Denis Leary Quotes

Fans feel they know me, so they want me to be on-the-spot funny, and it's hard to fulfil their expectations.

It's grueling never knowing if the audience is going to think you're funny. It's soul-destroying when they don't laugh.

The pressure to being a comedian is being funny, but I've given that up, so there is no pressure whatsoever.

People want me to be funny all the time. They think I'm being funny no matter what I say or do and that's not the case.

James Caan told me at the end of filming 'Elf' that he had been waiting through the whole film for me to be funny - and I never was.

I think one of the reasons all the comics I worked with dropped off the log so early, and a lot of them did - Tony Hancock, Frankie, Sid James, it's dreadful really - was the stress. You can only be as good or better than the last show, and there's the permanent aggro of hoping you get the right writers and the right material.

When you start to have success, people look at you differently and expect more from you. With that comes a lot of pressure to perform, so it can be a little overwhelming.

I don't take my image seriously. I make fun of the fact that some people think I'm a romantic figure.

Don't remember me as too nice or beautiful or funny, because then you'll be disappointed.

I like making fun of myself; I don't want to make fun of other people, so I don't mind doing something out of character that some people might not expect me to do.

I think a lot of humor is about distracting yourself. Pretend you're not trying to make it funny. Because for some reason the effort to be funny smells like sulphur in our culture.

They always use the word 'insult' with me, but I don't hurt anybody. I wouldn't be sitting here if I did. I make fun of everybody and exaggerate all our insecurities.

The hardest part, for real, is probably when you just don't feel like going on stage and being funny.

People don't expect me to be as funny as I am.

Karaoke isn't fair when you're a comedian. The whole idea is to get people laughing and enjoying themselves, and I'm a professional funny guy.

I often feel I'm a disappointment to people because they expect me to be the guy in the books. When I sit next to someone at a dinner party I can see they expect me to be quick and witty, and I'm not at all.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

There have been times I almost got a persecution complex. I felt like people wouldn't let me grow up. They always saw me as a smiling kid or goofy teenager, no matter how much I'd changed.

Everybody I know who is funny, it's in them. You can teach timing, or some people are able to tell a joke, though I don't like to tell jokes. But I think you have to be born with a sense of humor and a sense of timing.

If you are doing stand-up comedy, you have to be confident in what you are doing. That doesn't mean just because you are confident you are funny.

Television forces people to be larger than life. I would be too shy.

It's not hard for me to be funny in front of people, but most of that is just horrified nerves taking the form of what makes people laugh, and afterwards I'd always feel dreadfully depressed, kind of self-induced bi-polar disorder.

I'm known for my slightly inappropriate remarks.

I was asked to act when I couldn't act. I was asked to sing 'Funny Face' when I couldn't sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn't dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

I don't think the public is dying to see me necessarily be funny all the time.