Gene Wilder Quotes

Every time I do something silly, it comes off really funny because it's natural.

So the laughs had to come from the character, not because we had balloons in our shirts or were speaking in high voices. That was very important to us.

Even in comedy, you have to be real. It's all about being real. It's how real can you be? That's the challenge. How much are you willing to take on for your character?

Physical comedy is my favorite thing in the world to do.

The only way physical comedy works is if you don't see it coming. And the harder the fall, the funnier it is. You have to really take some shots, and I've walked away with some bumps and bruises.

If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don't know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.

Comedy needs to happen naturally and be in touch with the character. When you see that guy in your office that everybody laughs at, he doesn't think he's funny. He's just being him, and that's the joke.

When you don't have a laugh track, you can make the clothes funny. We can make a sign funny. We can make the way somebody walks funny. The makeup can be funny.

I suddenly realized that comedy, for me, was just being honest, and playing it for real. I've seen so many wonderful actors who turn into creatures from another planet when they're told they are supposed to be playing comedy.

You can over-think things. If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorising rather than being real.

For me, the comedies that truly work are the ones that are grounded in some way. If it's all heightened, it's really hard. It's a little slippery. It's hard to get purchase on the side of the wall.

Some comedies, they want you falling on your face and doing silly things.

To play the leading man in a 'Three Stooges' movie, you've got to think funny. Thank God I think funny.

Some lucky people can be funny without half trying because they actually look funny, because acting funny is in their bones - fun as funny, not funny as crude slapstick.

If I improvise at all on 'The Goldbergs,' it's with the physical stuff.

The thing about comedy is that you don't have to play funny.

As far as how I approach the humor, I think the best comedy is going to happen when I'm myself and act organically to a news item or situation.

In acting class they tell you that you have to be real, connect with the people, connect with your partner. The same as politics, you have to connect to the people.

In my experience, it tends to be a real reflection of someone's intelligence, confidence and sensitivity when they can just be real.

I approach everything the same. I try to make it as real as possible, whether you gotta make people laugh or make people cry, it's always the same approach for me. But if I start doing pratfalls, somebody please pull the plug on me.

So the most natural thing to me is to stay as pure to or real to or close to who I am as possible.

I love watching people be totally committed in a very real way to stupid situations. I find it's not so much trying to be funny, it's trying to be real in a messed up context. That's comedy to me.

It is better to be silent and be real than to talk and not be real.

When I read 'Be real, don't get caught acting,' I thought, 'How the hell do you do that?'.

For me to act natural and real but also try to be funny while doing that is hard.