From the time I was a little kid, I was always shy. Performing was when I was outgoing. So I guess I am a loner. I get claustrophobia if a lot of people are around.
I always considered myself a performer. It's what God gave me. It doesn't matter if one person hears it or a million.
Somewhere during the 'Next to Normal' Broadway run, I found myself learning more about myself onstage than in real life, and I truly realized the beautiful, tremendous, extraordinary gift that is performing.
I've been in training for stardom.
Every actor tries to come to Broadway be it Richard Burton, Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor or Shirley McClain.
I'd love to do a drama.
That's what I've wanted to do my whole life, just act. When I was younger, I loved to entertain people. I always used to make up dance routines, do little plays. I love to perform, basically.
I became a performer because it was what I enjoyed doing.
As my career has progressed, I've had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet. But that doesn't change my desire to entertain folks. That's really who I am.
When I started performing, there was no Internet; I didn't really have anything to copy. I kind of had to just make up what I thought burlesque was, based on photographs of Sally Rand or whatever.
I'm a performer. We don't retire.
Acting on stage is still my favorite thing to do. And everyone who's been in musicals knows that there is nothing more fun.
I went from being a kid who loved to perform magic tricks to becoming the world's most notorious hacker, feared by corporations and the government.
The talent that I was blessed with was really for the theater.
Being performers, that's what we do: We put on shows and want people to watch.
I started traveling, performing, doing photo shoots and working on new music. At the same time, I was juggling homework and trying not to miss out on too many experiences during my junior and senior years - like prom and graduation.
Everybody is an actor in one way or another. We are all performing certain things.
I had been a hurricane all my life. And that was, of course, because I was bipolar and did not know it. And I was - you know, the mania took control. When you're on stage and when you're performing, you're heightened, and it's an extreme.
I started travelling doing shows everywhere to make people feel like a sense of New Orleans wherever they may be.
Shows are my saving grace. In between actual jobs, the only thing that keeps me sane is the knowledge that I can go up on stages.
There was a time when people said, 'Jim, if you keep on making faces, your face will freeze like that.' Now they just say, 'Pay him!'
There hasn't been one highlight that stands out... but touring and performing has been great.
I think the reward for doing comedy is doing the comedy itself. You get to go to work everyday and laugh and make other people laugh and to me there's no greater reward than that.
I enjoy recording and performing, but it's the songwriting that I love most.
I love doing shows. I love rocking shows. I love playing instruments. I love singing. If I can find a way to do that and feed my family, then I'm a happy man.
