Armando Iannucci Quotations

Write what makes you laugh not what you think will make someone else laugh.

Listening to classical music is a journey not a state; it's an activity not a meditation.

There's something inherently comic about the fact that politicians make things worse by worrying too much about something.

What's funny about that office is it's entirely dependent on how close you are to the president, because the president decides what your role will be. If you get on with the president, that's great; if you fall out with the president, power can go away.

I'm a bit of a political geek anyway, so you tend to write how you think the rhythms of an administration will go.

Any president's second term ends up being quite messy. It never goes quite according to plan.

I kind of like that thing of you being caught up. You think you can judge someone, and before you know it, you've been swayed by them, and actually you want more of them.

The busier you are, the less time you have to make decisions.

The only shared reality we have is things we have seen on television.

Death is a fickle hen, and random are her eggs.

When I'm making something, I've always felt in charge and therefore able to call the shots. But what you've got to do is stop that turning into arrogance or despotism!

My 11-year-old thinks I'm cool because he watches things I've made on YouTube.

Never underestimate the intelligence of the audience; make good programmes, and they will come.

I briefly thought of becoming a priest but quickly saw that would be ridiculous.

I hate the idea of labels and saying you are member of one party or another and signing up to all sorts of policies that you don't have a view on or don't believe in. Because I'm not a politician, I don't have to be consistent in what I say and how I behave.

I find it an easy way into writing pieces is to think what the character's voice is like, and start from there.

Joe Biden is that special combination of someone who is very talented and influential, but when he starts speaking, there's inevitably going to be headlines written about something he said.

When you do a movie as opposed to a TV show, it's always tempting to think everything has to be big and exaggerated and spectacular. And in fact, a lot of the funniest comedy films have been very intimate.

There is still an element of the BBC that feels it is somehow wrong, or it will be open to criticism, if it makes more money.

When I started off, I always used to do parodies and impressions, mimicking people... and then institutions. You become aware that some institutions have their own language. You almost define yourself by how you speak.

I started quite young at school, compering a charity event at an old people's home. I would do stand up and impressions and enjoyed the laughter. It's very addictive. It's a lovely sensation to say something and hear a whole room laugh.

The last thing I want to do is use my comedy as a partisan tool or as a method for preaching.

I refuse to work evenings or weekends. If a script sees my character meeting for dinner, I put a line through the words and make them meet for lunch.

I am an optimist even though I am told everything I do is negative and cynical.

I assume everyone around me is older because they look more responsible.

Governments, whether right or left, have become commissioners-in-chief, nudging and cajoling networks into preferred business models without the slightest sensitivity or awareness of what the public wants or the TV industry is capable of.