Jon Glaser Quotes

I've been in theaters. Like Brian Regan, who I love - loved him so much more when he did the Improvs. And then in a big theater - nobody's that good.

If you're doing stand-up, there is no fourth wall; you're engaging an audience.

Theater is like boxing - having the audience ringside. It's instant gratification. Or horrification.

It doesn't matter as long as there's interaction between me and the audience. That's why they come.

Every time I go to the theater, there's something about the atmosphere, seeing something unfold live in front of an audience, that you can't get out of your system.

I've always really liked theater. It fascinated me. You can create a reality and get people involved in that reality. It takes place in real time.

You play with the audience, and they play back with you. They get into it, and then everybody gets into it. I don't want to be like a monkey on stage and just go through the motions because then it wouldn't be fun anymore. I just pay attention to the audience and appreciate the fact that somebody wants to see us. That gets me psyched.

I don't really like doing big stand-up. Whenever I do theaters, I don't like 'em. I don't think they're right for stand-up. I've seen people in theaters, and it just doesn't work, because you're talking to the guy next to you the whole time.

Theater is an engagement between the actor and the audience. Film is a different sort of medium. It's not immediate, but in some ways it's more involving.

Stand-up for me is just my opinions on things, so it wouldn't be as fun translated into a sketch. Nor would a sketch be as fun if it were me standing there saying it.

You can't just yell jokes at people.

So much of a stand-up's life is doing live radio and having to be funny and quick on the spot with these strangers, and sort of surgical in terms of how funny I can be in three minutes.

My style can't be held within a pixel medium. Like, it needs to be performed in a living, breathing space. People need to have all their senses ready to take on my comedy, and unfortunately, TV alienates at least their sense of touch, taste, smell.

I think wrestling is the one that presents theater for people who want to see some theater but don't necessarily have to dress up or be quiet while they're watching.

You can't force something like that. But we have encouraged our audience, because we avoid the confrontation of regular rock concerts: us up here, you down there. Instead, we're looking for interaction.

I love theater. I love sitting in an audience and having the actors right there, playing out what it means to be a human being.

There's nothing like the energy in a small comedy club room or a small theater when it's going really well. I can see everybody's face practically in the whole room. There's no cameras in the way, and it's just me.

People really have come for a dialogue when they go to a stand-up show in the U.K. They say, 'I understand that you have now finished your little comedy monologue; now I have something to say regarding what I've just heard.

Nothing beats a live performance. Nothing.

You don't work as hard to watch a movie. You work harder to watch a play, so what the audience puts into it is interesting.

I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.

Inside was the second LP album of a comedian's performance before an audience.

What's the point of doing a brilliant Hedda Gabler in my back garden if no one will ever see it?

A playwright must be his own audience. A novelist may lose his readers for a few pages; a playwright never dares lose his audience for a minute.

Whenever I do theaters, I don't like 'em. I don't think they're right for stand-up.