Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes

The whole thing about working in front of the camera is to make people laugh when they're not supposed to.

To me, if you are in the same building with Peter Sellers or John Cleese, or any of those guys and holding your own making other people laugh, that's a compliment.

I've always been a big fan of comedy and sketch comedy, and I like to laugh, but you can't just be funny. You do have to work at it, and you have to try to know what your role is and when you can insert humor, or when it's best not to.

What I've always wanted to do is be as funny as possible.

I'm much more interested in making people laugh than getting applause breaks.

When you're a young comedian the first thing you want to do is get a laugh.

I'm always trying to make myself laugh. I'm the most enthusiastic audience I'm likely to find, so if it doesn't make me smile then it probably won't work on you. The jokes that only make me shrug get cut.

Kind of the exhausting thing about doing pure comedy, or something that's broader, is you're kind of a slave to the laugh. If it's not funny, then there's not much point in doing it. The kind of ueber-objective is to make people laugh. You always have to have that in the back of your mind, 'Eh, I've got to figure out a way to make this funny.'

The success of any stand-up act comes out of life experience.

Everyone tells me I need to do comedy. It's never something that crossed my mind, but to be able to do a true comedy and make people laugh, that would be great.

Shall I crack any of those old jokes, master, At which the audience never fail to laugh?

I'm there to make people laugh. I'm not trying to come across as sexy.

I was never a hammy child. But I could make people laugh.

Your only guidepost is your own instinct and judicious editing. In my stand-up act I learned that in the first 10 minutes I could say anything and it would get a laugh. Then I'd better deliver. In the movie it's the same thing. You get a lot of laughs when people first sit down and then the story better kick in. Many years in front of an audience, I would hope, give me a sense of what works.

Comedy's easy for me now - it's all about timing and the way you deliver lines. I use facial expressions to get the point across.

Comedy is very important. For one thing, it keeps you sane. But it's not really a conversion. I mean, it's marginally a conversion, because if people tune in or go to a nightclub or even watch television, and hear that a lot of other people are laughing at something you thought was not funny, at least it'll force you to reconsider.

Performing comedy, you develop a rhythm of ideas and laughs. I live for it.

That's a lovely experience when you make an audience laugh. Then the nerves go away for a bit. And sometimes you do things then that you've never done before that are really funny.

I started out in stand-up, so it's very satisfying to make people laugh, but it usually means at your own expense.

I remember doing a lot of comedy. I always loved that feeling when you do something on stage and you can feel the vibe of the audience turn, and they start laughing. It's how you know something's not right, and how to fix it, or how to make the moment stronger or funnier.

I really love comedy. I love making people laugh. But other things also appeal to me.

I think anybody in front of a crowd is a comedian.

I think comedy's just about being interested in comedy and what makes people laugh and experimenting.

I'm looking for parts that will challenge me comedically. I would love to be on a multicam sitcom one day, kind of like Friends. I love making people laugh and would like to continue to do so!

I don't think there's anything Craig Ferguson could say that would make me laugh. Ad-libbing is not the same as entertainment.