Bill Hader Quotes

I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.

Acting has always been something I've wanted to get into. I think the best models are actors; you're taking on a character. In that sense, I have been acting for a long time. It didn't seem like a crazy transition.

I had a great time working on 'Saturday Night Live.' It was one of the important times in my life.

When you're coming up with new material, it's not always gonna be good. The only way to learn is for it not to get a laugh, so you can adjust it and come back the next day to see if it's working right. Next time, you might get a different laugh. You're constantly rebuilding.

To be fair, when I started doing 'Verdict' I literally had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to do some theatre, as I wanted to do something different. I wanted to learn and get an understanding of the craft.

I like comedy. I would love to do comedy for a long time.

Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.

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.

Well, usually, when you're doing a sitcom, you get a script and every word or for the most part, is written. So, you know, if it's a 30-minute sitcom, then it's a 35-page script or something like that.

I never thought I'd end up doing comedy, but actually, it's been something I've really relished the challenge of and ended up doing quite a bit of.

In the acting world, you can really only become good by practicing and doing it, and I just think every time you walk onto a set you just become better and better. I think I'm in a totally different space than I was back then on that first movie set.

You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well.

Most of the time you're too busy to think about it. But every now and then you say, 'I work at 'Saturday Night Live,' and that is so cool.

The first two years I was on 'MADtv' were really, really fun. We always thought it was 'Saturday Night Live's very nice, slightly asthmatic, shorter cousin.

SNL is a home. You've got all of your brothers and sisters there, and it's a great time.

The best sketch shows are from a group of tight-knit people who've worked together for a really long time.

Being on 'Good Times' was the first time I was around a group of people that wasn't my family.

'Saturday Night Live' is live television. Nothing can compare to that.

I may be more passionate about my comedy because that's the one place where I feel comfortable - because I'm in the now. Performing is the only time of the day when I have to really force every ounce of concentration into whatever's happening in that moment.

The great thing about a sitcom is that you're in front of a live audience, so you really get in touch with what audience reaction is, but also there are lots of elements of film that you're dealing with, and there's kind of a great boot camp or graduate school mentality to it, because you're going to suck.

By the time I would have graduated, at 22, I was a writer and featured performer on Saturday Night Live.

In Manhattan, I often do two or three or more shows a night, so I'm always working on new material.

I just went into this business for laughs. I guess I don't mind being an actor so much now.

'Family Ties' was a very successful situation comedy. And, in almost every respect, it functioned on a day to day basis like a well-run, well conditioned basketball team. The show was performed live each week in front of a studio audience on Friday night.

I think 'SNL' was such a unique thing because it was material you created and you're very comfortable with it, even though the setting was pressure-packed.