Larry Wilmore Quotes

Every show finds its groove, I would say. The first season is the season to figure out the dynamics, the workflow.

The 'Homecoming King' show started off as a storytelling show that I had done; I worked with Greg Walloch to develop it and build it into something bigger.

The neatest thing about television is that they write for you... They find out what you can do, what you do best, how it works, and how they can use you.

When 'Family Guy' started, we wanted to make it more like a sitcom. And there was very little music.

Usually when you're doing a season one, you're trying to find the show.

It's always interesting for me to watch the pilot of an established show because you see how the writers and actors weren't really sure what the show was and what the dynamics were. If you look at the pilot for 'Seinfeld,' for example, it's practically unrecognizable.

I've been doing 'How I Met Your Mother' for so long, and it's been so great, and I just feel like it's second nature at this point.

The first season of a show's always a rollercoaster because nobody knows what they're doing. You gotta rush through the season trying to figure out: What is this show? And who are these characters?

I couldn't see myself doing a traditional sitcom.

Narrative and characters have always interested me. I never tried to alienate an audience. Of course, gradually, I wanted a bigger and bigger space to draw people in, so it's very organic [growth].

The hardest thing to write is sitcom.

I spent a lot of time doing really unimportant work as an actor. It was important when I started writing that I obviously make it entertaining, or no one is going to go see it - but to really make you think, that is my goal.

When you're first starting a show, any show, you learn what works and what doesn't work, and it's a kind of trial and error thing.

I think, like most actors, it's really exciting to be challenged.

I have tried many times to write a TV sitcom - with little success.

I'm a huge believer in story being this invisible scaffolding that no one ever recognizes or realizes is actually making the audience engaged in what's going on. There is no formula for it.

As a director, what I'm trying to do is to create interesting stories.

When you're trying to make a film, you're trying to find a way to love your subject, and you want your audience to love your subject.

'Red vs Blue' as a show has evolved dramatically. It looks an entirely different show to what we started with, but the format of the show has changed so much over the years, too.

Whenever I write for television, I plan the story on whiteboard wallpaper in my office, using a system created by the American writer Dan Harmon. It's remarkably simple: a character wants something; they enter a new world and adapt to it; they get what they want, re-enter the old world and change.

Good actors can tell you more about your play than 1,000 hours alone at your desk.

When you're in a good play and a good production, you find that you're in something that has a life beyond you. You think, 'Oh my goodness, this play's alive.'

The bane of every TV writer's existence is the likability note.

As a writer, every time I create a character, I try to go for something to captivate the audience in some way. It's also an extension of how the audience would like to see themselves.

The family sitcom has been around forever, since the advent of television. I don't need to reinvent it. But if you take something and you do it in a way that you haven't necessarily seen before, that's right where I live.