Greg Davies Quotes

The thing about stand-ups is you can't really get good unless you're failing in front of a large number of people. That makes stand-up comedy unique: you need a tremendous amount of reserve within you to take the rejection from the audience, and without it, you can't do anything.

The first time I did stand-up was the summer I was 17.

You know, I never knew if I had any talent when I started in this business. My first job was being a page at The Tonight Show. I saw Jack Paar come out one night and sit on the edge of his desk and talk about what he'd done the night before. I thought, 'I can do that!' I used to do that on a street corner in the Bronx with all my buddies.

I'd love to get into some comedy, but people keep saying, 'You're not funny!' And I say, 'Well, fair enough.' I have done comedy on stage.

I thought comedy would be the hardest thing I could do, and if I could do that, I could do anything.

I can handle boos. Boos entertain me.

I've been doing stand-up since I was 19. There have been times I've had to step away because of my schedule, but now I'm able to go out and do theaters and not smoky little bars.

Loads of blokes think they're funny, but it counts for nothing unless you get up and have a go.

The camera is no one's friend - you have to leave your problems at home and make people laugh. That's never an easy thing to do.

If a woman wants to succeed in the public arena, she needs to grow skin as thick as the hide of a rhinoceros. I have certainly, as you can tell, have had to learn how to do that, and there's a lot of good moisturizers I can tell you about if you're interested. The second thing is to learn how to take criticism seriously but not personally.

You can't allow yourself to be vulnerable.

Trying my hand at standup was exciting to me.

I'd love to do a comedy. I always told myself that I don't have funny bones, and then I was working with Dervla Kirwan in 'Uncle Vanya,' and she was like, 'Lara, you're really, really funny.' And I realised I am, and that's not even me blowing my own trumpet.

I would love to do comedy, but you have to be phenomenally good. I'm not sure I'm there yet. I can imagine it being so much fun but I don't think I've quite got the gall to go ahead just yet.

I would say, if you come out, they can't take away how you play football. That was the thing for me: once I did come out, it's not going to affect my diving. I can still perform, no matter what anybody else thinks of me. I'm judged for what I do in the diving pool.

Since I was 9 years old, I've been in the entertainment business, and everyone is always telling me what - and what not - to do... you just get a tough skin and have to not care about what people think, or you will not end up in a good place.

I do standup once a year, when I host the CMAs.

I liked making people laugh. I remember that specifically, being really young and having my parents being in the audience and laughing. It wasn't really a 'Oh, I'm the center of attention' feeling; it was more 'Oh, I'm making them so happy right now' feeling. I liked that.

You can laugh at me, but I understand show business.

I don't like speaking publicly when I don't have to be funny.

I've been in a lot of tough businesses: First Lady of San Fransciso, working as model, actress, TV host. You better have thick skin, for sure, but you also need to laugh at yourself. I make fun of myself all the time.

What people don't normally know about us is the hustle is very real, and it's sorely driven a lot by how we consider ourselves. We don't pay a whole lot of attention to any type of judgment that we might get from outside people. I think that comes from growing up onstage.

I always knew I was quite good at getting laughs. At school, I loved having a ready audience if I made a cheeky remark.

I am not brave. I am very weak. I am trying to overcome my problems. I do cry, I do break but I think that's normal.

I'm not a natural comic, I don't think. That's why I gave up stand-up. It was hard. It involved a lot of death. Dying. Dying on stage. But it's one of those jobs you can only learn by doing it.