Top 48 Quotes & Sayings by Wendi McLendon-Covey

I was a theatrical kid, but my parents were overprotective. When I expressed interest in show business, they shut it down.

What's the most humiliating thing? When you take someone to dinner or you cook somebody dinner and they get food poisoning. I mean, how bad do you feel?

If you want to play the good roles, spend more time in in college and in acting class than you do in the gym, and you'll have the career you want.

I'm a big fan of Amy Sedaris, and one of her decorating mainstays is to put googly eyes on everything.

I don't want to outlive my money.

I like to play the weirdos. I like to play the people that are hard to like. You get to say and do things that you would never say and do in real life.

My skin is super sensitive, so an oil-based cleanser is just perfect, rather than some detergent thing that strips it.

Let's face it: families behind closed doors are the funniest thing ever - the way people talk to each other, the way you fight for 30 seconds, and then all of a sudden you're crying. Families are just ripe for comedy.

Now, I love playing moms who can't hide their paranoia.

Come on, planning a wedding, let's be honest, it's not fun. It's not fun being in a wedding.

You always end up saying and doing such horrible things to your family, 'cause you know they're never going anywhere, and at some point, they're going to forgive you.

I've got a bunch of books... I rely on funny books and movies to cheer me up. Oh, but I must say, I do have the world's most perfect husband, so a cuddle from him always cheers me up. He's a good guy.

I grew up in the age of variety shows. 'Flip Wilson,' 'Carol Burnett,' 'Donny and Marie,' and 'Sonny and Cher' - I never missed an episode. These shows had it all: singing, dancing, and sketch comedy. One minute, they're ice-skating with pyrotechnics, the next they're doing a scene on a gigantic set. I just couldn't get enough.

I have terrible chemical allergies, and I'm constantly battling unsightly reactions.

On my keychain, I have a citrine crystal in a tiny cage. It's for protection and good vibes.

When I finally got a manager and a publicist and blah, blah, blah, sometimes they do things that you don't authorize or maybe tell you information that's incorrect, but you go around repeating it only to find out later that it's not true, and it's very embarrassing.

I never wanted to be one of those desperate actors, just waiting for their next gig, who might have to take something that they didn't want to do to pay the rent.

You know what? At the end of the day, funny is funny. I hope to see the end of all the female cliches that are written in a lot of comedies that are named chick flicks.

Certainly, when you have shoulder pads on that go up to your ears, you hold yourself a certain way. You speak with authority when you have shoulders like that.

Pulling away from your parents, that's the natural thing to do; that's how life progresses.

My skin is so hypersensitive that I have to cleanse it with oils and then back it up with even more oil. I really am just putting on oil all the time.

Oh my gosh, if I could be on '30 Rock', my life would be made. That is my favorite show. My absolute favorite show.

Different people's houses smell like different weird things. God forbid someone should come and nail down what my house smells like. It'd probably be a litter box... sweaty socks... and burnt bacon. That probably is what it smells like.

You have to ask yourself if you want to be the kind of actress who's interesting, or the kind of actress who's meant to play the pretty-but-uninteresting wife of a chubby guy on a network sitcom.

If I improvise at all on 'The Goldbergs,' it's with the physical stuff.

There's nothing wrong with a little self-possession, there's beauty in taking time for yourself just because you feel like it, and there's nothing wrong with not divulging every secret!

Most people think of the humidifier as something for arid climates, which I guess most of L.A. is, but it's just generally good for hydrating the skin, no matter what.

I've never lived in Los Angeles. I've always lived 30 miles away in Long Beach.

I'm a big fan of David Sedaris; I love all his books and have them all on audio and e-reader, in addition to hard copies.

I found my Saatva mattress when I was searching for a biodegradable and organic mattress that wouldn't leach chemicals because, believe it or not, I don't like that!

The thing about acting is everybody thinks you make a ton of money. And the money is good when you're working. But you can go a long time between jobs.

My skin is hypersensitive, so I use powdered sunscreen by Colorescience. I don't know how I lived without it.

I plan on working until I'm 105.

You can't beat a Diane Von Fostenburg wrap dress; I always tend to go for the wrap dresses with a little more structure. I also love Prada shoes.

I can't stand having a messy purse, and it makes me anxious to watch other people dig through their messy purses (especially if it's an expensive designer bag! Don't treat your Chanel like a trash can).

Weddings are really good for making you feel terrible about yourself if you're not where you want to be in life.

You think your friends have good taste in fashion, until they ask you to wear an ugly bridesmaid dress!

I don't take a lot of vacations.

I love the healing power of crystals.

Back when I was growing up, it was like, 'You're too young to know what you want. We're telling you what you want. It doesn't matter if you like it. And you are stupid. Just so you know.'

'M Train' will take you in and out of dreamscapes and reality and remembrances with prose so spare and matter-of-fact that it delivers a much bigger emotional punch. Patti Smith doesn't need to embellish; she just tells her stories... and her stories are incredible.

As a performer, you can't just sit around waiting for the phone to ring. You have to write and develop projects for yourself, because casting people aren't always going to see you the way you want to be seen. Write a one-person show, shoot a short film, do plays, whatever - activity breeds activity. No one's interested in a stay-at-home actress.

Improv is more than just spitting out a bunch of funny stuff that's unrelated to the material. You have to stay in character, you have to react and respond as the character you're trying to play. You have to service the story, and I think improv training has helped with my listening, responding, and my audition technique. It's sounds so silly, but it's true. Because not only do you improvise during the audition, but once you get the part, they'll say, "Throw away everything. Just improv this scene. Do whatever you want." Someone could panic if they're not used to doing something like that.

I learned how to let other performers have their moment. A lot of people can't do that. They just chew the scenery and steamroll over their scene partners. It doesn't make you look better in the long run to do that. You have to have balance in your scene. If it's somebody else's moment, let them have it. Learn how to be generous. Plus, it makes the audience hate you.

I grew up fascinated with comedy and with people who could capture someone's attention.

I had seen some shows at the Groundlings [legendary L.A. improvisational and sketch comedy troupe] and thought, "If I could ever do that, that would really mean something, that I have arrived." So I went through the program and said to myself, "I'm going to stay here until they kick me out." Seriously, they can ask you to leave at any point. Luckily, they never did that to me.

I used humor to avoid being picked on as a kid. Or I would try and make my parents laugh, so I wouldn't get in trouble. But as a kid, I would watch Flip Wilson and I would memorize his whole routine, listen to Bill Cosby's records constantly, Steve Martin, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball. I just drank that stuff up and loved it.

Growing up, I was the weird, theatrical kid who always tried to make people be in my plays. I've always loved comedy, but when it came time to figure out what I was going to go to school for, my parents were like, "Acting?! I don't think so. No." It took me a while to get the courage to pursue it. I had to do it in secret for a little bit, and then when I got married and was out on my own, I went for it.