One of the interesting things about comedy is it's tension release, and nothing creates tension faster than anger.
Lewis BlackRead
Stand-up is the only thing in which you actually write it, act it and direct it simultaneously, so it's actually a great theater exercise.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Stand-up comedy combines writing, acting, and directing in one performance, making it a unique art form.
In this quote, Lewis Black emphasizes the multifaceted nature of stand-up comedy, where the comedian not only writes their material but also performs and directs their act simultaneously. This complexity likens stand-up to theater, as it requires the artist to embody the characters and convey messages through their own interpretations, all while maintaining audience engagement in real-time.
Themes
Stand-UpComedyTheaterPerformanceArt
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a workshop on performing arts to highlight the unique aspects of stand-up comedy.
More from Lewis Black
All quotes βYou realize that for all the shenanigans that go on in the big circus of politics, everybody wakes up and goes to work.
Lewis BlackRead
When I'm funny is when I'm angriest.
Lewis BlackRead
If you're going to vote for somebody because you think they have a great faith in God, you'd better be sure that God has faith in them.
Lewis BlackRead
I like my friends because they make me feel normal, even though I'm not.
Lewis BlackRead
I get an idea about something. I just start thinking about it, and then I get onstage and I talk about it, and then I think about it some more and talk about it some more, and think about it some more and talk about it some more, until it starts to take a shape.
Lewis BlackRead
Similar quotes
The word war itself has a kind of glazing abstraction to it that conjures up bombs and bullets and so on, whereas my goal is to try to, so much as I can, capture the heart and the stomach and the back of the throat of readers who can lie in bed at night and participate in a story.
Tim O'BrienRead
Spiritually I am wherever my spirit allows me to be, and that is not necessarily in the future... Art never seems to make me peaceful or pure.
Willem De KooningRead
In the theatre we reach out and touch the past through literature, history and memory so that we might receive and relive significant and relevant human qualities in the present and then pass them on to future generations.
Anne BogartRead
In fiction, you know, there are no borders. You can go anywhere.
E. L. DoctorowRead
The moment a man sets his thoughts down on paper, however secretly, he is in a sense writing for publication.
Raymond ChandlerRead
I write plays not to make money, but to stop myself from going mad. Because it's my way of making the world rational to me.
Edward BondRead