Top 94 Quotes & Sayings by Lee Mack
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English comedian Lee Mack.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
For me, I wanted to write a book about getting into comedy. That's what I wanted to write.
I'm not opposed to the consumption of alcohol. I'm opposed to my kids watching TV at seven o'clock and being told to bet and drink.
Loads of blokes think they're funny, but it counts for nothing unless you get up and have a go.
In TV, you get driven to work in a luxury car, and find flowers in your dressing room. Then suddenly you're on tour, drying your hair backstage on plastic curtains.
Everyone told me that British sitcom was dead. Then I looked at 'Seinfeld' and 'Frasier' and thought, 'No it's not, it just needs more gags.'
Looking back at my school reports, I start off as quite a swotty kid, and then when I get to 12 or 13, my teachers start saying: 'Lee has started to joke around a lot in class.' After that, it's a steady graph of decline, with the jokes increasing and increasing.
I feel that I'm a stand-up comedian more than anything else, that's my job.
Now and again I'll bump into people and say, 'I'm a big fan of yours. Would you like to be in my sitcom?' And they say, 'Oh yes,' but when it comes to the booking, they don't want to do it.
I'd been travelling in Romania. It was 1990, just after the revolution and you couldn't buy anything so we'd been eating basic food. We went to McDonald's and, I'm ashamed to say, it was wonderful. I hate McDonald's normally.
I love buying things I wouldn't normally buy, especially cigars.
I can only write what I would be interested in.
London's got less of a group identity because it's a melting pot and it's bigger. Whereas if you're from Glasgow or Newcastle or wherever, the group atmosphere is already there.
When I'm on tour I just ring up the theatres, book it and go on. You can pretty much go on tour when you want but you can't just make a telly show when you want.
When I was little, I used to get a comic - 'Cheeky Weekly' - which was a weekly comic whose main character was Cheeky. I used to get 'Roy of the Rovers,' too.
In British sitcoms, you can get five minutes of nothing before the story starts.
Comedy was an easy choice for me because I didn't have a career.
I came to London with a girl. We lived together and split up very quickly. I was on my own in London so started going to comedy clubs.
It's funny, because when you tell people you've stopped drinking, there's an automatic reaction. People ask, 'Was it a lifestyle choice or were you waking up in a skip?'
Yes, if I wasn't a happily married man with three children, Emma Bunton would definitely be my hot-tub fantasy date.
My wife and I have always thought it odd that, on social occasions, couples play the 'hot tub fantasy' game where you're allowed to pick a celebrity you'd like to share a hot tub with.
It's much harder to have a BBC One sitcom than to have a tour of stand-up.
I've realised that my strength is writing around people.
I'm terrified of flying and have tried everything from prescription drugs to booze and herbal remedies. The only thing that works is Valium. I don't know why I'm so frightened - I think it's from seeing my mum freak out when I was young.
Before Twitter, if comedians wrote what they had for lunch on a Post-it and put it through your letterbox you wouldn't find it acceptable - but now apparently it is on Twitter.
Since 'The Office,' everyone has this idea that comedy is only good if it reflects the way people really speak. But that's nonsense - and it's a problem unique to comedy.
Telling lies is the easy bit, but telling the truth and pretending you are lying is hard.
I'm on my own when I say this, but I'm one of the few people that think that 'Everybody Loves Raymond' is better than 'Seinfeld.'
My family were nothing but pleased when I told them I wanted to be a comedian.
My great-grandfather was a variety hall comedian called Billy Mack.
My kids would say I'm strict, but I don't think I am.
When I was 24, I went back to the academic life and did a degree in film and television at Brunel University.
I have a very clear separation between my life and my work.
I do write a lot of stuff for my tours. I think I just want to give people their money's worth. They've paid to come and see jokes so I try to give them as many as I can.
I suppose if your parents die in their 50s and you are approaching 50, you see that you are definitely not in the first half of your life any more.
I don't know the statistics, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a disproportionate number of comics come from broken homes.
I've tried everywhere, but my garden shed is the most effective place to write.
If I was reading a book about a comedian, I wouldn't really care too much about their childhood.
The rules of comedy are, don't complain, it's a brilliant job. You complain, and you're seen as losing touch with reality.
We have all said things that are offensive when taken out of context. You don't need to tell the public to be repelled. They will tell you they are repelled.
I've got quite a few friends in the comedy world as you meet a lot of people.
I'm a huge fan of stuff like 'Planet Earth' and the American sitcom 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'
Not Going Out' is a pretty neutral sitcom - to quote the 'Seinfeld' thing, it's not really about anything.
I use Wikipedia and eBay; I look for singles for my 1950s jukebox.
I remember being captivated by Steve Coogan and Eddie Izzard and wanting to do what they did. That generation of comedians was my main influence.
Not Going Out's jokes were based on the American mentality in terms of how often the jokes appear.
Cancun - the locals were fantastic, but it was full of the worst kind of Americans.
My only ambition was to get to 50, and not regret not having had a crack at being a comic.
Your voice determines people's perception probably more than your style or your jokes.
The truth is that I don't really understand the concept of having an old-fashioned sense of humour, because to me fashion is about clothes not comedy.
I hate all adverts for alcohol. They're evil. All of them.
If I am old-fashioned, it's not a conscious decision. I just do material that I think is funny.
There are probably about 50 comedians who would come to my 50th birthday party but I'm not sure how many of them would come to my funeral.
I'm not a comedian who wants to spend far too long on stage.
My first recollection of performing was shortly after my parents split up, so the logical conclusion to draw is that that affected me.
Bobby Ball, who plays my dad in 'Not Going Out,' is very funny. He has a magical sense for comedy that nobody has been able to replicate.
I'm like a goldfish. My memory is terrible.
Don't get me wrong, I'm under no illusions, I've got a very old-school, mainstream leaning to the way I present my comedy because I actually like jokes and don't just do observational stuff.
If it's not a film in which Harrison Ford's wife is being kidnapped, I'm not interested; he's my hero.
I was 38 when 'Not Going Out' began, and I was playing a 34-year-old who had a thing about his landlady.
From the age of 14, I remember thinking I wanted to be a comedian. But that was like saying I wanted to be an astronaut. It felt like a million miles away, something I could never do, but would be great to.
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