John Cleese Quotes

My first-night jitters are so bad, I can't even hold a tea cup, but once I am over that, I get really into it.

The idea of doing theatre always terrified me because I get terrible stage fright. In the early 1970s I was offered a panto but the thought of going on stage was just too mortifying.

Once I get out onstage, it's the same sort of basic production that it is anywhere else. But I might be a little bit aware that there might be people I know out there, who wondered where I was.

I liked being on stage; I just didn't like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people.

Every time you get in front of the lights and the cameras and you think, 'Okay, well, we've done this before, but we have to do it again? Oh, we're doing it again? We're doing it again?' It's so gratifying, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I hope I won't.

I'm much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines.

I'm kind of an introvert, so I really do have to get over some anxiety to get on stage and connect with an audience. Once I do, it's amazing, but it is a bit of a struggle.

It's definitely more nerve-wracking being in front of the cameras, although I'm trying to get better at it.

It's one thing to practise in front of a mirror at home, but another to do it in front of 800 people or on live TV.

The whole thing with playing on a stage with mics and all that has always been kind of uncomfortable to me.

For many comedians, two common anxiety triggers include performing in front of family members and doing brand new material.

I had big problems with stage fright in the past. I think, slowly, as I've gotten better at it, I've started to enjoy it. It's made me a more confident person in my normal life. I can open up and be myself in situations that used to be abject terror.

If I'd been in a school play, I'd probably have sneezed and messed everything up.

I was never super comfortable playing music in front of people anyway. Now I enjoy it, but it wasn't the easiest thing to get past.

Acting with my parents was nerve-wracking. If they watch me act on the sets I feel nervous and blocked.

It took me forever to get comfortable. When I first started NXT, we had promo classes, and I used to get so upset because I couldn't get in front of a crowd and talk. I was terrified.

In general, I probably have a shy nature. So the idea of poking out with my music is probably not something I want to do.

I've got used to being on 'The Chase' and keeping nice and calm and that feels like comfort now compared to being in the spotlight and being on stage.

The adrenaline of performing live in front of an audience is a feeling that's hard to replicate.

It is important for an actor to learn how to face a live audience.

It's a really strange thing to be doing, to go on stage and all of a sudden have bright lights and spotlights.

I used to hate performing in front of anybody, but I was forced to sing in front of family, at family gatherings. Then it slowly developed, and I started to love it.

Performing is the one time I don't have anxiety - surprisingly, right?

It's hard to act in front of a lot of people.

I've never been good at playing live in front of people.