Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm going to keep doing the comedy and the art that I do. I'm going to keep uplifting marginalized voices, and I think that's my place to do that.
As scary as it is, we have to admit that there are folks in the world who only know the Roots as 'the band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.''
The reason I was drawn to the Band Perry was because they have a knack for doing rollicking country music that can sound a little rock and a little pop.
I started watching 'Daria' when I was in college because I didn't have cable growing up. It's such a smart show with a different type of female character.
I have to admit that I was never into the boy band craze of the late '90s and the early aughts. I was into more adult things like Ricky Martin. For reals.
I know the world is pretty intense, but in my opinion, there's nothing more perilous than being a teenager and watching a raunchy comedy with your parents.
I don't really read Stephen King - I just can't read scary things because it stays with me too long - but I truly liked his memoir of the craft of writing.
I think anytime you work on something, even if you feel really good about it, you're never really sure. Once it's in the public space, it's out of my hands.
I love doing standup, but I love watching it more. Watching people like Michelle Buteau or Baron Vaughn get up and do their thing - that is what comedy can be like.
Who can forget the awesome scene in 'Independence Day' when the White House gets blown up by aliens? Sure, it looks cheesy now, but back in 1994, it was incredible.
At its best, alt comedy can be challenging, surprising, and innovative. And at its worst, alt comics think that being awkward.com/FAQS is a substitution for punchlines.
Even the best comedians aren't always sure what is going to be funny, what is going to work. So that means they're constantly and trying and failing in order to get there.
Sometimes in stand-up, you want that late-night set where you get that five minutes, then you want a half-hour special, and then the crown, if you will, is an HBO special.
One of the things I love about 'Idol' besides the drama, the backstories, and the crazy arrangements on popular songs is the auditions, when everyone is full of hope and nerves.
Let's stop acting like a man who is clear about his intentions, is open to love, and has a good head on his shoulders is 'boring,' 'lame,' and 'not passionate like the edgy guy.'
I was a funny kid growing up, and I did improv in college and went to Pratt Institute, but I did it very informally. It was just me and some of my friends goofing around on campus.
I just wanna go on the record to say I talk about U2 so much, I should be their publicist. I should be added to the PR team. U2 is my favorite band of all time. I love them so much.
Being in a male-dominated industry, you can feel like a little excluded. That was making me feel like maybe I'm not funny. I was really seriously considering, like, quitting standup.
'Ain't It Fun,' which is about entering the real world, is bouncy and shows off Paramore's lighter side, to the dismay of some of the band's fans, who are used to the punk-rock sound.
People like to pretend that all women have the same experience or that all gay people have the same experience. But everyone's life is different, and everyone's point of view is valid.
I think, at the end of the day, you have to decide what you want. Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be rich? Do you want to have a career? Those are three very different things.
What's important is to have more women creators behind the scenes, being producers and being in charge. That will ultimately help push this boys'-club, locker-room mentality out the door.
Any joke can be funny, but not any joke is funny. Any joke has the potential to be hilarious to you, but more importantly, the joke has the potential to not be funny to you but to someone else.
Technology has been the great equalizer: you can find your audience, you can build your brand, and the people that are into you, great. They're going to follow you to whatever platform you go to.
Say what you want about Maroon 5 not making music like the kind found on 'Songs About Jane,' the fact remains that they know how to write a really good pop song that highlights lead singer Adam Levine's falsetto.
From the leg lamp to Ralphie's tongue getting stuck on a frozen pole to that BB-gun incident, 'A Christmas Story' has left its mark on all our brains, so much so that it sometimes feels like this story is our own.
'2 Dope Queens,' it was just a way for us to showcase female comedians, showcase comedians of color, showcase LGBT comedians, and shake up the landscape and be like, 'Hey, there is more than just what is out there.'
I'll be the first to admit it: I love fluff. Whether it's watching 'America's Next Top Model' or listening to dance pop like Rihanna's 'Where Have You Been,' I like to keep it light and fun, especially during the spring and summer months.
I want to have an empire. I like being in front of the camera, performing - but I would like to get to a place where I'm also executive producing and bringing other people along. People of all different walks of life, highlighting their voices.
Not going to lie: when I heard that Toni Braxton's sister, Tamar, wanted to have a music career, I was skeptical. I know she sang backup for Toni and is a great reality-TV star, but being a musician is a whole 'nother league. Well, Tamar proved me wrong.
I never really watched much stand-up growing up. I just was not really that into it. But I can say I honestly fell in love with it the second I touched the microphone. It was like this weird thing where it's like, 'Oh, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to do.'
The great thing about being a standard-issue, straight white person is you have so much time. Gay people, people of color, we have less time! We have to be a living Learning Annex to everybody. We don't have time to master hobbies like skipping rocks along lakes.
Let's be real: dads get a bad rap in the media. We're talking Vanilla Ice's 'Ninja Rap' bad. More often than not, they're either pop lockin' Soul Train-style after learning they aren't the father, or they're selfish man-children who have more toys than brain cells.
There are just so many brilliant voices out there. I'm not the funniest person out there, I'm not the best interviewer. I'm not the best at anything, but I really just am a big fan of everyone. I'm really driven by trying to make sure that representation is out there.
For me personally, I was just worried that transitioning from a podcast, which is a very intimate sort of experience - people tell me they listen to my podcast while they're at the gym or on road trips, so you're in someone's ear - to being on television - that's a lot of space to fill.
Normally, I'd believe that the saying 'There's no small parts, only small actors' is a load of crock because, more often than not, actors relegated to the small-part category stay in 'Who was that guy from that thing' purgatory - however, '90s sitcom 'Friends' proved that the saying is true.
A lot of times in comedy, and also in podcasting and television, there are different kinds of voices that can be celebrated. So you can have 'Insecure' exist, you can have a '2 Dope Queens' exist, you can have 'The Mindy Project' exist - very distinct, funny voices from women and from people of color.