Top 154 Quotes & Sayings by Chris Gethard - Page 2

I've seen situations where I think comics are really unrealistic about what creative expression and what the artistic freedom, what that entails.

I think one of the things about listening is that it's always at its most powerful when it's present, when it's right here, when it's right now. And that's a lesson about improv that I think just made me a much more social person.

Maria Bamford is someone who's really inspired me in a big way.

The whole romanticized 'sad clown' thing, we gotta get rid of that. That has to go! That's just getting sick people to voluntarily stay sicker and sadder than they have to be.

I think there's too many gay jokes in comedy and not enough honest explorations of sexuality.

One of the reasons I stay in New York is because you're always around so many other types of arts, and it's easy to just get lost in it.

What all my favorite comedians have in common is extraordinary honesty.

I grew up a loser, and I always felt like one, but I turned out pretty okay. I may be living proof that you can spend your whole life feeling like you're falling down a set of steps and still maybe land on your feet at the bottom.

I do know I've lived through a bunch of things that people would maybe prefer I keep behind closed doors.

I have no desire to get on a soapbox or be preachy. I don't think comedy needs to be 'brave' or 'important.'

Thank you to anyone who's ever watched or supported 'TCGS.' Even if you checked it out once, hated it, and never checked it out again - thank you for giving us a chance.

I am scared of horror movies.

Sometimes we get bored and want to shake up our format. It's a luxury we have on public access - no one cares about us. It literally doesn't matter if we fail, so sometimes we try to go really big and out of the box.

I'm a pescatarian.

I'm hungry in the ways that every artist is, but I also have this extra layer. I've done a lot of things that were consciously not for money, but because I'm so convinced I'm going to die in my mid-30s, I'm like, 'That's not what's important. Doing cool stuff and having that legacy is what's important.'

I think the key to improv is always listening. It's embracing. It's positivity. It's hearing things and not shutting them down.

Creativity saved me.

Everyone likes to laugh. Everyone likes to dance along to some music.

To a crowd that loves improv, Robin Williams is like Chuck Berry.

You don't often see vulnerability on TV, especially talk shows.

I think comics do need permission to fail. I think comics do need permission to go up and try stuff.

I've said some things on stage where the crowd was like, 'Whoa, that's bad' - and I never say it again because that's the feedback I get.

As far as comedy goes, I'm endlessly inspired by Jo Firestone.

When I was growing up, I think I was expected to be seen and not heard. You're this little, nerdy kid; no one wants to hear about how sad you are. Nobody wants to hear that you feel lonely.

I've always been really open onstage.

I didn't like who I was. I spent a lot of my life regretting who I was, which is a sad thing to say.

A lot of the things I loved the most growing up were, on the surface, kind of challenging or impenetrable. I loved Andy Kaufman, and half his shows, people would walk out in a rage. I love punk rock, which is notoriously music that doesn't always sound very inviting or appealing but, I think, unquestionably has the most heart, the most integrity.

Both creatively and organizationally, being medicated has helped me immensely.

I think what I have learned is you can't avoid losing. You're going to strike out a million times. The whole point is not to dodge losing - it's to learn how to lose well.

I think there's enough TV that makes people feel dumb out there.

I will say I miss teaching improv way more than I miss performing improv.

I can legitimately say without being arrogant that there's probably a stretch where I was one of the better teachers of improv in the country.

One thing I've realized is that being a nerd has transformed. I like that it's easier to read comic books and, like, 'Lord of the Rings' now. You don't have to get punched in the chest in the gym locker room for that anymore.

I think I'm a very notoriously positive comic.

I very classically would go into manic phases, which were as dangerous, if not more so, than the depressed phases, and I think I'd come up with the best ideas I ever had, and then the next day, I'd look at them and be like, 'This is nonsense,' because it was born out of a manic episode. What a waste of time.

I always think all the other comedians in New York hate me - I'm just convinced that they all dislike me - when, generally, I think I'm a pretty well-respected guy.

If I pretended to be confident all the time, that would just be a lie.

I always just try to remind myself, like, at the end of the day, no matter how much pressure it is to be a TV show host, you still get to be a TV show host.

I think, in my own life, I'm pretty political. I think I have some very strong ideals, and I struggle a lot with it. I struggle a lot with feeling like, 'I have a platform; should I be saying more?'

There's a teacher at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York named John Danaher. He's leading this whole group of fighters named the Danaher Death Squad, and they're revolutionizing how that world works. I actually went and signed up for classes mostly because, man, if there's innovation like that happening in New York, I want to be around it.

If I could have enough money that I know I could buy a house someday, and if I want to have kids, I could raise them - I don't need the money grab. I don't need to have a mansion. I just need to be creative and happy.

In music so many people who have been addicts or suicidal are legends. People have this mentality, still, of thinking that if they go take care of themselves then they won't be as creative as they used to be. But I think that's bullshit. I bought into that one for years and I regret it because when I first went on medications, I thought I wouldn't be funny anymore. I thought I'd have to figure out a new life path but at least I'd be alive. But it turns out that I'm actually way more funny and organized and able to have a career now that I'm able to have my head on straight.

There's many hundreds of millions of people who have jobs harder than comedians. And I also remind myself of that everyday. No matter how frustrating this can be, I'm very lucky that I've been able to cobble together a little life where this is what I do.

You see people - maybe in a frustrating fashion - that don't get embraced, when they should. You get some people who get embraced too early, and they tend to flame out, but it's really rare that someone gets lucky. It's usually a combination of a lot of talent and a lot of hard work.

I think people kind of come up and go, "Why hasn't that person busted out?" Almost always at the end of career, what you find out is that either consciously or subconsciously success hasn't happened because that person hasn't chosen for it to happen. Either through walking away because it wasn't the life they wanted or through self-sabotaging because they weren't ready.

Outside of performing, (a comedian) is someone who is analyzing life, thinking about it and trying to be observing so much. In my opinion, it can make you feel on the outside looking in.

Both creatively and organizationally, being medicated has helped me immensely. My career did not start until I was medicated. And then I can track - the years I was off medication, things dipped. And the years I went back on medication is when things started to get good for me again career wise. It is 100 percent in my case undeniable that being medicated helped my creativity.

I have the words "Lose Well" on my shoulder. It's kind of a catchphrase that sprung up from my TV show at some point. It's this idea that at a certain point, if you're a loser you've got to own that. It's pretty okay to strike out in life. Just get good at it and hold your head up high. If you're a loser, that's what you are and be cool with it.

Mania is fun. I won't lie, it's fun. But it's usually followed by a soul-crushing depression.

I would say that in the past year I have had to begrudgingly admit that I am finally a success of some level, sure.

Suicide - when I think of it, to me it means someone had a lot of problems and they couldn't fight through them anymore. That's not cowardly. It's sad and nothing but.

The whole romanticized sad clown thing, we have to get rid of that. That has to go. That's just getting sick people to voluntarily stay sicker and sadder than they have to be.

If people tell me something is impossible, I just want to prove that. I want to know that that's for certain. I don't want to not do something because someone says I can't.

The best advice I've gotten in terms of that was someone who said, "People will surprise you if you let them."

I'm just trying to do my part before I get hit by a bus.

Growing up and being a kid, I knew that creativity was at the heart of what I wanted to do. I always had this feeling of wanting to be a comedian and wanting to be an actor.

If you are a New York comedian who knows how to improvise and has glasses, you're going to start getting commercials.

Many comedians - both male and female - do have an "I will never date another comedian" rule.

Talking about the fact that I get depressed or that I've had some suicidal issues in my life is not easy. I don't know of many comedians who are going all in on that. In some sense, I think I've maybe sacrificed some momentum doing that. In another sense, I'm in a place where if I can talk about that and if it helps some kid in a way that gives them some help that wasn't available to me when I was a kid, then I gotta do that. Put being a good person first. If you have a platform, use it for stuff that's noble and good and worth putting out in the world.

I think you can make good things happen if you look for them. Life is a very positive thing.