Phylicia Rashad Quotes

I am always really buzzed after each performance, and at around one in the morning, I'll hit a brick wall and need to sleep.

Going on Letterman is like going off the high dive. It's exhilarating, but after a while it wasn't the kind of thrill I enjoyed.

It takes a lot of nerves to be a sports entertainer and to be in front of those big crowds.

Well, just coming off the stage and there's like 180,000 people out there and your adrenaline is going so high, and you're doing so much and it's hard to just put your head on the pillow and sleep because it just goes on and on, even after you're off the stage.

People don't know this, but I'm going through a lot every time I walk on stage, which is part of doing theater. That's why it's so addictive, I must say.

Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely.

The most scared I'd ever been was the first time I sang at a rugby match, Australia versus New Zealand, in front of one hundred thousand people. I had a panic attack the night before because people have been booed off and never worked again... just singing one song, the national anthem.

I'm perfectly fine now if I never went on stage again.

When I was onstage doing the work, adrenaline killed the pain because I never hurt in front of an audience.

Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.

No matter how much you rehearse on that stage, once you add 30,000 screaming people with flashing cameras into the equation, it's pretty intense.

Shooting this show is pretty intense. You lose your life. But I have no life, so it's perfect!

I forgot how scary plays are. The audience is so much a part of the night - I know that a lot of it is trying to shut that out and just do your own thing.

I was jumping out of my skin. It was horrible. I was all over the place, because I'd never been in front of a live audience. That's a whole other element in the play, the audience.

I'm always exhausted after a show, even if it's just half an hour.

I actually love pressure. I loved playing sport at school in front of a crowd; I love being on stage in front of a big audience. I buzz off that.

Even on TV appearances or big shows, I don't know if I've ever been as nervous as I was my first time doing stand-up. I just remember getting offstage and sitting down, and my right knee was just shaking from the adrenaline.

I used to get so carried away while I was on stage that I'd be physically damaged by the end of a concert.

It's very intense to be in front of a live audience. It's just an amazing experience. It's dangerous. Everything out there is heightened. The bad stuff is extra-worse. The silences are extra-silent. The good stuff is amazing. It's electric when you walk out there. For 90 minutes, you're on this other planet.

Playing piano well is one thing, but attempting to play at concert level accompanying Meryl Streep while Stephen Frears is filming you in front of hundreds of people is - well - psychotic.

Hosting the Oscars is pretty much the scariest thing you can do. To me, this is right up there with bungee jumping!

I love being onstage. As I've gotten older, it terrifies me more and more, which is interesting.

The excitement does not change. After 40 years in the business, I still find the show to be a magical moment - the performance anxiety, the litmus test.

Before the show, we see all these radio people, and most of them say, 'Garth, you're a lot calmer than I thought you were gonna be.' But when the members of the band give one another that handshake, and the lights go out, and the crowd goes up, then you're sliding into the elevator, man, your heart is just going bopbopbopbopbop.

Nothing can really prepare you for when you get in the Formula One car. Knowing that you're driving a multimillion-dollar car, and if you crash it it's going to cost a lot of money, and they might not give you another chance, is scary.