Harold Ramis Quotes

You're on stage and because stand-up comedy is one of the few meritocracies in the entertainment industry, there's some kind of - at least for me, there's some kind of idea of control.

I don't really like doing big stand-up. Whenever I do theaters, I don't like 'em. I don't think they're right for stand-up. I've seen people in theaters, and it just doesn't work, because you're talking to the guy next to you the whole time.

I will always do stand-up, even if my acting career takes off. Stand-up is my life.

I do love live performing, but I'm not a stand-up naturally, and I don't like the lifestyle of working just in the evenings at clubs and stuff - not a natural gig-er.

I left school and couldn't find acting work, so I started going to clubs where you could do stand-up. I've always improvised, and stand-up was this great release. All of a sudden, it was just me and the audience.

You're always on duty because you're in a constant state of observation. That's one of the challenges of being a comedian. I think one of the other challenges is that, whether we like it or not, it's a profession that requires failure. It doesn't just encourage failure. It requires it because it's all trial and error. You need to know what doesn't work to know what works.

There are jokes I know I want to tell, and there's sort of a rough order, but usually I try to change it up every show, to improvise and talk with the audience. I think when you tell jokes, if you're not careful, you can end up telling the whole list of jokes and then that's it. And that can get a little boring.

Not all comedy clubs or situations are ideal, especially when you're first coming up and I think that's good for you. Eventually you get to express your real personality.

I found doing that kind of comedy without an audience is just... for me, it's almost impossible. You need the audience to do their half of the work.

I think being successful in comedy is being funny and making jokes - anything beyond that is the icing on the cake.

It's depressing sitting at a comedy club all night, waiting to get on to do your five or ten minutes of material.

I've had plenty of friends tell me that their first time doing stand-up, they do well, and then they tank for a while after that. Kind of like the first time you do a drug, you're like, "Huh! This is pretty darn good," and then you spend all your money trying to get the same high.

When you do stand-up, you're just concerned with trying to leave with some semblance of human dignity at the end of your performance.

I feel like every time I go out, I want to do a good job. I want people to say that he's just as good at stand-up as he is in some of the movies I've seen him in, so I try to do the best every time I go out there.

The greatest thing about being a comedian is knowing other comedians. And you get to talk to them. Its the most fun.

I'm probably more of a stand-up comedian than an actor.

Stand-up is live, so I'm used to being live for most of my career. It's interesting.

When I come out to do my stand-up set, I pretty much get bombarded with lines from movies. You try to play off it a little bit, but that's what people want to see.

I've been doing stand-up since '89.

I've been a comedian since I was fourteen. But I've never really been a CEO.

I spent 25 years as a stand-up comedian.

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.

When I started, there was no comedy community, no comedy industry; there were comedians.

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

I'm not a stand up at all, it's such a fear of mine. My sister does it, and she's really great at it.