As much experience, education and awareness as one can attain is important for a comedian.
My whole act is confession.
The most unusual salesman I ever met is a fellow who made a modest fortune purveying lightning rods. But he suddenly lost interest in his work. He got caught in a storm with a bunch of samples in his arms.
If you've never met a student from the University of Chicago, I'll describe him to you. If you give him a glass of water, he says, 'This is a glass of water. But is it a glass of water? And if it is a glass of water, why is it a glass of water?' And eventually he dies of thirst.
A hotel is a place that keeps the manufacturers of 25-watt bulbs in business.
As a culture I see us as presently deprived of subtleties. The music is loud, the anger is elevated, sex seems lacking in sweetness and privacy.
We teach reading, writing and math by [having students do] them. But we teach democracy by lecture.
Unquestionably, standup comedy is and has always been an art form.
I was an actor before becoming a comedian.
The old problems - love, money, security, status, health, etc. - are still here to plague us or please us.
I heard the other day of a man who paid a psychologist $50 to cure him of an inferiority complex - and later was fined $25 and costs for talking back to a traffic cop.
The most memorable performance was my appearance in concert in Carnegie Hall. The first standup to do so.
I will always love to perform standup comedy.
I believe it is important for comedians to know who came before them.
Incidentally, I'm still looking for acting work, my first love.
I developed several comedy phone calls.
I am presently in my thirteenth year of teaching a graduate course at the University of Southern California.
I am careful with my material and presentation.
I am in the Master of Professional Writing program teaching Humor Writing, Literary and Dramatic.
I quit smoking well over twenty years ago.
While you're improvising, you may come up with something which will break him up. As soon as that smile comes out, you know that, hey, we're having fun.
My first job was at a Chicago night club called Mr. Kelly's.
Inside was the second LP album of a comedian's performance before an audience.
Though it sold very well, I hated "The Edge."
The Steve Allen Sunday night show had the right to two options after my first performance.
