W. M. L. Jay Quotes

There seems to be a weird ceiling to being a stand-up as far as acting.

There is a ceiling to it and there's a stigma. Billy Crystal as brilliant as he is, he's never going to be thought of as a contemporary like Alan Arkin.

Comedians are always going to be in the showbiz middle class, you're not Brad Pitt; you're never going to be Sam Rockwell or Shia LaBeouf or Leo DiCaprio. You're a comic.

The allure becomes, "Can I make these rooms bigger?" Can I fill these 1,500-seat rooms? Then the allure is, how much, if we're being honest, how much can I squeeze out of it financially?

It's always a job when you're the reason they're assembling. If you're just doing shows and you're on a lineup with eight other guys, it's fun, it's great.

It's very good to know when you're being lapped on the racetrack, 'cause you've got to put your foot down on the pedal and get going.

The first time I watched [Keith] Olbermann, his opening monologue, I completely changed the way I approached my radio show.

My radio show, I'd show up, I'd read the data, and I would have sound bites and stuff like that.

This happens to me every couple of years. I'll look at someone I respect and I'll realize that he's outworking me. It changes the way I behave for the next half decade.

I'm telling you, I could teach at a university, [George] Carlin, a whole semester. The construction and deconstruction of the words, the language, the order.

There is no particular source my stories come from. The stories always seem to be there waiting for me, though sometimes shrouded in mist and fog.

As a writer I am proud that if you took my last four books, and they didn't have my name on them, I don't think readers would know they were by the same author.

Writing a novel, I am making is an object that has a life and identity of its own, apart from me.

There is nothing wrong with a writer who has a distinct style in book after book, but I am not interested in repeating myself.

The people of Missouri said they expect their elected leaders to support public schools because they know that education is the best economic development tool there is.

Nuclear weapons are to be worried about only when they're in the hands of Ronald Reagan - not so much when they're in the hands of a Third World anti-imperialist like Saddam Hussein. Can't you see?

In human history who hold the reigns of political power, and there are some women who were very much a team player during their husband's oppressive regime.

You Cannot Live as I Have Lived and Not End Up Like This: The Thoroughly Disgraceful Life & Times of Willie Donaldson.

If you live to be 100 years old, what you've done here for the last two days, weeks, monthswhat you've done here will echo in eternity.

Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience.

I had a twin, and he didn't make it.

In the clubs, it's all out and you can say whatever as the character. TV has standards.

Im known for impressions and family stories.

I'm self-centered, inconsiderate, and what was the third adjective? Oh, yes, and I have this infantile fantasy that one day I'll amount to something as an actress.

Oh, I know I can sing. What I really want to be is an actress.

Certainly I'm always willing to talk to anyone who's interested in talking to me!

I don't know what 'Mad Men' has done for my fan base. I didn't know that I still had a fan base, to be honest.

I have been recognized from Mad Men, and it’s so cool when that happens because I am so proud to be a part of the show.

Let me just tell you this: I love polyester.

Im from Dallas. My whole family is based in Texas and Mississippi and Arkansas, spread throughout most of the South.

When completed, Disney's California Adventure will feel more immersive and richer. It will have more heart.

Bad restaurants find unique ways to be bad. Good ones are good in the same way: good food, nice staff, a pleasant room. The human capacity for finding unique ways to screw things up always amazes me.

People adore bad reviews. Nobody would be interested in reading the good ones.

The tragedy of my job [journalist] is that I rarely get to go where I want to go. I have to go where the job takes me.

It takes ten times longer to get rid of your reputation than it does to make it.

There's people who actually have a whole science devoted to what makes a sticky meme and that idea of that question of why some ideas about how civilizations work catch on and others don't.

I've recently enjoyed the Paul Thomas Anderson commentaries and the David Fincher commentaries.

I don't stay in the genre because I just like all stories that have a smart hook in them and I can find a comic way through if it's a comedy or a suspenseful way through it if it's a drama.

But I couldn't cut that whole septic tank scene out because the audience liked it so much. So I sort of fell right back into getting a cheap laugh, but I still loved it.

I just always look for stuff that has a character-driven thing.

I wish I was sort of someone like Woody Allen who can stage everything in one long master shot, no coverage; just, you know, that's it.

My biggest role as director on the film is keeping a sense of the overview - how to cast the movie and shoot it in such a way that it will cut together. And how to design the style and tone.

Sometimes I would like the opportunity to do character-driven comedy and that's really what I was trying to do in Meet The Parents. I think in a way this is a more old fashioned type of comedy.

It was an interesting process trying to get Bob to talk about the film because he's such a shy person. He generally likes to talk when he really knows he has something to say.

I like to shoot a lot of choices. I like a lot of stuff - and so I push to go faster, to shrink the time between the takes so that the takes are what you're spending all your time on.

Sometimes perfecting the one thing can be the enemy of getting any traction on anything else.

To this day, people ask me where is Austin Powers 4? I don't have that answer, it so hard to come up with a story that deserves an encore like that.

It seems like you can't actually have really bad hair or be bald and run for President of the United States.

I always had a respect and an admiration for people who got into politics. I certainly have always been interested in law and political science.

I'm pretty opinionated sometimes although my political views change all the time, too. So I'm not very zealous.