Jeff Ross Quotes

I kind of thought that stand-up comedy would suffer from the Internet because people seem to know more about the craft of stand-up than ever before. I thought it would seem trite. Kind of like if you know more about magicians, you wouldn't love them.

When I was a younger guy doing comedy, it was a big struggle. Promoters canceled me out of clubs left and right when I called somebody a dummy or a yo-yo. Then they realized I was different.

I'm dirty, I'm irreverent - but I'm still a very topical comedian.

That's a nice thing about being a topical standup: you can add in things to keep it fresh.

I guess I like people doing roasts in public. That's my thing.

I took an internship at Focus Features while I was in film school. I was really interested in how specialty movies were marketed and found their audience despite being about topics that were outside of the mainstream.

Just make videos about things you love, and people who love the things you love making videos about will find you.

I have always had an audience for my music, even in the very avant garde, crazy times.

The difference between comedians and the general public is that we are meant to be funnier. And when you've got politicians giving material so easy that the general public is doing it, what is the necessity of us anymore?

I believe now we're in such a niche-land in media that you have to super-serve your niche rather than try to be everything to everyone, because if you do that, instead of making your group care, nobody cares.

It's funny how comedy is, you look at people like French and Saunders, when they started out they were very alternative. A lot of those alternative comedians have ended up being mainstream, they know that longevity is about being mainstream.

Primarily, a festival is a platform to sell films that are not meant for the mainstream audience. Cultural exchange is also important aspect of a film festival.

Of course, you have to think of the audience. You cannot make an obtuse film that only appeals to a small niche section of the audience.

Performing in India is very close to my heart, and it is very humbling to see that so many people have so much love to offer me.

I used to do much shorter jokes a lot more.

I don't think stand-up comedy is becoming too serious, in fact, I wish it was. We are still mostly doing frivolous stuff.

The movies I make - the goal isn't a mass audience. They're not expensive films. So the attempt is to reach a much more limited audience - one would say an audience that enjoys films that challenge them emotionally and intellectually.

It's quite strange in fashion, and it's probably the same with movies and acting - the big choice is between being radical, making a choice that will be more specific that will reach less people but will be very strong and very directional, and making a choice that will be more popular and catch the interest of a large group of people. Sometimes people are trying to push you in one direction or another.

When I got into comedy, which was really for acting, I would see the guys who would be considered great today. They were great, but after a few minutes I could get kind of bored because they wouldn't move around. The dress code was boring to me. I didn't want to see the guy next door when I'm watching a performer. I wanted to see someone I would pay a ticket for.

I'm not somebody who plans my life. In fact, I don't know what's going to happen here in India, it's such a strange climate here at the moment. So very worrying.

You must worry about the truth of your characters and that it fits your vision. The rest will come naturally if you've done your job properly. I love the horror genre but I want to transcend it too. Allow the hardcore audience to see possibilities beyond the easy scare, to embrace its multi-faceted richness.

All you have to do is be a little bit specific, and all of a sudden, you have your own little niche and people are going to watch.

A rule of thumb with humor; if you worry that you might be going too far, you have already not gone far enough. If everybody laughs, you have failed.

You're not going to stay in business, the business of making movies very long because you need the resources in order to keep going. So you have to try and find a niche audience or some kind of audience that has the same likes, dislikes and aesthetic sensibilities that you have.

I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.