Phil Elverum Quotes

I leave for the show at least an hour ahead, and I do some vocal warm-ups, and that's pretty much it.

If I have an audition, I go to the audition in character. I'm in character when I walk in the room. I mean, I'm still sweet to everyone, but I'm very much the character.

I get to the theatre in plenty of time; I prepare my shoes in advance; I eat and drink the right things at the right time. The rest you have to leave to luck!

I began to work the stage and get the audience into it. I also learned how to have fun out there. It is something I will never forget.

Getting all dressed up and putting on fancy clothes - all of that's a great thing, but oddly, it doesn't really have a lot to do with acting most of the time.

We also did something called the Texas Peace Festival, which was actually a better gig both musically, and in the way it was organised.

Because I used to go and watch him rehearsing for pantomime, and I have adopted some of those priciples, like try to be on time, learn your script, how he approach it, etc.

One of the first things I do when I step onto a set is I scan the set and try to take in every detail, because what I'm trying to find are tools that I can use to incorporate myself into the space and tools that I can use to make the performance authentic and to build on the authenticity of that.

I'm always at my fittest when I'm doing a show - even when you're not on stage, you are running around backstage doing quick changes.

I warm up at home. I hit the stage, I'm ready, whether it's rehearsal or anything.

If I'm going to rehearse, I don't necessarily rehearse in costume.

We like to party but to be the best partiers in the world you've gotta be serious, you've gotta plan that stuff out. You've gotta wake up the next day and catch that plane to the next show and perform a great show.

When I'm in front of a crowd, I don't think 'Oh, there's some hard-core metalheads and some alternative fringe types, so we should be okay.'

It's hard to pinpoint highlights on tour because they're the gigs really. The whole day becomes about the show. From the time you wake up you are slowly building up to that.

I like to rehearse a lot. Before I hit the stage, I listen to the songs that I would perform and make sure I execute everything.

I think, in a way, the stand-up prepped me for the improv, because I do a lot of riffing in my stand-up.

Whether I'm in the main event or on the preliminary card, the same Cowboy is going to be out there.

Before a show, I usually give myself two-and-a-half hours to get ready. I prepare my shoes first. New ballet pumps can sound like tap shoes. You have to take the noise out of them by hitting them against stone. It takes half an hour to do each pair, and I can go through three pairs in one night.

Dancing for Flo Rida was a great experience.

To play well the scenes in which we are 'on' concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.

I use singing as a warm-up before big scenes I have to do on set. It's also great to make people less nervous.

There are some actors who are rehearsal actors, and some who are not. I am not. Having said that, I don't know what I am talking about.

Ballet really lends itself to that because there's such a sense of ritual, with wrapping the shoes every day and preparing new shoes for every performance. It's such a process. It's almost religious, in nature.

When I'm performing, I hope my research and my experience with those things I'm talking about rings true.

If you're going to walk into a scene on a stage, you've gotta know what room you just left and what just happened.