terrified of acting that I used to pretend I was ill to get out of drama.

Comedy kind of terrifies me. I feel pretty intimidated.

Every single night I'm nervous. You never know how the audience is going to react.

My greatest fear is speaking in public.

I get butterflies before I go out to say hello at a party.

I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt.

I get nervous even guesting on other people's shows.

I'm scared of audiences.

I would be terrified if Bill Maher was like, 'Hey, do you want to come on the show?' I would be like, 'Oh, God.' It would completely terrify me, even though I'm such a junkie for the show.

The first time I went out under the spotlight, I was proper freaked out.

I get embarrassed a lot of times getting attention, but I like being onstage. Do you know what I mean? If I'm in a crowd of people and they're all looking at me, I will feel embarrassed. It's a strange dichotomy.

I still get real nervous when I go in front of more than two people.

I wouldn't go up on a stage now if you paid a thousand dollars for one minute of acting. It's a nasty experience. You're up there all by yourself. You're so damn exposed.

That's the last thing I want to do is go on up there and mess up, you know, in front of America.

I can't stand up in front of people. It just fills me with horror.

I always feel kind of absurd and presumptuous presenting a speech.

The bigger the crowds get, the more nervous I get. I actually am very comfortable with a half-filled room of people who are slightly disinterested and are irritated at a Barnes & Noble.

I've had a lot of fear in my life, from fear of flying to fear of making a speech in front of a lot of people.

I'm not an actor. I'm really bad in front of a camera. It wouldn't work.

I've always been somewhat uncomfortable on the stage, and I've always felt like physically having to negotiate my own presence as a part of presenting work has always been a source of angst for me.

If I've done a gig and at the end there are people waiting for autographs, they always seem nervous, but they probably don't realise that I'm more nervous than them. I get very embarrassed.

For me, for every single job, I don't care if it is a reading, I don't care if it is a guest spot on a TV show, or a film. I always get the heebie jeebies.