I've been a very lucky actor.
I'm very open to the up-and-comers.
I was influenced by every comedian I ever saw work. That's the only way you learn how to do it.
Funny is funny is funny.
Comedians are never really on vacation because you're always at attention... that antenna is always out there.
I really don't know what makes a comedian. I think it's a family background and environment. Yet if you put the same ingredients in another person, he may never utter a funny line.
Well I was much too practical to presume to have a career in comedy.
You do a clean show and it's over and the audience have enjoyed themselves and you've enjoyed yourself, and you haven't had to resort to shock.
I think there's a part, just a part of comedians, that is still childlike.
All comedians are, in a way, anarchists. Our job is to make fun of the existing world.
I don't have a stack of scripts that, when I get home, studios are clamoring, saying, 'Has Bob read ours yet?'
I think there's a little confusion between humor and 'gross' passing for humor. That's kind of regrettable, because they aren't the same thing.
I have no intention of retiring; I can't imagine not doing stand-up. That's where I started and where I'll be.
I have to warn you, I'm not just some sitcom guy. I'm now an author.
There was a sea of change in comedy in the late 1950s and '60s. We were dealing with vignettes as opposed to jokes. We were more socially aware.
One time I happened to use the word 'denigrate' onstage, and it didn't get any reaction. So as I continued my act, the left side of my brain was fast-forwarding to see if I had any other big words coming up.
I don't know how to do a show not in front of a live audience.
I think the thing about it is when you grow up in Chicago there's such a thing as putting on airs, you know? And you just learn not to put on airs. Don't act like, 'Oh boy, I'm somebody.' They'll slap you down.
The first time I heard Richard Pryor, I knew he would be a major force in the world of comedy.
I don't think too much about age. Maybe if you're hurting, aching and arthritic, then you think about it a lot. But I don't.
