Nick Swardson Quotes

#1. It's hard to give someone advice when you're an institution. I don't really put a lot of pressure on it - I'm just open to doing stuff that's challenging.

Nick Swardson

#2. Improv kind of goes hand in hand with what I do. I was on 'Reno 911!' for six years, and that was a completely improvised show.

Nick Swardson

#3. I would eventually like to write and star in my own stuff. I think I have a good comedic sense, so I'd like to follow that road. I don't know what the future holds, but whatever I do, I'll commit.

Nick Swardson

#4. If you want to be a comedian, go out. Do a week in Des Moines, Iowa. Try to make those people laugh.

Nick Swardson

#5. I'm developing more stuff in my voice, more Nick Swardson. It's me as myself in a sense and kind of in my voice, no accent no affectation. I'm growing into my own persona.

Nick Swardson

#6. Babies are like the smallest, drunkest people you know.

Nick Swardson

#7. Improv plays such a huge role in finding great lines - you'll be surprised at what comes out of your mind inadvertently. A lot of times it's better than a script you've worked out ahead of time.

Nick Swardson

#8. The key to comedy is commitment - if you're afraid, you shouldn't be a comedian.

Nick Swardson

#9. For me, honestly, one of the first movies I did I was always pounding coffee, and I crashed so horribly. So I've kind of weaned myself off. You keep getting second and third winds. But for me, I've stopped doing energy drinks or any kind of stimulant. I just kind of go natural.

Nick Swardson

#10. Comedy is so subjective, you know what I mean? To sit there and technically pick it apart is so stupid.

Nick Swardson

#11. [Being a good comedian] is a skill, but it's also a weird thing that only certain people can do. I always equate it to surgeons and how they can just cut people open and operate. Certain people are just wired differently, and I feel like comics are the same way.

Nick Swardson

#12. I always write and create. I'm never not creating. I'm always creating a show, every year, whether it gets picked up or not. I always sell a pilot or an idea. I like to be in control.

Nick Swardson

#13. I was always pretty good at adapting to my situations. My act was never that inside, where it was like, "Okay, they're either going to get this or they're not."

Nick Swardson

#14. No one will ever be as good as Phil Hartman. He was such an amazing genius, and may be the best sketch performer of all time.

Nick Swardson

#15. It's rare that I've read a script where I'm like, "Oh, my god, it's hilarious!" All you want is a good skeleton and good characters. Then, you can go, "Okay, I can bring a lot to this. I can improvise and I can create something out of this."

Nick Swardson

#16. Most sketch aficionados have an enormous amount of respect for 'Mr. Show.' I didn't have HBO back then, so I was always trying to find episodes. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross became celebrities, and Jay Johnston - who's lesser known, but brilliant - deserves a lot of credit, too.

Nick Swardson

#17. I have no problem doing gay stuff, I really don't care.

Nick Swardson