Janet Varney Quotes

I started as a ventriloquist, a very bad ventriloquist. And people saw my lips moving and it was ridiculous, so finally I decided I'd better change my occupation.

I find what I do for a living really funny. I mean, acting is kind of a hilarious thing for a grown man to call a job.

I think I always was a bit of a class clown, but I don't know how successful I was at that. I always think, when I read about people being class clowns, I imagine them being actually very funny, and I don't know that I was. But I tried to be, I think.

I've never been an impressionist. I was doing Sofia Vergara and Elizabeth Dole. I'm sometimes so low-confidence and self-aware, so characters that are confident and ignorant and wrong are my favorite.

When I got a call to do the voice of Johnny in an episode of 'American Dad' titled 'I Can't Stan You,' it was a great opportunity to be a part of a really funny cutting-edge show on television. I really got into the character, and I was able to do some improvisation, which allowed me to mix in part of my personality into the script.

I've never really told jokes. I'm not good at it.

Even when I lecture per se, I am a joke comedian, I can do the voices.

I know so many people who are so much better at it than I am, and I think I'm a goofier person rather than a serious, dramatic actress, so I probably belong in comedy.

We're lucky enough, especially in these 'Madagascar' films, to be working with some of the best people in the industry, who are not only great actors, but great comedians and improvisers and filmmakers. And they then become a part of creating their characters.

I love doing scripted things. What little acting ability I have I am holding on with my hangnails.

I always tell people I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America.

Doing voiceovers is so great because even though many people would think it's just your voice, you really do use all your physicality. I've done everything from playing a butterfly to Alice in Wonderland when she's 10 feet tall, so it allows you to be an actor and build new characters.

I was an actor before becoming a comedian.

I'm no good at the one-liner thing. It's just not me.

I've been doing voices as long as I can remember. When I was little I could pick up on sounds, and then I discovered you could distort what you hear and make people laugh or disrupt a class.

Yes, I've already done a couple of guest voices.

I'd love to do a comedy - something where a character has to use humor to navigate the absurdities of life.

I started performing non-professionally at birthday parties and family gatherings doing 'Saturday Night Live' impressions at four. Then I started for real at seven.

I never feel like it'll be something where like, 'Aha, I've got it. I'm funny for the rest of my life. I don't need to tell jokes anymore. I just am comedy.'

I want to do a character in a one-woman show who's a yoga teacher from the Bronx. I could do the best accent: 'Raise yaw ahms up! Reach faw da sky!'

I've been very successful doing voices in movies. I did Olive, the Other Reindeer, with Drew Barrymore, and I did Cats and Dogs. My children came to some of the sessions.

Steve Carell is good. I like him. Who else? Here's another depressing thing: animation has kind of taken over, too. You know, 'Family Guy?' I watch that because the guy is good.

You put funny people in funny costumes and paint them green and we could talk about anything we wanted to, because that was the only thing that fascinated Gene about this particular genre.

I'd love to do a comedy. I'm terrified of comedy. I don't think I'm funny, but I guess that's why it's so thrilling.

Every movie I do, or when I'm on the sketch comedy show, I don't really get into it until I have an outfit or something funny with my head or face or something.