Best Dan Harmon Quotes & Sayings

Don't be so hard on yourself, don't put pressure on yourself, life is just a chain of experiments and results, and you'll be perfect when you're dead. — Dan Harmon

The public's perception of your show is what it is, and you don't get to complain how people perceive your show or talk about it. — Dan Harmon

If your ratings are high and there's money being made, you're allowed to be a perfectionist in television. — Dan Harmon

I've never done well when I've been appreciated. I've done best when I'm targeted for death. — Dan Harmon

Everyone knows that there are more people watching any given show than is being registered by the Nielsen system. — Dan Harmon

Always hedge your bets. That's how I do it. I lay all my bets on what I can contribute, and suffer no illusions that I'm generating stuff by myself. — Dan Harmon

I grew up on network sitcoms. If those are gone when I'm 65 years old, I would never forgive myself for not stepping up to that plate, as often as possible. I'm already bummed out that DVDs are dying off because, in my 20s, those were a huge thing. — Dan Harmon

I don't really have a lot of appropriate feelings for people on an individual basis, but I've always wanted to make people happy. — Dan Harmon

People often ask me about what constitutes a nerd-friendly show - like, does it have to have sci-fi elements? But I think it's just a show that satisfies the secret craving we all have to be obsessed with something and not feel at all stupid about it. — Dan Harmon

I expect the audience to assume TV is stupid. I accept that it's my job to overcome it. — Dan Harmon

I don't think it's going to be possible for the next generation of writers to tell stories without telling stories about telling stories. — Dan Harmon

All [tv] shows are like cigarettes. You watch two, you have a higher chance of watching three. They're all addictive. — Dan Harmon

I've discovered a new video game called owning my home. — Dan Harmon

My cat brought me a toy. I thanked her and threw it. She sat there gave me a look that made me realize people and dogs are the crazy ones. — Dan Harmon

Well, the average person comes home from work really tired, and just wants to flip through channels until they land on the thing that's the least objectionable to them. They're not looking for their new favorite TV show because they know that that search will take forever and they'll go to bed unhappy. — Dan Harmon

The most rewarding part of writing for TV is - a year ago I would have said it's just watching it on TV, it's just having been done with it and then collecting all that energy. — Dan Harmon

TV in all its ugliness can be a beautiful thing. — Dan Harmon

It was never my direct intention to do anything particularly medium-defying. — Dan Harmon

As humans, reality for us is largely based on other people's perceptions. If there's 20 bodies in your crawl space but you haven't been caught yet, you tell yourself you're still a birthday clown, and that's how you keep doing it. — Dan Harmon

Pretty sad. Pretty lonely. But that's how I prefer it? I quess? I guess. It's a good guess. It's the best quess ever. — Dan Harmon

I was playing the game where I was going to be a great TV or film writer some day and there was nothing else that I thought about, including other people. — Dan Harmon

TV tends to be like, if you're lucky, it's like Las Vegas. You can't get out. There's always another pitch meeting. They keep you on the casino floor. If I'm unlucky, if I'm lucky enough to be unlucky, I would love to write a movie. — Dan Harmon

None of us are bad people. We float around and we run across each other and we learn about ourselves, and we make mistakes and we do great things. We hurt others, we hurt ourselves, we make others happy and we please ourselves. We can and should forgive ourselves and each other for that. — Dan Harmon

I love '30 Rock.' It's one of my favorite shows. It's certainly the gold standard of comedy writing. — Dan Harmon

You'll be perfect when you're dead — Dan Harmon

I think thoughts in my head bounce around in my skull and, if they keep bouncing around in my skull, they get worse and worse. When they come out of my mouth, they make people happy. — Dan Harmon

Dan Harmon has this idea that characters on TV are allowed to talk about their favorite movies and TV shows and songs. — Gillian Jacobs

The concept of doing holiday episodes is a huge part of what's fantastic about doing TV. And viewers agree; you see the numbers going up for holiday episodes. — Dan Harmon

Class clowns are never allowed to date anybody decent, but you don't get beaten up, you're invited to parties, and everybody likes you. — Dan Harmon

I wish that television would stop selling our hatred of ourselves, and start seducing us with our love of ourselves. — Dan Harmon

There are lots of emotions that go with the Fourth of July. — Dan Harmon

Good writers hate bad writing but hating bad writing doesn't make you good. Writing badly does. — Dan Harmon

Garry Shandling has always been a pioneer of ... meta entertainment. He's always been a defender of the creative right to use the frame as part of the painting. — Dan Harmon

Audiences, as they get smaller, can intensify their relationship with the product, and so can the creative relationship with the people that you are serving. The good news is that, the more shows there are, the less the conglomerates have to gain by breaking the will of each individual creative. — Dan Harmon