Whoopi Goldberg Quotes

I never predicted that I'd be a comedian, but it was something that came so naturally to me. I just felt good doing it.

Once I started doing stand-up, everything fell into place. That was when I started acting more; I felt like I'd found my place in the business.

I think I would not be who I am if I did not have experience both as an audience and as a performer in those early days of my career. It taught me what entertainment is all about.

After I graduated, I tried Broadway, which was difficult for me. It was tough to get a part on Broadway, so I just started talking to audiences at different social gatherings, and little by little I became Don Rickles - whatever that is.

Comedy was something I picked up trying to perfect my art through spoken word. I got on YouTube just to show off my poetry, and then people thought I was funny, so I ran with it.

Certainly in my appetite for more challenges, it's very much alive. I love comedy and it comes to me in a natural way.

Doing acting opened up other creative outlets; it made me feel freer as an artist.

Theater opened up a whole new world for me. It was a freedom I'd never known before.

I'm becoming more and more confident and am falling more and more in love with the whole world of comedy, and I think that's something that I really want to explore a lot more.

My younger sister's a comedian. She has a sketch comedy group in Chicago called Schadenfreude and I look at her with such admiration and envy because it's such an amazing thing to make someone laugh.

The first long chapter of my career was almost entirely theater so that, by the time I was 30, 35, I sort of knew who I was as an actor, and I was gradually learning who I was as a human being.

I'm always blown away by stand-ups. I'm blown away by people like that who are craftspeople at comedy.

I tried playing for the public, and I selected music that I thought would be pleasing to them. Times are different now. Today, I play the music I want, and I just try to do my best.

That is what I got into comedy for, to be able to challenge myself and just grow as a comedian and find new ways to be funny.

Feeling supported when you are doing comedy is the best way to make comedy - at least, that's how I think.

I've had the opportunity to work as an actor and tell stories that transform.

Stand-up is cool. In stand-up, you get to learn about yourself if you do it from a thoughtful place.

When I was in third grade I taught myself ventriloquism... What's hard is to learn to be an entertainer and make people laugh. I was a few years out of college before I felt I had enough material. Then in 1988 I moved to L.A. and started to do some shows at comedy clubs.

I always loved comedy but I didn't start formally until I was in college.

'The Voice' gave me a chance to show people the side of me that is an artist. People didn't know what that would look like or sound like. It allowed people to see that potential.

When I used to watch comedians with my dad, he laid it all out for me. He wanted to be a comedian himself, and he was so funny. We'd watch stand-up on TV, and he'd tell me the subtext of what they were saying.

For me, the way I stay consistent is through stand-up comedy.

Comedy is what I really want to do and propel.

I think I have always tried to connect my comedy to my art.

You go where you think it's good for your work and your soul to go. I need to go someplace where I am reminded about why I wanted to act in the first place, and for me, that's the theater.