Rachel Sklar Quotes

I'm always trying to make myself laugh. I'm the most enthusiastic audience I'm likely to find, so if it doesn't make me smile then it probably won't work on you. The jokes that only make me shrug get cut.

What's great about having an audience is they can let you know what they don't think is funny, and you can just cut that out and keep trying.

I think that people who do enjoy my stand-up comedy and the people who get it and the people who are taken in by it, they see that I'm a guy that has love of the game.

Sometimes, comics will make the observation that it's not jokes that are funny, it's characters that are funny. And isn't that true! That's why I always kill jokes. I'm terrible at them, because I get the joke right, but I can't get the character right, and it just goes down like a lead balloon.

Specifically in stand-up, I love jokes. I love short, structured ideas and a punchline.

Every sitcom needs their straight man or straight woman.

Stand-up is successful if they laugh. It's unsuccessful if they don't laugh.

Doing stand-up takes the fun out of being funny.

You feel completely in control when you hear a wave of laughter coming back at you that you have caused.

I want my audience to be my friends - that is when they will get the best comedy. If they see me as a performer, they won't get the best show.

Before YouTube, I used to show videos at film festivals, and that was good and constructive. Watching things with an audience is a great way to gauge - it's pretty clear what's working in comedy when there's a joke and people laugh or don't laugh.

Your number one job as a comedian is to be aware. You're supposed to understand the temperature in the room more than anyone on the planet - that's the whole craft of comedy.

Rhythm and timing are so important in comedic acting.

I played few hero roles in the initial days of my career, but audiences loved me for my comic timing and, therefore, I later turned comedian.

I don't feel bad about the fact that I notice if a lot of people laugh at a comic, and think, 'That worked; I'll do things like that more.'

I've committed myself to perfecting the art of the straight man. I try really hard not to crack up.

I'm not a fan of stand-up comedy, personally. But some of them are incredibly skilled.

If a comic laughs at their own jokes, I don't like it. They shouldn't find it funny; they should seriously believe in this stupid thing they're saying.

It is not necessary to have a good sense of humour personally to do comedy well.

Every performer I talk to will, with different words, talk about the sanctity of a good standup show, how it can really feel spiritual. When everybody is laughing, fixed on the same thing, you feel like you transcend yourself.

I thought all comedy was stupid. I went to watch a friend do stand-up and I thought absolutely everyone was terrible.

Even writing a script which will be funny is not easy. To make the script come to life and make the audience laugh, I will call myself more of an actor if I am able to do that.

Just because you're laughing, it doesn't mean the audience will, necessarily.

Hard audiences tend to be when it's all men. It's when businesses have dos where they're at conferences all day then book a comedian for the evening. They're men of a certain age - basically middle-aged, balding, 50 to 60 years old and I just know I can't make these people laugh hysterically.

I did try and do some spooky stand up once, and some of my stand-up had - I tried to do some horror stand-up, but it didn't really work very well.