Adam McKay Quotes

When you are doing stand-up comedy, you are the writer, producer, director, sometimes bouncer.

I feel I've always got to keep my stand-up because I never want to lose it.

Stand up is really fun because if I think of a joke or a funny idea, then I can just go and tell some people and if they laugh, they laugh right away.

You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well.

Movies have takes. But plays are like life - you don't really get takes.

Stand-up is hard.

There is never hesitation about doing stand-up. It's just me doing my thing.

On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away.

Comedy, when it works, is light on its feet and has the illusion of complete spontaneity: as if there is no film, no camera. You are standing there experiencing it all in real time. This illusion, I believe, is why so many people think comedy is easy.

If you want to do standup, you have to go on stage. That's the only way to get good - stage times.

A lot of times when I sit down with the other comics and try to talk theory, they say I'm being too serious.

When I do an hour-and-a-half show, if I don't improvise 20 minutes worth of new material each night, I feel I've let myself down.

With theatre, you have to be ready for anything.

You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. It was probably years before I was confident enough in stand-up that I was able to talk about the things I wanted to talk about, the way I wanted to talk about them.

Well, I think my stand-up is often kind of visual. Not like Carrot Top visual, but visual.

It's a tremendous feeling walking on to a set with a live audience and making them laugh, but I love drama, and I love drama where there's the ability to bring comedy into it because in a lot of tragic circumstances in life there is comedy to be had.

I'm really good at standup. I always win at standup.

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

With comedy, you really want to work things out beforehand.

Going to the theater or having the honor of performing in theater reminds you of your humanity in a very different way. It's a real release and an incredible challenge. But the stage is a dangerous place. You gotta be trained. Plus, crowds like when things go wrong. I think that's part of the thrill. Anything can happen.

The really good stand up comedians can be angry but relatable, and they have interestingly humanizing personalities. Their observational skills are far greater than mine, so I'll just stick to reading lines off a page.

Actually, I think I'm funnier off-camera.

Ultimately, I just decided stand-up comedy is a huge commitment, and if you want to be the best, you have to give it one hundred per cent.

I do an improv show on Sunday where we have a class, and then afterwards we go and do a live performance in front of an audience.

To be really great, you need to be naturally funny in order to stand out. But you can work at it, and find the best vehicle that you have to communicate what you're saying to people.