Chris Lilley Quotes

If you over-think, it affects things too much; I work instinctively, like painting in a way. Think too much, and you ruin everything.

I started doing comedy just as myself, because I thought, "This is what's expected, you're meant to tell stories and do observations." And then I started to realize that I wanted to mix it up a bit, so I started to doing songs, and I had a little keyboard onstage and would bring in little props. Then I thought about the idea of talking about a character and becoming the character onstage. So, it sort of morphed into being stand-up that was more character based, and I found that's the stuff I got the better reaction from and was more exciting for me.

I've done signings where elderly people will line up to get photos with me and ask me to sign things. They don't even pretend it's for their grandkids. They're like, "No, it's for me."

I met Kim Kardashian in a nightclub once, and she was really nice. Kanye West was with her, but he didn't speak. He just looked at me.

I get bored with the constant probing for the cliched tears of the clown, the dark side of the comic.

I feel like I'm so normal. So normal it's boring.

I was sure 'Summer Heights High' would be a cult ABC thing; I had no idea it would be such a big hit.

I don't just want to upset people and shock people by saying something really outrageous.

Religious humor is not really my area, so I probably wouldn't do anything about that, or politics or something.

I never like to think of any character as being over. I'm always thinking of different ways of bringing them back.

I just do what I think is funny and what's exciting to me.

Fans feel they know me, so they want me to be on-the-spot funny, and it's hard to fulfil their expectations.

I didn't do very well academically; I was always in the bottom class.

I went to a private boys' school, and we had girls in the last two years.

I think my parents had a hard time dealing with me.

I'm not really a management-type person. It doesn't suit my personality to be bossing people around.

I've met big-name actors doing Hollywood films, and they've said that all they want is an in at HBO and their own show.

In Australia, I'm built up as this comedy hero, which was never my intention.

It takes me ages to write stuff.

It's pretty awful being told you're a racist.

People think that I'm some kind of genius who's got these statements to say, and I'm not really.

People are always nice; I never get anything mean said to me on the street.

I think sometimes people become quite emotional about the characters as well, and that's pretty cool that you can get that emotion out of people. And I think that's more my motivation than like, "Hey I want to be the funny guy, I want to be that famous funny guy." That doesn't sit as well with me as the idea of taking people on this ride and taking them into the illusion of the characters. That's much more exciting for me.

I think it just really excites me, the idea of delving so far into a character that people actually believe it's real, and I start to believe it's real. It's a strange thing to say, but it's the thrill of getting all the details right and being so absorbed in the character that people go along with the illusion.

You feel the pressure of going to university because you need a back-up plan, which is why I enrolled.