Paul F. Tompkins Quotes

I don't know if you know you're funny, but you enjoy being funny. I know I'm funny because people tell me I am, but when I watch myself, it doesn't make me laugh. Does that make sense? Because I know the jokes, and to me, I feel like I'm pulling the wool over people's eyes. And there are probably people who do not enjoy what I do.

How can you get bored if the audience is cheering and laughing at something you're doing?

For anyone who works in front of an audience there is no thrill quite like that of feeling and hearing the evidence of the audience members' enjoyment. Laughter and applause really are powerful.

Crowd involvement plays a huge part in the performance of a professional wrestler. The only thing I do not want to hear when I am in the ring is the sound of indifference.

I enjoy seeing how many boos I can get.

When the response to comedy becomes cheering instead of laughing, that is so irritating. It's the worst. Here's what cheering is: "Look at me!" That's what cheering is. Cheering is not "Hey, I agree with what you're saying"; cheering is "I'm liking this more than anybody else!"

My audience is often hands-up, standing and cheering and on tables and all of that kind of things.

I got a kick out of the stands when they would heckle me. I would take the energy from that.

I used to think that nails-down-a-chalkboard was the worst sound in the world. Then I moved on to people-eating-cereal-on-the-phone. But only this week did I stumble across the rightful winner: it's the sound of a baggage carousel coming to a grinding halt, having reunited every passenger on your flight with their luggage, except for you.

The little kids in the stands are going to give you a good cheer. Sometimes, that overrides the other people.

We either carry our audience with us, or irritate them.

I’ve never listened to a speech with a greater sense of approval.

Through years and years of playing to various audiences, what I've learned is - and I think quite a few actors will agree with me - we're not always the best judge of that audience's reactions or not. And we discover, to our amazement, at the end of the show, they bring the house down with applause, and we thought, 'No way tonight,' you know.

Worried about being a dull fellow? You might develop your talent for being irritating.

I love getting cheers. I love giving scares. Anything that really works with the audience makes me happy.

I don't feel bad about the fact that I notice if a lot of people laugh at a comic, and think, 'That worked; I'll do things like that more.'

That you get booed belongs to professional sports.

I like to watch our fans' reactions when we perform.

The laugh track was invented to cue the audience to the jokes and encourage laughter in response. But it has another effect: if you hear people laughing and you're not, you start to question if maybe there's something wrong with you for not getting it.

Booing - I never like it. We see it in other sports all the time, but in tennis, it's rare.

I can tell the crowd appreciates the way I play.

As long as the crowd make noise, I will be in my element, whether it is booing or cheering. The main thing is I get a reaction of some kind.

Whether they cheer or whether they boo really doesn't bother me as long as they're paying attention.

I was three years old, and I walked onstage during a performance that my father was a tenor in 'The Barber of Seville.' I walked out onstage, and people started laughing and clapping, and that was it. That was all it took. Laughing and clapping, I still enjoy today.

'Rent' audiences tend to be pretty vocal. They scream and cheer a lot.