Michael Ian Black Quotes

We took up the offer with the BBC, and that was Monty Python's Flying Circus. I didn't have to submit my ideas to the group. I used to turn up on the days we recorded with a can of film under my arm, and in it went.

It takes a lot of time to write and put up a sketch show, but that's part of who I am. I don't think that ever goes away, that sensibility - especially coming from the Upright Citizens Brigade. That's just who I am.

I did years of summer stock. I sort of only wanted to be an actor. And then at 19, I was funny, and I had some of these bits that I did for friends, and I immediately could get on television.

My first sketch-writing class was with Kevin Allison from 'The State.' It was so cool.

We hoped to get a TV show, and we almost did, but 'The State' beat us out for this MTV show. So because they were there, and 'SNL' and 'Kids in the Hall' were there, we thought, 'Let's go try to do what Python did, and instead, let's make movies.'

At one point when I was very young, when I was first starting out, I thought, 'Well, one day I'll be able to put all the music away and become a real comedian.' But then I realized there are amazing musical comedians out there, that musical comedy is probably something I'll always want to pursue.

Basically, I was always very interested in comedy, but I was much more sort of academic. And then, after college, loaded with my art history degree, I decided to go work at Comedy Central as a temp.

If it weren't for The Groundlings, I would never be on Saturday Night Live.

By the time I was 7 or 8, I wanted to be a comedy writer.

I started doing my own animated movies when I was in ninth grade; that's when I got the filmmaking bug. When I was about 16, I started writing jokes for doing stand up, and then I was 19 and started doing stand up.

In my mind, I was always a comedian who was going to branch into writing.

Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the first one that was opened up for me was acting. But you can go from acting to being a TV personality to being a radio personality to being a writer to being a producer, to just being a visionary, to voiceover work.

I think for comedians, acting is their natural progression. It's all about progression.

I've done comedy most of my career, which I love, but I wanted to expand.

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

I always want to go back and do stand-up; I like the freedom.

On 'Saturday Night Live,' I never really wrote. You know, I would just - I would let the writers cast me into the show. So my strength - and I put all my energies into performance. I just couldn't deal with the rejection, you know, getting your sketches cut, and it was hard for me.

You can go on 'Saturday Night Live' now and not even play live.

I have to give the SNL crew props - it cannot have been easy to work with me.

Royal Canadian Air Farce, and I was in three sketches there. And they wrote some really great stuff for me.

I am so happy to be on a show with writing I wanted to participate in.

I did a couple of sketch shows with Mike Palin and Terry Jones... and then I got hired by Granada to do a weekly topical show.

I never really set out to be a comedian, but as a kid, I loved doing sketches and playing characters. And then a great friend kept telling me I should be a comedian, so I followed her advice and gave it a shot.

Like other kids wanted to become firemen or astronauts, I wanted to make people laugh.

I think that if you're improvising on TV, it's a great way to help the dialogue between actors and writers.