Steven Wright Quotes

I have a reputation for being an improvisational actor, which is true, but I also know what I'm doing so that if the improvisational strand doesn't work I can go back to what I know's already there.

Some people are denizens of the studio. I'm more of a denizen of the live appearance. I love the live thing.

You have to be ready to sing and perform at any time.

I grew up doing sitcoms and theater and even playing with the Beach Boys, where you're programmed to perform, your body gets into a rhythm and you know it has to perform.

The very best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.

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

I'm not used to a script.

You get a sense of how the show works and then let your personality take over.

Whatever is on the page is what I'm married to. I'm very prepared. I'm a thespian. I don't like to improv. I don't like to go off course 'cause I think that's where stuff happens. When you stick to the material 'cause it's written so well, that's where the magic happens.

'Johnny' was always a lone wolf when he got on stage. Him against the world, whereas suddenly, when I got into acting, people were relying on me.

I think I should get a bigger between-the-song persona, so then I'm not wandering around the stage like some mad old auntie that's saying hello to people and falling over.

When you're in a theater, it's about reaching the back rows. When you have a camera in your face, it's just about knowing the size of the room.

The thing that's frustrating about improv is that even if you have the best show in the world, it's over when it's over. You get to build stand-up - I really like that aspect of it. I like writing jokes, and you don't get to do that in improv.

Going on stage is a performance, it's an act; you're playing a version of yourself. I don't give it a lot of thought. I clock on, I tell jokes, I clock off again.

Studio work is very methodical, while live concerts must be very spontaneous.

My shows have room for a bit of improvisation. In a film, you can't have that risk; you can't have someone taking 10 seconds longer.

My strength lies in prepping. I'm not someone who can just walk onto the set and perform.

I've learnt that from stand-up - you should always worry that it's going to go badly, otherwise you're too laissez faire.

I'm a thespian. I don't like to improv. I don't like to go off course 'cause I think that's where stuff happens. When you stick to the material 'cause it's written so well, that's where the magic happens.

Now what's important is that they have an attitude. Everybody has a look, but not everybody has cultivated what their stage persona is. And so when you're dealing with actors, it just makes it more difficult, because you have to help them come up with one. You know, Johnny Depp has no Johnny Depp character when he's onstage. You haven't seen An Evening With Johnny Depp at Carnegie Hall.

[In "The Invisible Woman"] was a different type of performance which was less driven by improv. You always want moments of freshness and newness, but there was less so than I've done before.

I'd like to think I could physically manage doing that, but I don't think it feels authentic to the kind of performer that I am. I think that, for me, being stationary and just sort of singing the songs seems to be the most connected and authentic expression for me on stage.

I'd found that what I wrote and put out on records somehow was not fitting into how I perform on stage.

I have to go over my carefully prepared ad-libs.

In theater, there's a lot of discipline involved in doing eight shows a week for a year and a half. It's nice to be able to bring some of that bag of tools with you over to the film world, where you don't have the rehearsal, you don't have an audience. You don't have a month of rehearsal to examine these words, and you meet the guy who's going to play your brother the morning that you shoot the scene. So you need a bag of tools.