Keegan-Michael Key
Surprise is not humor. I think that there can be a fine line there.Collection: Humor
It's when you're true to yourself that resonates with other people.
I was raised Catholic, so guilt shackles you from acting like a complete fool all the time.
Being a Lions fan is like being a Cubs fan: you just have to keep going. You don't have a choice. You can't give up, because one day, when it happens - and I believe it'll happen - then you can really savor it because you were there in the doldrums, and you get to be there in the victory.
I want to make movies and pieces of television and pieces of art that crack everyone's assumptions.
I'm tall and thin but not strong, so you're either an athlete or you're funny.
When you're a child, the most important thing is to be able to live a life of comfort. You want to be sure that the moon goes up at night and the sun comes up in the morning and dad comes home from work.
I'm very concerned with what's going on the news, but I would not call myself a political animal, per se. I pay more attention during election years, or if I see some topic or issue that I care about. But I would never call myself a political animal or political junkie.
To make an absolutely gross generalization, I think a lot of people feel like if you're mixed, more often than not you're quote unquote white. So if you're mixed, you embrace the mainstream culture more than the African-American culture.
You can not have comedy unless people are behaving badly. You can't have it.
I'm adopted, so I didn't know my father, but apparently he was pretty tall.
There's a thing called the 'One Drop' theory in African-American culture, which is if you have one drop of black blood in you, you're black.
It was very important thousands of years ago to categorize things. I can eat that plant, I can't eat that plant. Or this tribe, not that tribe. We don't have to do that anymore - we have processed food now!
Everybody puts on airs, regardless of race.
I get overwhelmed when I approach things intellectually.
For me, as a child, I certainly thought that there were more black people in the world than white people.
I have always, or for the most part, identified myself as a biracial person.
A poet can feel free, in my estimation, to write a poem for himself. Or a painter can paint a painting for himself. You can write a short story for yourself. But for me, comedy by its nature is communal. If other people don't get it, I'm not sure why you are doing it.
If you look at any successful skit comedy show, ever, there is that format of introducing you to the player in the beginning, and then going on to see those sketches.
My parents were not big sports fans, but my mother loved Barry Sanders, but she wasn't a huge fan. Now she likes Calvin Johnson. He's such an amazing athlete and such a wonderful, humble guy.
I'm a great consumer of kung-fu movies - mid-'70s to late-'80s.
I'm trying every day, when I meet a new human being, to not have the first thought that comes into my mind be, 'Are they going to like me?' I'm allowed to say, 'I like this, and I don't like that.'
At times, I can be vocal about what I think people want to hear as opposed to being vocal about what I really feel.
I'm looking for human stories to do.
I'm a firm believer in the idea that there are a limited amount of human stories that we tell - there's about seven of them - and of course, there's variations on those stories, and they can take place in infinite places.
I love dialects and accents; they're something that really resonate with me and that I find fascinating.
Some of the friendliest, friendliest people you're going to meet are going to be in Detroit.
I would like to invest more of my brain space in understanding the history of my city, because whenever I learn about the history of Detroit, it's always so fascinating, from a little kind of beaver-trading post to the place where automobiles were manufactured.
Bill Murray is such a tremendous talent, but the world wasn't ready for 'Razor's Edge,' for something that thoughtful and with that much depth at that time in his career.
With a lot of my comedic heroes, I'm trying to make sure that, wherever they might have gotten off-track a bit, I've learned that lesson.
The immediacy of improvisation is intoxicating, but there's an intimacy that you get that's very different when you're doing drama.
Success isn't measured by the amount of people that watch you unless you allow it to be.
I would play just about any role, male or female, in the Anton Chekov play 'The Cherry Orchard,' which I love.
I would love to play a fun character. Like, I would love to be in 'A Long Day's Journey Into Night.' I love that play. I'd play Edmond or Jamie. I don't care which.
There's a very famous South African playwright named Athol Fugard, and I'd be in any play he's ever did.
There's something very simple and contemplative about 'John Wick' - what is interesting is that it looks like it was based on an Akira Kurosawa movie.
I don't know if people would be surprised by this or not, but I'm kind of into nutrition and weight lifting. I know I'm kind of a slender man, but the human physique fascinates me, and learning about metabolism.
I'm very, very, very interested in martial arts.
I'm from the Midwest, so I always assumed, 'Well, I have to think badly of myself, because that's being humble.'
We live in a gray world, and I want to tell gray stories.
You hold precious what you create for yourself in your life that makes you comfortable.Collection: Comfortable
There's a sketch where we're playing two terrorists in a cave, and my terrorist is very frustrated as to why we haven't flown a plane into a building in 13 years.Collection: Years
Do what you love in your community.Collection: Community
Being a melting pot is what I think is great about being American, and also that we get to do something that other people don't get to do, we get to be a hyphenate. That's a good thing.Collection: Thinking
The audience loves to figure things out. They love it when a performer leaves a trail of bread crumbs for them, and they get to participate in the comedy.Collection: Bread
There is no top. You are never going to reach the top if you go for success. That way lies madness.Collection: Lying
Ricky Gervais changed our lives. And Mitch Hedberg, who we're like, "Oh, that's funny to me on a level I don't think I understand. But I'm clearly pleased by it beyond something that my brain's figured out." He was amazing.Collection: Thinking
My adoptive mother tirelessly worked most of her life to build up my self-esteem. So what happened was finding her started to shed light and destroy my mythos. So for the first year of knowing her, my mom kind of actually literally visited me in Detroit and kind of gave me a tour of my life - where I was conceived, where I was born, where she found out she was pregnant. It was amazing, Terry, and very emotional.Collection: Mom
I'm racist against non-black people.Collection: People
When you say to somebody, "I'd like to recommend a book to you," you're typically talking to a person who is willing to learn, grow, or change.Collection: Book