I'm a very observational type of comedian that points out everyday absurdities.
It's very interesting, the joke comes first and then the wording comes within five seconds, maybe ten seconds. My thing is to get the joke across in as few words as possible. However, sometimes a word that's not really needed does help the rhythm of it. It's a gut feeling.
There's a difference between being a comic and a comedian. A comic is a guy who says funny things, and a comedian is a guy who says things funny, and he has a style and point of view that will last much longer.
I'd like to start with the chimney jokes - I've got a stack of them. The first one is on the house.
I've always enjoyed watching characters that aren't aware that they're doing anything funny. And I think that inherently makes them funnier.
Everyone was doing alternative comedy. I thought I'd distinguish myself by just telling jokes, with differing degrees of success.
You can give a guy a funny line, but you can't make him say it funny.
You know, a lot of people come to me and they say, "Steve, how can you be so fucking funny?" There's a secret to it, it's no big deal. Before I go out, I put a slice of bologna in each of my shoes. So when I'm on stage, I feel funny.
I am always a great fan of keeping things on an eye level for comedy because it plays better.
I sometimes use a girl singer the way Henny Youngman uses his violin - as a bridge between one laugh and the next.
I don't know now if I'm funny. I just keep talking and hope that I hit something that's funny.
Good comedy doesn't have to be a comedy idea.
Robin Williams learned technique. He has the technique of being funny.
With comedy, don't try to be funny. That's really helped me. Just say the lines as you would say them, interact with other characters, and try to make it as real as possible. It will come out funny.
For me, comedy was deftly terrifying.
I typically start out almost every speech I give making some kind of joke about me being in a wheelchair.
With silly stuff, it's seventy-five percent confidence. I always tell people that it's because I'm nervous about getting that next laugh and I need to hear it. I always want to condense a joke.
Steve Martin said that philosophy is good for comedy because it screws up your thinking just enough, and I agree with that. Being forced to see life's metadata is good training for looking for interesting angles on a topic.
I wasn't the class clown. I wasn't that obvious. There would be a circle of guys, and they're watching the class clown. And I'm standing in the back, and I turn to the guy next to me and I say something funny to him, and he starts to laugh. And the guy next to him says, 'What did he say?'
'Where's Bill going?' He's going to comedy death. Boom! He pops out of it with another joke. It's my particular style.
Ninety-nine percent is in the delivery. If you have the right voice and the right delivery, you're cocky enough, and you pound down on the punch line, you can say anything and make people laugh maybe three times before they realize you're not telling jokes.
I think that's something that people don't realize enough about when they get into comedy - it's not just about sitting back and observing and saying something funny.
He had a habit of remarking to bartenders that he didn't see any sense in mixing whiskey with water since the whiskey was already wet.
A comic says funny things. A comedian says things funny.
I wish I lived next to Carnegie Hall. Then, if someone asked me how to get to my house, I would just say 'Practice, practice, practice, and then take a left.'
