James Acaster Quotes

It's not until you develop your own voice, your own persona onstage that you become your own comic, who you really are.

There's an audience that is paid to laugh at my jokes. I'm playing a character while I'm doing stand-up. Real stand-ups, man, they're playing themselves. I'd be far too terrified.

For me, stand-up comedy is a conversation between me and the audience. I have to keep them listening. When I'm making jokes about cake for twenty minutes, I have to make sure my audience is interested and following where I'm going.

I'm always trying to make myself laugh. I'm the most enthusiastic audience I'm likely to find, so if it doesn't make me smile then it probably won't work on you. The jokes that only make me shrug get cut.

I like to hold the microphone cord like this, I pinch it together, then I let it go, then you hear a whole bunch of jokes at once.

With stand-up, it doesn't matter who you are. If the audience claps because they love your movies, that clapping stops after five seconds, and then it's your job to make them laugh.

When you're doing stand-up, you want to stand onstage and, to the extent that you can, uncomplicatedly entertain.

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

The audience changes every night. You're the same person. You have to speak your mind and do the stuff that you think is funny and makes you laugh.

Your number one job as a comedian is to be aware. You're supposed to understand the temperature in the room more than anyone on the planet - that's the whole craft of comedy.

I got a few laughs and decided I was going to act.

When I was starting out, I was just bringing a garbage bag of jokes onstage, pulling them out like, 'What about this? No? Alright.' I was just trying to be funny about anything.

In stand-up, you do need to be having fun up there, like Richard Pryor said, but you have to know yourself well, too... You start learning, and it's like playing a piano. You know exactly what keys to stroke, 'cause really, with comedy, you're, like, fiddling with people's souls.

Jesse has opened for me extensively on the road so I’ve seen him do hundreds of sets. He is always super funny, has tons of material and the crowds love him. Bottom line, Jesse Joyce is a great comedian.

And as a stand-up comic, that's the one thing I'm a little uncomfortable with. I'm not uncomfortable with sincerity in my regular life, but, like in terms of my product that I offer, I think that it's weird, because comics used to be way more sincere in the '80s.

As a comedian, you have to start the show strong and you have to end the show strong. Those are the two key elements. You can't be like pancakes. You're all happy at first, but then by the end, you're sick of 'em.

I think Carmen Christopher is going to be massively huge. He's just too funny. He's got funny in his bones, and he wants to conquer every room.

We're really funny, focused, and we put on a great live show.

Stand-up comedy is something that you have to strive to do, multiple times a night, every night, to be good.

Someone who didn't do comedy might think it was awful to have someone talking about you. But I just love the attention, even if I'm not there.

Comedy actually is quite difficult to do. The timing, the tone, the delivery, and the precise expressions are all very crucial, especially for actresses, because we are not given the author-backed punches.

I'm neurotic by nature, but I'm wary of becoming more of a play than a comic - you don't want people coming to see a man having a breakdown for two hours. I'd prefer them coming to hear my astute and witty observations.

When you're doing standup, it's just you. It's your written jokes. You perform it however your personality is.

Open mics are a great way to rework your material to see what punchlines land best.

If I am comfortable, I say what I want to. But yes, while doing a comedy show, I am slightly reserved as a person. Since it's scripted, it's not a problem. I can manage.