Steve Coogan Quotes

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.

A lot of improvisation ends up being about just thinking outside of the box in the scene. It's not improvisation as much as it is quickness or making it real.

My act is sort of improvisational. I have a skeleton in my head, but no fat or skin on it.

There's always some room for improvisation.

Life is improvisation. All of those [improv] classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am.

I love improv-ing, you know, from very early on when I started acting the school that I went to and everything was very big on ad-libbing and improv-ing and messing things up, so I feel very comfortable doing stuff like that.

Only someone who is well prepared has the opportunity to improvise.

I try to preload as little as I can. I like to come to the set with minimal preparation.

I don't worry too much about the script, I just ad lib, like Pearl Bailey.

I like to think that we've got a plan, so let's stick to it. That said, once we've stuck to it, we're allowed as much improvisation as anyone cares to indulge themselves in.

I love improvising on the spot. I like that pressure.

I'm always amazed by writers who tell me they plan everything at the beginning. I feel their writing days must be very bland.

You must plan to be spontaneous.

I've never been good at improvising.

In a way, as an actor, you do all the preparation and then you want to forget it and just play the scene. As a director, you can't forget it because somebody will remind you that you forgot something. But you can know your plan well enough that you still have a certain amount of freedom.

I allow a lot of room for improvisation and funny stuff. I always feel planned.

The word got out that I can ad-lib very well.

The day before I work, I don't like to even look at the script and let whatever happens happen on the set. But I do prepare a lot. I'm a big believer in that.

It comes down to the difference between what you were planning to do and what life throws at you and you have to end up doing. The one who knows how to improvise is the one who comes out ahead.

I like to make an outline or cards and then utterly ignore them.

My technique is different, and I am more spontaneous. I don't like rehearsing.

Well people love to go dirty and stuff like that. It's funny, because even really dirty things can kind of inspire, but all things inspire really dirty improv and monologues. So then really dirty things can inspire the exact opposite. It's kind of a crapshoot.

You're better off not preparing, because what you prepare will always be wrong.

I don't think I'm anything like the improviser. I'm not. I do better with at least an outline.

It's always fun to improvise. What's weird is that when you're recording, you're by yourself, for the most part.