When I'm on stage, and when I'm comfortable or uncomfortable, I have sort of a knee-jerk reaction to try to make people laugh. It's my version of a handshake to show that I want to make a connection and to show what I'm truly like. It's kind of my statement like, "This is what I'm really like. I'd like you to love me."
The way Disney characters move, they're very kind of slow and fluid and flowing; one pose kind of eases into the next. If you look at a show like 'The Simpsons' and subsequently a show like 'Family Guy' - the characters will jerk from pose to pose a lot, a bit more snappy. Which sort of goes along with the writing tone of the show.
I used to get pissed every day. I would wake up and pick up my phone and look at the alerts, and it's like, "What am I gonna read today?" But then I realized I needed to try and be as grateful as I could possibly be. What we're in need of is a greater leadership that's inclusive and truly hears the people and doesn't have a knee-jerk reaction out of anger. Scenarios like this, while divisive, also clarify what we really want in the future. And we'll have a chance in a few years to cast another vote, and we'll see where the American people are when that time comes.
I like to make people laugh. I like that kind of silly stuff. For me, it's a natural thing to want to do something like this.
People tweet me all the time and tell me how much they love it, how they can't wait for the show to come back on, that they're addicted to the show. So that's really rewarding. As an artist, we're all looking for that connection to an audience and when you find people as diehard as our fans are - it's sort of like finding the holy grail.
I would like to continue to make art by being able to do what I love and have that make it possible for me to support my family. I'd like to make people happy, show people a good time, and hopefully inspire some people.
I have always thought limousines make me dreadfully uncomfortable, just the way that suits do. When I wear a suit, I feel like ants and termites are crawling all over my body. It's really, really uncomfortable. People put themselves in a kind of prison. It's like the world of the embassies.
I love doing [stand-up]. I love making people laugh no matter how. Whether it's a commercial, or a TV show, or a reality show, or a talk show, or a special, or a book. However I can make people laugh, that's what I want to do.
You can tell on-stage when a joke's starting to lose its pop. It doesn't mean people don't want to hear it anymore; it means I don't want to do it anymore. Because I want to move on to something that has a knee-jerk reaction just like you get when you tell somebody a joke that they've never heard.
I think that connection with humans is so important. Sometimes I'll do this monologue and talk to the crowd, like, 'Come on, let's really connect here.' I don't think a lot of people understand it's a two-way exchange. Some people go to a show and are like, 'Yeah, you make me feel.' That's not how it works.
I post less-than-flattering selfies and don't try to change who I am to make people like me. I try to show people that they don't have to be afraid to show their goofy side.
I love being in an arena that has like 10,000 people and huge crowds. I want to do a show at like the Viper room so badly. Like go up on stage and thrash myself around, go jump into the crowd. You can effing swear, get drunk on stage and do whatever you want basically.
I'm Ross Barkley and I've got to create a better version of the player I am and show what I can do, not try to be like someone else. That's part of what I hope I can achieve here, to make people aware of who I am as a player and show everyone what I can do.
People are gonna think that MTV censored me, and they really didn't. I really wanted to try to make a show that didn't rely on offensive, edgy material because I think it was an exercise in trying to write without that. Because I see that as a crutch sometimes and I want to know that I can do something funny and worthwhile without that. And also make a show that my parents would like and that kids could watch with their parents.
I always want to spend time around people who lift me up and make me feel like my best version of myself. So if I can spend time around people that make me laugh or something like that, that's incredible.
Now I have a standard for how I make sure people do not speak to me in a way that I feel uncomfortable with. When I was younger, I didn't have that. I was like, 'Try not to make waves.' I wanted everybody to like me, and so I stifled a lot of the discomfort that I had.
My humor isn't meant to be mean or hurt anyone. But it's to make them uncomfortable and laugh. I like making people feel a different range of emotions. I like to make people a bit confused.