Richard Pryor Quotes

The minute I stop singing, I'm back to being shy. I'm soft-spoken because I never really talked to people. I didn't learn to do it.

The stuff I do and say onstage I can do easily. As a performer, that comes easily. But being social offstage, it's not easy for me.

It's hard to talk about yourself onstage and be sincere about it.

People still make me nervous, but gradually over the years I've developed kind of like a public personality, so I can talk. I have my spiel, I have my stories.

In high school, I was too shy to perform. It's one thing to get laughs from your family, to be funny at parties and in class. It's another thing to get up on the stage.

I'm quite shy. Television presents an amplified version of yourself. When I'm on camera I'm pumping more adrenaline, I'm being a bit more engaging than I am in everyday conversation, but that's normal, isn't it? Otherwise nobody would want to watch.

People think that I'm a really outgoing person because of how I am on stage. But I'm not. I'm really shy.

Every actor-performer says this, and it sounds so irritating, but I'm not the most outgoing person.

I can deal with people who watch me on stage but I am not good in communicating with people any other way than through my work.

When I feel really insecure, or I'm in a social situation where I'm nervous about how I come off, or I'm trying to control the situation too much, I literally just try and use the same muscles that I had to use on stage - just paying attention to the other person and trusting yourself to respond as emotionally honestly as possible.

For me, there's no dichotomy between being shy or a performer, because I think it's more a way of slightly presenting a version of things to the world.

I am, by nature, pretty reserved. It was after I became an actor that I started interacting more with people from different walks of life!

I play shows sometimes, and if everything's connecting, I start blabbing to the audience about anything. Between songs, talking about things in my personal life, or whatever. But there are other situations where I feel a little closed-off. It's really kind of a day-to-day thing.

As a kid, I was really shy. Technically I am still, but when I'm performing I want everybody to listen.

There is a healthy amount of self-doubt and criticism with most people that make music. You find your areas that are your best. Onstage, I am good. But talking to someone in the grocery store? Forget about it.

There's a lot of pressure to chitchat with the audience. But when they're in school, people don't want to get up in front of their classroom when they have to talk about themselves or a project.

Whenever I have to do anything fan-related there's always a whole bunch of people. My brain kind of shuts down when there are loads of people screaming at me. I'm not thinking at all so I can't really remember what's happened immediately afterwards.

People ask me if I have stage fright. I say, "God, no, I'm completely comfortable there. I have rest-of-the-day fright."

The stage is the place I feel comfortable - it's almost as if real life is where I feel most nervous. Conversations are a lot more nerve-wracking.

I've noticed a surge when I go out somewhere, or if I'm doing stand-up.

Singing in front of people. It's like having your heart beat outside of you.

Perform as many times as you can in front of people you don't know.

I feel really comfortable when the camera is rolling. I feel less comfortable in the moments before and after, like, "Okay, where do I sit now?" I find the social aspect of being on a project ... it's just a lot. There are so many new people, and it's a lot of introducing the most charming, most engaging, funniest version of yourself to, essentially, a bunch of strangers you already know too many details about.

There's nothing more vulnerable than just standing in front of a thousand people, or ten thousand people, and doing your best to entertain them, touch them in some way.

Somewhat predictably, I'm much more comfortable in front of an audience - and a big audience is even better - than faced with one stranger. This always seems like a bit of a failing on my part, as a human. I think that's also why I put myself situations where I'm forced to engage in other ways.