Elizabeth Ashley Quotes

People who know my stage act know it's nothing but pushing boundaries.

When you look at someone like Sacha Baron Cohen, you have to really respect the boundaries he is pushing as Bruno or Borat.

I'm all about risque - I love that stuff. I love to be creative - that's what the entertainment business is about.

I trust other people to tell me if it's too far or tasteless, because there's not too much that I won't do. I like to push the limits. Obviously, that's more dangerous and more fun for everybody.

After 'Urinetown,' 'Avenue Q' and now 'Mormon,' is there an envelope remaining to be pushed?

I want to work with performers who really are ready to lose their minds, you know? People who are established and have talent, but who are ready to break new ground and really be cracked open in a new way.

Nicolas Cage, I would love to work with him again. He's just a fearless madman. He'll go anywhere you want to go. He would not say 'no' to anything.

I like pushing the envelope. I like pushing myself and the audience, whether it's a TV show or live. I like to throw people over the edge of the cliff and scare the wits out of them, but then pull them back and make them safe.

I've noticed that the more adventurous and in that mode that I am, it seems that the more the audience really likes it.

I try to make myself, and subsequently the audience, as uncomfortable as possible, whether it's completely desecrating a song they thought was one thing, or getting too drunk to really do a very good job.

James Bond has a license to kill, rockstars have a license to be outrageous. Rock is about grabbing people's attention.

I've been getting in trouble my whole life and I really don't care what anybody thinks of what I do on stage as a comic.

I'm not an exhibitionist. But, honestly, for my art I'll do anything almost. I'll go there.

I have a real interest in pushing some of the limits of things that studios don't want to make.

I've really pushed the limits of what you can get away with at big studios, and I've been extremely well-supported.

My audience expects me to push the limits, to be politically incorrect. I do that because for me, that's the only place where the fun is, when I get to push the boundaries and make people laugh at things that they probably didn't want to laugh at.

I don't think we're going to break the law in terms of what you can or can't do on TV. We're looking to do something edgy, different, and special.

I love performing. I love being a provocateur. I love putting myself in situations that are uncomfortable and that I have to get out of.

I've always been willing to take risks and chances. Often I'm on talk shows and hosts will ask 'How do you feel about it, when people say you're controversial?' And I say that, 'I think if I stop being controversial, I wouldn't be doing my job.

Sometimes I think you have to try to do things that people don't think are doable. I remember at the very beginning actually, the first person I had to convince was myself really because there's a self-censorship. When everybody says 'we don't do silent movies anymore,' you agree with everybody, and you say 'yeah, you're right.' It was a fantasy.

There is nothing that's off limits. If people think something is off limits, I make it my business to go make a joke about it; that's my job.

I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.

Leigh Bowery was actually quoted as saying, "Flesh is my most favorite fabric." I've seen many a freak make a scene and go, but Leigh was a special kind of exhibitionist because he was dedicated and saw it as an art form.

Even if people hate my other movies, and hate me, or whatever, I think from this point of view, Postal is the most important movie after September 11. It's not respecting any edge, any border, any nation, any religion - it's an all-type offender. I think that only if everybody gets a little pissed about something then you will start thinking about your situation.

Some people say that you should not tempt fate and for them I cannot disagree, but I never learned anything from playing it safe. I say fate should not tempt me.