Patrice O'Neal Quotes

There's a certain truism that you can't be self-conscious in comedy.

Here's the thing, with comedy - and I learned this from Will Ferrell - you can't be ashamed. If you're doing comedy, you have to fully commit to the joke. Shame is not part of it. If you act shy or uncomfortable about your body, that makes the audience shy and uncomfortable. And in a comedy you just want them to loosen up and laugh.

My stand-up is quite good now, people say. It's just like a big conversation each time. Every gig is a rehearsal.

Actors have to make you believe that it's happening for the first time and all that jazz and make it human and at the same time entertain you.

And you can't hide in a comedy scene either. You have to give in to the scene and commit.

When you're a stand-up, you play in front of 600 people, and it's all about timing. I could never do stand-up comedy; it would be way too hard for me.

You can't do anything to be funny. That's cringeworthy. If your humor comes out of a place of love every time, you don't make the joke bigger than you. The funniest comedians are in touch with their emotional level.

I'm not a comedian, but I love the comedians who know when to get off the stage.

Whenever I go on a show with a comedian I just counter punch.

I want to be true to the character and maintain some consistency and give the audience what they love while at the same time keeping things fresh and grow the character.

I can cry at the drop of the pin. But comedy is hard for me; it's the timing.

When you're a standup comic, you get up and you try stuff, and you're always kind of seeing how far you can push things.

Acting is such a personal thing, which is weird because at the same time it's not. It's for the consumption of other people. But in terms of creative outlets and expressing yourself, it's just the most extreme version of that that I've ever found. It's like running, it's exertion.

When you improvise, you work off the laughs from the audience, but when you step on stage to do standup, it's silent.

As a comedian, I think you need to keep things real.

I don't like comedians who don't have conviction, and with stand-up, it is always best to have an angle.

I've always been terrible on regular sitcoms with lots of jokes. I don't know how to tell jokes.

I can tell how honest a joke is or how true a joke is by how fast the laughs come.

I'd rather try and cram in another two gags than leave a pause to say, 'Hey, wasn't that bit funny?'

Showing fear is like having comedic timing because I think actors have a tendency to go way over the top with it, and that sort of loses steam for what's going on. The audience sees right through that and laughs at you, so it is something that I'm aware of.

I do think that the audience thinks it's funny when you break, but if you do it all the time, it loses something.

I know what is funny coming out of my mouth and what is not funny coming out of my mouth. You have to figure out, What is the joke that I can do that nobody else can do?

I feel the life expectancy of a comedian is 30 seconds. If you don't hook an audience in half-a-minute, you're dead.

The great thing about writing jokes for President Obama is that he is not afraid to tell jokes that are actually funny - and not just funny for a politician.

Everyone knows the feeling where you're in the pub and you make your mates laugh. It's awesome, you feel like you rock. That's what comedians want with a bit of extra ego.