A Quote by John Cleese
I've always called myself a writer/performer, not an actor because I basically write what I perform.
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An actor is here to perform. For example, if a character is a Punjabi or a Bihari, and the actor is not, doesn't mean we have to cast an actor from that region. If an actor can perform, they can portray anyone because an actor is here to try different roles.
I'm a writer, not an actor. I want to write rather than perform. I'm looking forward to disappearing for a while.
I never called myself a writer because it seemed so pretentious - a writer was what somebody else called you, a title bestowed.
I always call myself the luckiest actor in the world because I made a living solely as a performer from the time I left home at 17 years old.
I've always defined myself as a writer, I've never decided what it was I was gonna write. [...] I always fancied myself one, but I'm not. I'm so far from a writer.
I've called myself an actor - I won't say I've been an actor, but I've called myself an actor - since 1989. That's when I moved to Los Angeles.
When you do improv, you're everything. You're a performer, writer, and director, because you're moving the scene in the direction you want it to go, you're making it up as you go, and you're acting it. You're all of those things, so I always viewed myself that way. And with the films I've done, I've written on them, I've acted in some of them. And even ones I haven't acted in, I've acted them out just to be sure another actor can do them.
I always felt of myself as a composer, performer, improviser. I've never called myself a jazz man. I make art.
When I get hired as an actor as opposed to a writer, one of things that's exciting for me is doing stuff I wouldn't normally do myself. So whether it's a kid's movie or a voice in animation or in this case - where I just get to be silly, it's a different kind of comedy for me. As a performer, it's a different pleasure than when you're writing or directing. As a performer, you're just in the hands of the director and you go with whatever they want to do.
I always stayed fit because I'm a performer, and all of those things help me to perform.
As an actor, I've always been interested in making sure I can perform the role and the lines in the way the writer intended.
I say "on principle" [regarding 'lesbian writer'] because whenever you get one of your minority labels applied, like "Irish Writer," "Canadian Writer," "Woman Writer," "Lesbian Writer" - any of those categories - you always slightly wince because you're afraid that people will think that means you're only going to write about Canada or Ireland, you know.
Basically, I got into stand-up because I'm too egocentric to be an actor and not disciplined enough to be a writer.
Because I have no consistent schedule as an actor, it was difficult to develop one as a writer. Ideally, I'd like to write first thing in the morning, every day. But sometimes I'm called to set before the sun comes up, or I've worked late the night before, or I'm on a plane.
I love my stuff - you're not supposed to say that. But because I'm performer as well as a writer, I'm constantly interacting with my own work. I always get to find these little secrets that I left for myself, little notes - I find them all over the scores.
I write to invite the voices in, to watch the angel wrestle, to feel the devil gather on its haunches and rise. I write to hear myself breathing. I write to be doing something while I wait to be called to my appointment with death. I write to be done writing. I write because writing is fun.
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