I think the written word is probably the best medium of communication because you have time to reflect, you have time to choose your words, to get your sentences exactly right. Whereas when you're being interviewed, say, you have to talk on the fly, you have to improvise, you can change sentences around, and they're not exactly right.
I went to Second City, where you learned to make the other actor look good so you looked good and National Lampoon, where you had to create everything out of nothing, and SNL, where you couldn't make any mistakes, and you learned what collaboration was.
Unlike movies, on stage there are no second chances. Everything is live. If someone messes up, forgets a line, gives the wrong cue, you need to have the presence of mind to move the play along.
Being out there in a high-pressure situation with a live audience and a live TV camera on you, it brings something out.
I remember doing stand-up at an open mic a long time ago, and the MC was like, 'Who's next?' I said, 'Marietta Sirleaf,' and he was like, 'What?' And I was like, 'Ugh, okay, just Retta.' It stuck with me ever since.
Doing improv really got me started in my whole career.
If you actually do cold readings, it's very close to how people actually talk, because you're experiencing these thoughts anew every moment, and trying to make them come out coherently.
I was never that good on stage with live improv. I was much better on film or writing something and then thinking about it. I was too in my head when I was on stage.
On 'Saturday Night Live,' you wear so many hats there. You're the prop person, the actor, you're everything.
I discovered, to my surprise, that writing for live television made me a faster writer.
It's hard to do a variety show. It's hard to do all that small talk and make it sound real.
Most of the time I'm thinking, I'm glad that scene was improvised.
I think the good ones, the interviews and the promos people remember, those are improv.
I don't think it's necessary to do stand-up to be a presenter, but I like it, because it keeps me sharp, especially when something like 'Take Me Out' is 80% is ad-libbed, so that works for me.
I've had some shows where I really plan out what I'm going to say. Then I've had other shows where I'm like, 'Take a sip of the Ole Smoky Moonshine and just let it be natural and cross your fingers that you say the right things.'
When you're onstage in theater, if you mess up a line, there's no 'Cut! We'll get it again.' It's full steam ahead.
When I was doing 'A Disappearing Number' in Plymouth, we had to go on an hour and a half late, and I still hadn't written an end, so we had to make one up, and then we had to go out literally with our pants round our ankles.
When you go live, anything can happen. It excites me because it means I have to be on. When the camera's on, whatever happens happens.
My first role was an angel in the nursery nativity. I spotted my mum halfway through and shouted over someone else's lines to ask if she liked my costume. I've learnt not to do that now.
I like to improvise.
The instincts and reaction and having to move - that's what football is. You have to learn how to deal with different adjustments, and know how to react to different types of plays. And do it on the fly.
I love improvisation. You can't blame it on the writers. You can't blame it on direction. You can't blame it on the camera guy... It's you. You're on. You've got to do it, and you either sink or swim with what you've got.
I'm not a good improv-er, which is what a lot of comedic actors are really good at. I have failed miserably when I've been asked to improvise.
You can practice to learn a technique, but I'm more interested in conceiving of something in the moment.
I've always been into improvisation.
