Trevor Noah Quotes

Comedians have to write to survive because you don't get cast for your beauty.

When I started, there was no comedy community, no comedy industry; there were comedians.

I think I probably would have gone into stand-up.

From the age of 14, I remember thinking I wanted to be a comedian. But that was like saying I wanted to be an astronaut. It felt like a million miles away, something I could never do, but would be great to.

For me, the way I stay consistent is through stand-up comedy.

I never thought I'd end up doing comedy, but actually, it's been something I've really relished the challenge of and ended up doing quite a bit of.

My job is mostly to entertain and be funny.

I have no qualifications to do anything else and there weren't any formal application forms you had to fill in for stand-up, so I thought I'd give that a twist.

I feel like L.A. is more of a showcase, and Chicago is a pure comedy scene where you're doing comedy for comedy. You're doing comedy actually for the audience that's there.

I moved from acting to stand-up because castings are just about what you look like. It doesn't matter if you can act or not. In comedy, no one cares what you look like.

I have worked with a great many comedians as opposed to comics, although I have worked with comics as well, I make the distinction.

The ability to workshop in stand-up comedy is incomparable to any art form, in my opinion.

In Manhattan, I often do two or three or more shows a night, so I'm always working on new material.

Comedy is an amazing calling. Once you get that first laugh, it's hard to turn away. Then, of course, you're hooked and you have to learn how to survive in the business.

It seems like when I first started, people got into comedy because they wanted to be good comedians.

When I was in college, I would go out, and I would go to these open mic nights at Stitches and Nick's Comedy Stop, so I was going to classes during the day, and then at night, I would be signing up on the lists.

It takes up enough of my time and interest just working on comedy. I just enjoy it and love doing it.

I was a failed actor but I still wanted to show off, so I ended up doing live comedy.

I was a stand-up comedian for 10 years, if you can believe it. And I gave it up at age 22.

Comedy is my passion. I'm going to do this until I drop.

If I tried to do comedy for the rest of my career, I would not be very successful.

The minute I started doing comedy, the doors opened.

I was lucky enough to find stand-up really early in life. And I'm so grateful that I did, because the second I found it, I was like, 'I know what I want to do'.

If I want to be a real comedian, I can't let you dictate my material, so I started creating more new material.

That's what comedy is like: You have to force yourself out in the world because you're always one experience away from new material.