John Mulaney Quotes

Usually when I see myself in a film or on television, there's about a six-month period where I can't look at it because all I'll see are the mistakes. I'm just appalled by the person that I see.

Throughout my life, whenever I thought I'm dancing welI, I'm not.

I'm so hard on myself. I play these sketches in my computer for friends and they say 'Gee whiz, the vocal's beautiful.' I hear, 'It needs to be better.'

I always get nervous when I watch what I'm in. Very self-critical.

I tend to be hypercritical of my performances. That's why I hate watching them with people I know.

Writers are always critical of themselves and I'm no exception. I always feel that maybe I could have done better.

I can't stand to watch anything that I'm in. I tear it apart. The worst thing you can do is leave me alone and let me watch what I'm in. It's abusive.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

As an actor, it easy to be so self-critical, saying to yourself, 'Am I good enough? Am I good looking enough? Am I smart enough?'

Sometimes you're your own worst critic.

I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to my voice, and certain notes I'm afraid to hit because I'm afraid I'm going to sound bad.

Like most comedians, I have crippling low self-esteem, so I always think that what I've just done is rubbish.

I criticize my own work pretty harshly.

I've never been super confident about anything. The work is never as good as it could be.

For a long time I managed to think two things simultaneously, that I am actually a good playwright, and that the next time I write a play I will be revealed as someone who is no good at all.

Part of me feels that I'm letting people down by not being as interesting as my books.

I don't take compliments very easily. I think most musicians suffer from low self-esteem to some extent.

I've always been a bit of a self-doubter. I think a lot of actors are.

As far as I can tell, most actors' main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses.

I cannot watch my own dailies, ever. I'm my worst critic. It distracts me. I can watch it when it's done, but I'm not the girl that wants to run back and look at the performance.

As an actor, you're constantly riddled with self-doubt. You are your own worst critic.

I'm so critical of my own work that it's difficult for me to disassociate myself and watch it as an audience.

No one leaves the edit room thinking, 'Yeah, I nailed that one!' Everyone I know goes into their first premiere or their first screening thinking, 'I screwed up so bad. I'm sorry, I messed up.' It's just a real common feeling.

I'm very self-conscious as an actor, with performances and things, and I don't like watching my own stuff.

I was like, 'Josh Tillman, you are not a songwriter. You are an ape. Stop thinking of yourself as a songwriter.'