John Oliver Quotes

As an adolescent, I was painfully shy, withdrawn. I didn't really have the nerve to sing my songs on stage, and nobody else was doing them. I decided to do them in disguise so that I didn't have to actually go through the humiliation of going on stage and being myself.

When you're onstage and you know you're bombing, that's very, very scary. Because you know you gotta keep going - you're bombing, but you can't stop. And you know that half an hour from now, you're still gonna be bombing. It takes a thick skin.

Pretty much every time I try something different or do something in front of a live audience, I truly think they might throw peanuts at me.

It's a little nerve-wracking to stand up on stage all by yourself.

Every three days on average, I am alone on stage, facing the public.

Stand-up comedy seems like a terrifying thing. Objectively. Before anyone has done it, it seems like one of the most frightening things you could conceive, and there's just no shortcut - you just have to do it.

I used to stand in front of the mic and cry.

I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.

All due respect and trying to be as modest as I can be, I am a dancer. But I don't think I would be on 'Dancing with the Stars,' mainly because I would be too shy.

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

I don't like doing stand-up, because I don't like standing up.

When you're on stage singing, you're naked. Your voice is something very intimate, and that's why I'm scared every time before I perform. It doesn't matter if I'm singing for a king or a queen or the Pope, it's enough to be in front of anybody. I suffer, but I can't do anything about it.

The first night was awful because I was so afraid, and I was never more afraid because it was going out of my character to be outgoing and to be vulnerable and to be out there and onstage. My hands were sweaty and I couldn't swallow, and I drank a bottle of wine to calm my nerves.

I'm nervous performing because it's such a weird thing to do, standing on stage demanding people's attention.

I tried do stand-up, and I was horrible. And I'll never do it again.

I've bombed on stage millions and millions of times. And that's part of it. You go up with a half-baked idea, and you bomb, and so what? Nothing bad happens if you bomb.

I've experienced success, I've experienced failure, I've been a world champion, I've fought all over the world; I think I've experienced enough that I won't get in front of a million people and get gunshy.

Falling in front of an audience - that's, like, my biggest fear.

Stand-up, I find it really difficult. It's not really my thing.

Half of acting is you're very intimidated, overcoming your fears, letting yourself be vulnerable in front of people and that sort of stuff.

Whenever I walk out on a stage, I'm begging for affection.

Acting is an uncomfortable business because you have to make yourself vulnerable.

I'd auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and I didn't get a place and it was terrifying.

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.

In general, I'm pretty shy and nervous about a lot of things. For me to get on stage for the first time took so many times at an open mic before I finally got on stage and did it.