The real joy is in constructing a sentence. But I see myself as an actor first because writing is what you do when you are ready and acting is what you do when someone else is ready.
Interpretation
The joy of creativity comes from the act of writing, while acting is about being prepared for collaboration.
Steve Martin highlights the joy found in the craft of writing, where the creation of sentences brings fulfillment. He contrasts this with acting, which involves waiting for others to be ready, suggesting that while both forms of artistry are important, writing allows for more personal expression and spontaneity.
In practice
Using this quote during a workshop to illustrate the joys of creative writing.
When I first started doing my comedy act, I just desperately needed material. So I took literally everything I knew how to do on stage with me, which was juggling, magic and banjo and my little comedy routines. I always felt the audience sorta tolerated the serious musical parts while I was doing my comedy.
You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do.
I have heard it said that a complicated childhood can lead to a life in the arts. I tell you this story of my father and me to let you know I am qualified to be a comedian.
...it is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart.
Reviews for someone like me come in three packages. One is justifiable praise, the second is justifiable criticism, and the third is, "This is only published because he's a celebrity."
If he thinks he would harm Mirabelle, he would back away. But he does not yet understand when and how people are hurt. He doesn't understand the subtleties of slights and pains, that it is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart.
How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it
There is only one true thing: Instantly paint what you see.
The arts have always served relationships between people of different cultures so well. In a way, the arts function as a very serious kind of ambassador.
To write simply is as difficult as to be good.
The respect for a musical score must come from the director... If the director has no power and has to surrender to budgetary constraints, this is where we have the problem.
THERE ARE TWO THINGS that don't have to mean anything, one is music and the other is laughter.
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