Best Improv Quotes & Sayings

Sometimes I think your intellect can get in your way as an actor or an artist. When you come from a world of improv and comedy, you're able to let it flicker and fall out. — Paul Dano

I didn't really know who I was, but improv had taught me that I could be anyone. I didn't have to wait to be cast - I could give myself the part. I could be an old man or a teenage babysitter or a rodeo clown. In three short years Chicago had taught me that I could decide who I was. My only job was to surround myself with people who respected and supported that choice. Being foolish was the smartest thing to do. — Amy Poehler

In Miami, I was studying improv as well as acting. Improv is a great tool to have, just for the comedic timing that you get. When I moved to L.A., I started taking classes with The Groundlings, and I loved it. I'm definitely in love with improv and comedy. — Blake Jenner

I was on the improv team in high school, and after I graduated, I joined an improv company that had been established 10 years prior to me getting there. They did longform improv, and I fell in love with it. It's acting, character creation, collaborative, artistic expression and comedy - and it's scary. It was a big rush. — Tatiana Maslany

I'm not much of an improv guy. That's a talent I don't have. — Henry Rollins

We are going to do 'Hot Tub' until we die. Every Monday. Then we'll come back and do it as zombies. 'Hot Tub' is very important. What we do is based on our live skills. It's stand-up and sketch and improv; everything we do in 'Hot Tub' is important to our jobs. And every Monday I'm excited to do it. — Kurt Braunohler

I do standup every week in L.A. at the Laugh Factory and the Improv. — Brian Dunkleman

I'm gonna be pretty honest; there wasn't a lot of improv allowed on 'Eclipse.' — Justin Chon

We use improv in all kinds of fun ways. Sometimes it's to invent or discover new things, sometimes it's to weird out the other actors, and sometimes it's to create a sense of fun, to find new things inside the scripted lines. — Josh Gad

The trouble with improv is that it is often about being funny in the moment without any real consideration for the bigger picture. — Simon Pegg

I've always wanted to be an actor. I didn't get into this game to be the best improviser in the world. I didn't choose improv as a stepping stone, it just happened to become one. — Rob Corddry

I used to teach improv courses in Amsterdam where we would do team-building exercises, and they can go south very quickly. — Ike Barinholtz

I'm terrified of improv. Improv in a show or in front of an audience sounds terrifying. — Elizabeth Olsen

My best friend growing up really put the bug in my ear about acting. We created this one hour-and-a-half improv play when we were 10 or 11 and performed it at the library. We just played off each other so well and had the best time doing it and the funniest part was, we wound up having packed houses, other people loved it too. — Katherine Moennig

When I began doing theatre in high school I saw that I could get laughs from people but I didn't really connect that to going on and becoming a comedian. I was interested in acting and while I was at Boston College I was part of an improv group, Mother's Fleabag, which had a long history and has been known as one of the best college improvisation groups in the U.S. — Amy Poehler

I moved to Chicago in 1992 to study improv and it was everything I wanted it to be. It was like a cult. People ate, slept, and definitely drank improv. They worked at crappy day jobs just to hand over their money for improv classes. Eager young people in khakis and polo shirts were willing to do whatever teachers like Del Close and Martin de Maat told them to. In retrospect, it may actually have been a cult. — Tina Fey

I worked with the Groundlings, doing sketch comedy and improv at a theater here in L.A. It was my hobby, but I took classes and stayed passionate about it because it's what I wanted to do. It just fit. It takes a while before you can actually make money at it. I worked for years. — Fortune Feimster

The best thing about improv is that no matter how bad your show is, it's only 30 minutes, and never exists again. The worst thing is no matter how good your show is, it's only 30 minutes, and never exists again. — Mick Napier

I take improv classes. Improv is something I can use in any aspect of life. — Vinny Guadagnino

I worked with Marlon Wayans on the show 'They Wayans Brothers,' and we hit it off. One thing about Marlon, when he casts a movie or a TV show, he expects you to bring it. You've got to be ready to improv, because Marlon will say anything, and you've got to be ready to come back. — Kym Whitley

Improv changed my life in the best way. I gained so much confidence and really learned how to use my sense of humor to do something other than make sarcastic comments to the TV, though that remains one of my best skills. I stayed in Chicago for college mainly to continue doing improv, which was an awesome decision for me. — Lauren Lapkus

Life is improvisation. All of those [improv] classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am. — Tina Fey

Doing improv really got me started in my whole career. — Lauren Lapkus

Theatre sports is the best improv training period. — Wayne Brady

I love improv so much. Listening. I think that's the key. When you improvise, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to create, and to be generating information, and trying to be funny, but if you just listen to what's being said to you, and then react honestly, you generally get better results. — Rob Riggle

Some of the best stuff in all my movies has been improv. — Catherine Hardwicke

Even though I do a more traditional type of being funny on television, I still know a lot of comedians and stand-ups and improv actors. — Busy Philipps

We do long-form-style improv. Our focus was characters and telling a long arc story over about an hour and a half. It was closer to a one-act play than one-off sketches. — Tatiana Maslany

The current Babe Ruth of improv? Sacha Baron Cohen. He's pretty amazing. — Seth Rogen

I'm a very anxious person, and it's hard for me to be in the moment. Improv demands that you be in the moment. — Zach Woods

I've been working straight since 2003, so I might just want to take an improv or theater class. That excites me. I can't wait to do different characters - not necessarily the leading chick who gets the guy, but the weird, freaky cousin. — Fergie

And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last turn all to Spirit Improv'd by tract of time, and wingd ascend Ethereal, as wee, or may at choice Here or in Heav'nly Paradises dwell; — John Milton

Every night was improv. — Kliph Nesteroff

Once we got the scene down, we were told to improv. — Eva Mendes

I'll drive down the street, and I'll practice improv. I will sit there at a red light and see two guys talking to each other, and I will just start playing both characters. I can't hear them, but I can see their mouths moving, so I'll just put words in their mouths. — J. B. Smoove

I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City. — Steve Carell

With improv, it's a combination of listening and not trying to be funny. — Kristen Wiig

Stand-up is the scariest thing - whether it's TV, movies, improv - stand-up is the worst. — Melissa Peterman

In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents. And many of the world's greatest discoveries have been by accident. — Tina Fey

I remember being upset because I was finally legal to drink in Canada, and I decided to throw that all away and move to America, where I had to wait another two years. I came here to do improv and to try to join the Groundlings. — Ryan Reynolds

I'm an actor first and foremost, who happens to do improv. I've also done sitcoms, I've done stage. — Wayne Brady

One of the favorite games I play, when I improv or take on a character, is what I like to call arrogant ignorance. That's the game I enjoy playing most. — Rob Riggle

I know the benefits of having a really great improv show are amazing because it was this one rare and fleeting thing that was incredible, but the risk just didn't appeal to me. I liked the control of sitting down and writing things. — Allison Tolman

I do a little improv in my shows. Kind of like our movie, I'll do beats and ideas of dialogue, but I think there's less pressure because it's a live show. If you mess up, the audience laughs because we don't really know what we're doing. But as far as shooting, that was very scary, trying to make a point and drive the film. It definitely helped improvising. — Charlyne Yi