Jerry Lewis Quotes

Comedy is much more challenging, because you have to have the same level of belief but you have to make people laugh, and that's definitely a challenge.

To be perfectly honest, drama is a lot simpler than comedy.

I think that comedy really tells you how it is. The other thing about comedy is that - you don't even know if you're failing in drama, but you do know when you're failing in comedy. When you go to a comedy and you don't hear anybody laughing, you know that you've failed.

I love to be a vessel through which characters can come through. And if I can move an audience with my work, then I've done my job.

Comedy and music are so similar because it's all about timing.

With comedy it's all about timing and presence on screen, as the words are there but you have to say them right and the right timing.

There is nothing more joyful to me than hearing a live audience laugh. Especially when I planned it that way!

Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas. Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.

The role of a comedian is to make the audience laugh, at a minimum of once every fifteen seconds.

It's funny, the hardest thing to do is to make something look like it's fast, loose and improvised, and get somebody to laugh.

Richard Lewis is the master at taking a joke that he's told a million times in a row in the past year, on the road, and making it look like he's pulling it out of thin air.

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

The greatest comedian I've ever seen is Jack Benny. He wasn't afraid of the silences.

When you have a chance to play a character people can relate to, it's rewarding.

When you're doing stand-up, you want to stand onstage and, to the extent that you can, uncomplicatedly entertain.

I think one of the big things about comedy is the ability for the audience to identify.

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

Whenever I go on a show with a comedian I just counter punch.

The basic function of a comic is stand-up because it's so straightforward and simple. If the audience don't laugh, you didn't do your job. I've had some audiences where I didn't care if they laughed or not because they were either too drunk or stupid.

To be honest, I am somebody that, as long as I have a character, it doesn't really matter if it's comedy or drama - I think timing is important in either. But for me, it's all about having a character to work on.

Transforming a line like that makes it into a belly laugh instead of a laugh against us.

I think everyone's different but in comedy, I try to do my scene to make the director and the other actors laugh. If I can make them laugh and we have the same sensibility, then I'm on the right page.

A lot of the time, you're supposed to play to the top of your intelligence, as truthful as possible. But when you're on stage making people laugh, you're still acting. I think it helped me a bunch to go on stage two or three times a week.

I've never considered stand-up. Luckily I'm given great lines to say. I'm not sure how great my timing would be if I actually had to come up with my own jokes.

Comedy is hard to do. All the cliches about it are true.