Karen Kilgariff Quotes

I'm not a comedy writer, I'm a comedian, so I only write stuff that I would want to say.

My favorite comedians are basically themselves onstage.

In stand-up it really helps to play yourself and talk about your own feelings. You cannot fail to be original if you're just talking about what you think about X, Y and Z. Unless you've got a twin brother who's also a stand-up.

When I started, I was doing all the good comedians I'd ever seen. Then I developed my own voice. My routines are my natural way of looking at the world.

I prefer being known for my stand-up because I write it. I love being an actor, and saying other people's words is great. But then, when I do stand-up, I love getting my own point of view out there.

I'm developing more stuff in my voice, more Nick Swardson. It's me as myself in a sense and kind of in my voice, no accent no affectation. I'm growing into my own persona.

When I started stand-up, the people I admired most were the people who were the most themselves onstage.

When they first start doing comedy, new comics or even people that have only been doing it three or four years, they're doing an impersonation of a stand-up. This is what I think a stand-up should sound like.

3 Mics' has gotten me fans who actually like me. Now they have a sense of what I'm like, so I get to talk in a way that I really want, and it's fun to go on the road.

There's a fallacy with stand up comedy, which is, people come up to comedians, and they go, 'You say what I think but I'm not brave enough to say,' and that's not particularly true.

Finding your voice as a stand up comedian means deeply knowing who you are as an artist and a human being.

I think most people that do comedy write for themselves. I don't think there is any other way you can do it, really. Otherwise it would be quite cynical.

The music is the thing. I am not writing for critics; I don't want to become a personality.

I think 'Shade Room,' it's a different me. You know, I think it's more on the lyrical side, talking about my life and how I really feel. You know, all these things outside of football. And people really get to look at how I feel about things or how I look at certain things. It's not just a song, more so me just telling people how I feel.

I mean, my stand-up is very honest and exposing in this way. I probably carry that into everything I do.

I'm in love with artists that are really difficult to cover or to copy. You can only try to copy them, but you will never succeed because it's intertwined with really personal references and really personal ways to exist on stage. They are really strong individuals, and are writing their own songs and know where they want to go.

Everything that I do is very autobiographical. I'm trying to be as much of an open book as possible and give the audience every single piece of me.

When I was starting out, I was just bringing a garbage bag of jokes onstage, pulling them out like, 'What about this? No? Alright.' I was just trying to be funny about anything.

The more you work in this business as a comedian, the closer you get to just being yourself onstage, on camera, the more well received you are.

We are so proud of 'Unconditional'. I couldn't have been more honest in these songs, and I can't wait to see the impact they have. This record is exactly what it's supposed to be.

Overall, I just love performing so much that when I write, I want to write for me. I kind of learned that on 'Mr. Show,' that even in an environment where you can write whatever you want - which is what that environment was - I realized, 'Man, I still want to be the guy out in front.'

Sometimes I think it's the responsibility of the artist to reveal a little more of themselves.

Stand-up is more of an organic process. An imagined dialogue with the audience.

I just want the audience to see that the performances are a real representation of myself.

For other comics, it's about full-spectrum dominance, being on panel shows and having one-liners and being a good chat show guest and having a good seven minutes you can do on 'Live At The Apollo.' But I really think about these subsequent finished pieces, you know? And they don't always chop up well into one-liners and routines.