Quotes by Michael Ian Black - Page 2

My fear is if I expose myself, not so much that I'll be hurt, but that the reaction will be "Is that all there is? Is that the entirety of you? Because it's boring."
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Boring
Hurt
Reactions
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I used to need the character but as I've gotten older I need it less and less - I prefer to play some version of myself. To approach any acting job as me just being me.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Jobs
Character
Play
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I probably should be thinking of better ideas on how to promote myself, but I don't really spend a lot of time doing it. I really don't know how to promote effectively.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Ideas
Should
Thinking
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Twitter is about creating whatever persona you want to create and either sticking with it or changing it or evolving it or contradicting it, and I've done all that stuff.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Creating
Done
Want
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Nothing is more satisfying to me than sitting in a dank room, hunched over a single flickering candle like Ebenezer Scrooge, and watching my ledgers fill themselves with ink.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Candle
Ink
Satisfying
Me Nothing More
Fill
Flickering
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I'm very introverted, so it requires a huge effort for me to put on a smile and extend a hand and accept compliments. I would much rather be insulted than complimented any day.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Compliment
Effort
Hands
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You have to lead, in the case of a game show, a contestant through the architecture of the show. So there's a lot of rules there, literal and implied, that you have to navigate.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Architecture
Cases
Games
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My goal is to work. That's the goal of most actors or performers: to work and keep working, and do the best you can, and keep growing and changing, trying to improve your craft.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Actors
Goal
Trying
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Kids love to be silly, they love to laugh, so I think it was natural for my kids to like the sort of books that I write - and it's the only kinds of books I'm capable of writing.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Book
Silly
Writing
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Hosting a game show is so bizarre and uniquely its own thing. Anytime I'm hosting something, I try to bring as much of myself to it as I can, but it's always going to be incomplete.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Bizarre
Games
Trying
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Most of the time, you don't win anything on reality shows. You're booted off, or maybe you win $50,000, or $100,000, which isn't really life-changing. I don't know that it's worth it.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Life Changing
Reality Shows
Worth It
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If I revise a children's book, if I'm spending three hours on the first draft, I'm probably spending 30 minutes revising it. I mean, come on! But to redo a painting? That's hard work.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Book
Children
Hard Work
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There is something about the human condition. I don't think dogs are like "If only I was a poodle instead of a golden retriever, I'd be totally happy." Dogs are happy with who they are.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Dog
Golden Retrievers
Thinking
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I actually don't know anyone who wants to be famous for fame's sake, at least not anyone I respect. But you need to have a certain amount of power in order to be able to do what you want.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Fame
Sake
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It's such a deliberate thing to sit down and write a tweet. You're putting yourself out there in a very deliberate way, and over however many tweets, you start to create a character for yourself.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Character
Down And
Writing
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I was very surprised how many people were earnestly reminiscing about the '80s. It's such a stupid thing to do, like, to be honestly invested in nostalgia. It never even occurred to me to do that.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
People
Reminiscing
Stupid
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At this point, I feel fairly comfortable in terms of performance. I think having a sketch background actually helps a lot. Because my background is acting, and stand-up, in a lot of ways, is acting.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Fairly
Background
Helps
Sketch
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I feel no obligation to teach my readers anything, to impart any sort of wisdom, to teach any sort of lesson, to instill any sort of morality. All I'm trying to do is make them and their parents laugh.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Laughing
Parent
Trying
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Let me tell you, the life of a C list celebrity is pretty sweet. If I want to go to an Applebee's, all I have to do is, literally, walk in the door. They seat me as soon as the other people ahead of me are seated.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Ahead
Seat
Door
List
Soon
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My tastes in all things lean towards the arty and boring. I like sports documentaries about Scrabble players, bands that play quiet, unassuming music, and TV shows that win awards. In that way, I am an elitist snob.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Sports
All Things
Awards
Boring
Documentaries
Elitist
Quiet
Scrabble
Shows
Snob
Tv Shows
Unassuming
Tv
Arty
Bands
Tastes
Players
Towards
Lean
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Any time I am involved in something from conception to execution, that's obviously a lot more personal, and I'm going to be more invested in it than something where I just show up for a couple days, shoot, and leave.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Couple
Execution
Shows
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There's this misconception that comedy and music go together. They don't. Comedians can't compete with rock stars; they're just not on the same level. Rock stars will always be cooler. They will always get more girls.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Misconception
Stars
Comedians
Compete
Cooler
Rock Stars
Same Level
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I'm enough of an optimist and a patriot to believe that in U.S. you have a lot of opportunity and can do pretty much anything you want in some form. For me, the idea of failure is far preferable to the idea of regret.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Opportunity
Believe
Regret
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My tastes in all things lean towards the arty and boring. I like sports documentaries about Scrabble players, bands that play quiet, unassuming music, and TV shows that win awards. In that way, I am an elitist snob. And proud of it.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Sports
Player
Winning
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As a game-show host, what I'm thinking and what I'm experiencing doesn't matter. My opinion doesn't matter. So there's a flattened reality to it. It's fun to do. But it's certainly not myself in totality - or even maybe a little bit.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Fun
Reality
Thinking
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The whole idea of punk rock is that you're dressing yourself in a crazy leather jacket with safety pins and a Mohawk. The idea of being the rebel is a boring societal idea. It's such a type. And that's what I was, without knowing it.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Crazy
Leather Jackets
Safety Pins
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I thought I'd be living a much more bohemian life and be very poor. I never thought I'd do comedy or be married living in the suburbs. Every time I try to plan my life out it just doesn't come to pass, and I think that's a great experience.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Comedy
Thinking
Trying
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There is no word for feeling nostalgic about the future, but that's what a parent's tears often are, a nostalgia for something that has not yet occurred. They are the pain of hope, the helplessness of hope, and finally, the surrender to hope.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Future
Feelings
Helplessness
Nostalgia
Pain
Parent
Surrender
Tears
Often
Feeling
Finally
Word
Occurred
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I take it for what it is, and sometimes the criticism is actually useful and constructive and actually informs what I do, but most of the time, it's sort of mindless, or they're receiving something on a different frequency than I was sending it.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Constructive
Criticism
Frequency
Mindless
Receiving
Useful
Informs
Sending
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My absolute favorite growing up was Super Friends. The assemblage of so many mighty heroes in one place was, to me, mind-blowing. It was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and then sometimes Hawkman and some other, lesser heroes.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Growing Up
Hero
Mind Blowing
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My absolute favorite growing up was 'Super Friends.' The assemblage of so many mighty heroes in one place was, to me, mind-blowing. It was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and then sometimes Hawkman and some other, lesser heroes.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Assemblage
Flash
Growing Up
Mind Blowing
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Absolute
Heroes
Batman
Favorite
Lesser
Mighty
Super
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Best strategy for a first date is to ask her questions. Just keeping asking her questions about herself. Her life, her job, her friends, her taste in movies and music and everything. People mostly just want to talk about themselves, so let her do that.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Strategy
Taste
Life Best Music
Date
Herself
Mostly
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All the work that I do, whether or not it ends up being commercially successful or not, feels like the most important thing to me while I'm doing it. I try to take something away from every project, and so they all feel like milestones for one reason or another.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Feels
Reason
Successful
Work Me Important
Try
Away
Commercially
Project
Important Thing
Milestones
Most Important Thing
The Most Important
While
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Whatever expectations I had for myself, none of them have come to pass. I grew up thinking I was going to be an actor, which I am. But I thought I'd be a very serious sort of Shakespearean guy going from town to town having sex with various Juliets all over the country.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Country
Sex
Thinking
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Sometimes the criticism is actually useful and constructive and actually informs what I do, but most of the time, it's sort of mindless, or they're receiving something on a different frequency than I was sending it. They're just not getting what I'm doing, and that's fine.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Criticism
Different
Receiving
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By the end of the time I'm writing a book, I'm tearing my hair out and I want to go do stand-up. And then I want to do something else. I don't know why it is true with me that I can't just be satisfied doing the one thing, but I'm constantly flitting from one thing to another.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Book
Hair
Writing
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Lordy, lordy, lordy do I love money. It is a character flaw, no doubt, one that springs from a panicked childhood in which I always felt as if our family was only a couple missed child support payments from being tossed onto the pitiless streets of our suburban New Jersey town.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Children
Couple
Doubt
Jersey
New Jersey
No Doubt
Spring
Streets
Springs
Love Family Money
Child Support
Flaw
Missed
Onto
Panicked
Payments
Suburban
Tossed
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I don't think I was awake for much of my childhood. I did a lot of napping. This might have been a defensive measure against encroaching depression. Until about the age of eleven or twelve, I had zero interests other than trying to steal gumballs from supermarket gumball machines.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Depression
Zero
Awake
Eleven
Machines
Naps
Thinking
Twelve
Defensive
Interests
Measure
Napping
Steal
Supermarket
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I loved Dungeons & Dragons. Actually, not so much the actual playing as the creation of characters and the opportunity to roll twenty-sided dice. I loved those pouches of dice Dungeon Masters would trundle around, loved choosing what I was going to be: warrior, wizard, dwarf, thief.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Opportunity
Character
Warrior
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I loved 'Dungeons & Dragons.' Actually, not so much the actual playing as the creation of characters and the opportunity to roll twenty-sided dice. I loved those pouches of dice Dungeon Masters would trundle around, loved choosing what I was going to be: warrior, wizard, dwarf, thief.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Creation
Dice
Dragons
Masters
Warrior
Actual
Choosing
Dungeon
Wizard
Thief
Copy Quote
My process is surprisingly straightforward. I find myself with little to do over a stretch of time and I say, "I should write children's books today." Then I sit down and write a children's book, and if it takes more than, realistically, three hours, I feel like I've done something wrong.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Book
Children
Writing
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You can't write a children's book that takes more than five or six minutes to read, because it will drive the parents batty. It has to be compact. Nobody thinks about the parents when they write these stupid books. I could write longer children's books, but it would actually be bad if I did.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Book
Children
Stupid
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I'm not sure what it would mean to have "made it." Made what? Yes, I can make a decent living in show business, so if that's the criteria, then I've made it. But that doesn't feel that important to me. The stuff that matters to me are the new challenges. I know that sounds hokey, but it's true.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Challenges
Mean
Yes I Can
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The thing that I think is the most important is taking moments to express your appreciation to your partner. A thank you or a quick kiss can go a long way toward affirming your relationship and commitment to each other. That's not hard to do even when you're juggling insane careers and three kids.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Appreciation
Kids
Thank You
Affirming
Careers
Commitment
Insane
Juggling
Long Way
Express
Partner
Quick
Thank
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I honestly believe you can never tell if a relationship is going to last. In my own marriage, which is going on 14 years, I don't think of it as 'I'm going to be with this person forever.' Instead, I think of more like, 'I'll probably be with this person for the next six weeks. Then I'll re-evaluate.'
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Marriage
Relationship
Forever
Honestly
Six
Weeks
Instead
Re-Evaluate
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I think people hate me pretty much across the board, which is nice. I mean, it's a pretty evenhanded loathing among a certain amount of the critical population, which used to be about 80 percent. So now I've gotten to the point where I just don't worry about it that much. It used to be very upsetting, now it's only mildly upsetting.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Critical
Loathing
Population
Hate Me People
Board
Gotten
Upsetting
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When you're writing something, and you're putting yourself out there, or you're performing and someone comes in and savages that, then of course it feels personal. It doesn't feel like it's just business, because there's no business - it's not like we're conducting business, this anonymous critic and I. It's just that this person is tearing me a new asshole.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Conducting
Savages
Writing
Copy Quote
I'm trying to teach my children not to cry. That's the big thing. No crying. Because I think we can all agree that crying is, for the most part, for sissies. If my team loses, I'm going to cry. And I'm going to want my kids to see me crying. Not because I think sports are so important, but because I bet so much money on the game that we'll probably lose the house if my team doesn't win. That's something to cry about.
Michael Ian Black / Comedian
Sports
Children
Team
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Michael Ian Black Quotes - Page 2

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