Television Performance Quotes

Ed Sullivan brought me to TV first in 1952, then Garry Moore's program gave me a lot of confidence and freedom.

The first thing I did on television was a PBS thing where I played a priest. It was a Walt Whitman or Carl Sandburg story - I can't quite remember - but I was a turn-of-the-20th-century priest kind of guy. Never saw it; don't know if I was any good or not.

I wrote 'She's a Lady' on the back of a TWA menu, flying back from London after doing Tom Jones's TV show. Jones's manager wanted me to write him a song. If I have an idea and I don't have a pad of paper, I'll write on whatever is available. What's the difference? Paper is paper.

I especially love 'Web Therapy' and I did 'Eastbound and Down' too. I had a lot of fun doing that.

I want to carry on in the music business and in television because it's basically a hobby and a passion that I actually get paid for.

I wasn't necessarily looking to do comedy on TV, but I don't think it's an accident that I ended up on 'Community.'

I'm sorry to bang on about it because I know everyone is, but Bryan Cranston in 'Breaking Bad' is remarkable. To see him switch from 'Malcolm in the Middle' to suddenly become Walter White is incredible. It's a) nice to see an actor given that chance, and b) great to see him really take full advantage of it.

Working with Brock Lesnar is a daily challenge because every Monday night that we're on television, I feel compelled to deliver, at least from my end, the best performance I've ever put on.

One thing I won't do in television is a sitcom. I find that world to be so neurotic and bizarre.

My biggest accomplishment was playing 'Lark' on the daytime drama Port Charles because it was the most regular acting job I have had, and I had to step in and fill someone else's shoes.

I only like the live audience. I don't even like to do standup where it's being filmed. Because it affects the way the audience responds to what you say, because it makes them uncomfortable. You have to perform in a light room, and I prefer a dark room. But I love to perform, and I don't really see myself doing any television at all.

Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting.

My first TV job was on an episode of 'Hannah Montana'... Since then, I've been fortunate to end up on shows that are just such a high quality, where the writing and material is incredible.

It's hard to be on TV, it's really hard.

I did an episode of 'Frasier' with my friend Kelsey Grammer once.

If a show comes and the content is great, I would never say no to acting on TV.

I've done panel shows, which I enjoy, and on those you're recording half-an-hour of TV and sometimes they film for two hours. But with 'Britain's Got Talent,' you're on camera for eight hours, with a large theatre audience watching - and in between you're being filmed for ITV2 as you eat your lunch.

Grease is one of the movies that made me want to be an entertainer, and I have literally been waiting my whole life to play Sandy. My siblings and I watched it and played it out over and over when we were kids. This is my dream role and performing it live on television will be one of the most thrilling opportunities I’ve had in my career so far.

I kind of got into TV when I went to visit a show my brother was working on. Soon I got the second lead in a TV show.

You get into this situation, performing for T.V., where you have to speak with utter sincerity. It's just like the radio. You have to say it like you mean it, even though the thing you're saying is actually planned out.

I enjoyed 'Roswell' a lot, and I had a lot of fun playing Jim Valenti. I had never done a show that lasted as long as that - that one lasted three years.

In a live performance, it's a collaboration with the audience; you ride the ebb and flow of the crowd's energy. On television, you don't have that.

I don't know of any actor in any television show that I have ever seen who's given monologue after monologue in a television series.

I was a boss on 'Cavemen.' That was portentous.

As far as playing different characters within the character, I think that's fun. Very rarely, on TV, do you get to do that on such a regular basis.