Ari Graynor Quotations

When you look at all of the male characters on television and in film, it's not like every one of them are the people doing the right thing that you can point to as your own moral compass.

There's a certain truism that you can't be self-conscious in comedy. If I'm in it and if there's a scene that has a great set-up, I will go as far as somebody will let me.

I can be such a people pleaser, and so worried about what people are thinking or feeling insecure.

Comedy is funny when it comes from truth, and that's always the rule of them. It's about how far you can push that boundary.

I think the good news for me in life is that I really trust my instincts when I come to work. Maybe less in life and in love, but in work and in comedic beats, I feel pretty confident.

There is nothing better than a laugh in life. There just isn't.

Life is hard enough, so when you can get any joy out of it, whether it's something you do on a day-to-day basis, or the people in your life, or going to see a funny movie, there's just nothing better. That's what life is about.

As an actor, when you're doing comedies, you're around fantastic, funny people and you hopefully have a really good time doing it.

The best and most talented directors - and I think it goes for people too - are the most confident in giving room to their actors and trusting them.

It's the people that ultimately are less talented or have less confidence in what they're doing that then try to micro-manage, which lends itself to a less than ideal film.

Working with David Gordon Green, and Jonah Hill, and Michael Cera, and Drew Barrymore, and all of those people - those are the best people in comedy to work with. Anna Faris. You know, that's my goal, to keep learning and to just keep working with the best people I can. And yeah, we do all hang out, and we all kind of know each other.

Through working with amazing people, the bar is always raised to do your own best work. I want to be a part of unique stories that are smart, heartfelt, funny and sad, and have a general sense of good quality.

Twitter's a lot of work! That's the first thing I would say. There's so much pressure to be funny.

I did babysit a little bit when I was young. I prefer babysitting for babies. I always loved babies. I was not as great with kids that wanted to be entertained and that wanted to talk.

I was a precocious only child, and then I went through a fat, awkward stage for several years, so I learned to fall back on my humor and personality when I was growing up. It's how you survive, so I think it was more of a natural progression for me, developing into comedy.

All I can to, and the only sense of control I have over this crazy business [moviemaking], is to pick things that I like with people that I love and respect, and then just hope everything else works out.

I was more of the kind of babysitter that liked holding the baby, sort of playing Mom, and then putting the baby to bed and watching TV while eating everything in their kitchen.

I would love to be in 'Downton Abbey.' That's the thing I thing many people would have a good laugh with me saying anything like that. I feel like that's the next phase of my career. To reprove to everyone that I can do things besides the crazy characters.

Regardless of what kind of film, the number one rule of comedy is to never take yourself too seriously and then the next rule is you can't have any self-consciousness, otherwise it kills the laugh, and that will never change.

It's exciting to look back at the work that I've done and not have a single regret about a job I've taken. I feel really proud of every film I've been a part of. Big or small role, I feel like it was the right choices.

The only thing that I'm not willing to do is really stupid, horribly written sitcoms. It can be tempting during pilot season time, but I realized this a while ago when I almost signed my life away to a stupid pilot.

There's pressure to come up with something genius every time. I feel like I keep letting myself down with my Twitter posts. I have to start keeping a journal of rough drafts of prophetic ideas about the world.

I think the world of comedy is a relatively small community, and especially for women in comedy, there just aren't that many people involved.