Jake M. Johnson Quotes
-
I always thought, if you're gonna do TV, you want to play a straight, solid, pillar-of-the-show kind of guy.
→ -
Aspire to do better. Instead of being the leader of the group, be the little person.
→ -
My day job is acting - I wouldn't direct something if I didn't feel passionate about it.
→ -
I prefer to work with first-time directors.
→ -
I like fictional stories - like, things that never happened but the seed of it starts as real.
→ -
If I were a teacher, I would like to teach freshman English - so I could be the Robin Williams type in Dead Poets Society. I wanna be that guy. I couldn't teach seniors because they'd be smarter than me.
→ -
All of a sudden Mindy [Kaling] was writing on The Office and had sold a TV show. When we'd try to write shows, we'd jokingly call the word documents "Hit Show." We just couldn't crack the code.
→ -
I view cats as more like wild animals. We feed it, but a lot of times it's not eating the food because it's murdering other animals outside and eating their meat.
→ -
Some actors pride themselves on disappearing into a role. I'm into the game because I like experiencing and exploring themes, so I put a lot of myself into the person.
→ -
The craziest thing about TV directing is I turned in a version, and then they made their final changes - so I don't know what they are. So I'm like, "Ooo, I'm dying to see the final print."
→ -
I did about 10-12 national commercials and then got one line parts in things like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and the show 'The Unit.' Got a little part in the movie 'Redbelt' by David Mamet and kept slowly grinding up and then started getting bigger parts in independents and getting noticed by Liz Meriwether.
→ -
I love when people on Twitter give advice.
→ -
I like dogs, but I have more respect for cats.
→ -
I had spent 10 days of my life digging for garbage.
→ -
My brother was an improviser. He's now a lobbyist, but he used to perform improv in the city when he was in high school, and one of the funniest guys I know to this day.
→ -
I think a lot of people are very good, but I don't think anybody could do my rhythm. I was thinking, "If you want my rhythm" - and when I was writing, I was writing them for myself - "why am I watching another actor doing what I should be doing?" It was just a really unpleasant experience.
→ -
There are a lot of comedic actors who are just out to be the funny one and get all the laughs and they'll sacrifice your joke, the scene, the story just to be the star. All they want is attention and to be number one. You can spot those guys from a mile away and they're the worst.
→ -
You know, I'll tell you, nothing changed after 'No Strings' for me. A lot of people said, like, 'Your game will be different,' but it wasn't. It really wasn't.
→ -
My dream career would be to be in things that have real heart and are telling real stories but while doing that, you're getting really big laughs. I don't necessarily love the straight crazy comedies. 'Caddyshack' is amazing, but there's not a lot of new 'Caddyshack's.
→ -
We didn't make money but we never lost money. We'd sit around Times Square with fliers, walk around the Village and try and get people to come. Now you'd just tweet it, but that was the beginning of emails, or the beginning of me doing emails - I'm sure there were people in 1986 who were doing emails.
→ -
If I'm in a bar and I gotta be sitting next to some clown who's like, "It's my tune," I don't want to hear you belt out Bruce Springsteen. That's why we have jukeboxes! Let's let Bruce be Bruce.
→ -
Everybody has their different tastes with television - there are some characters people like, some characters people hate.
→ -
We tried to do a show once every three weeks to a month. We'd always do a new show. It was not successful. It did not become the Matt & Ben show, but it taught me what I like to do as an actor and what I like to do comedically.
→ -
I never thought I'd be one of those guys who gets recognized.
→ -
I feel like L.A. is more of a showcase, and Chicago is a pure comedy scene where you're doing comedy for comedy. You're doing comedy actually for the audience that's there.
→ -
If I'm not directing it, I need to be right in the director's ear so we can be talking about this." You do something like use the wrong music, the tone's off, and everything feels off". And I was like, "I'm not going down with this one. I wrote it, but I don't like that play." Then I thought, "Well, no one's producing my stuff, letting me star in it, and direct it at these theaters, so I'll just do them in comedy clubs."
→ -
My big break was really Liz Meriwether saw me in a movie called 'Paper Heart' and really liked it, and then saw me in a movie called 'Ceremony' because she knew Max Winkler and said, 'I want you to be in 'No Strings Attached,' but you gotta audition for it.' From that it was easier for her to get me in 'New Girl.
→ -
In L.A., if you're in improv, and you're on those stages, all the big agents and managers and producers are watching those shows. They're not flying to Chicago to see the show. People are booking jobs off the stages in L.A. who aren't more talented than the guys in Chicago. But the most guys book out of L.A., and the second is New York.
→ -
Problem is that my athletic abilities in my mind are greater than what my body can accomplish. And my level of fear and anxiety of getting injured is greater than my courage.
→ -
I like pizza and I like cheeseburgers a lot and I like Chicago food a lot.
→
Related Authors
-
Aubrey Plaza Actress -
Damon Wayans, Jr. Actor -
Ron Livingston Actor -
Olivia Wilde Actress -
Annabelle Wallis Film actress -
Nina Dobrev Actress -
Jack Johnson Singer-songwriter -
Hannah Simone Television actress -
Joe Swanberg Director -
Zooey Deschanel Actress -
Lamorne Morris Actor -
James D'arcy Actor -
Zoe Kazan Film actress -
Ty Simpkins Actor -
Elizabeth Meriwether Playwright -
Max Greenfield Actor -
Bryce Dallas Howard Film actress -
Keegan-Michael Key Actor -
Mark Duplass Film director -
Rob Riggle Actor