Christopher Guest Quotes

The movies have a way of seeping out there over time. We don`t put them in 2,000 theaters. It wouldn`t work that way.

Silliness framed in intelligence. Even when it`s stupid, you know intelligent people are doing it and that makes it a different joke. Stupid comedy over here (in America) is just plain stupid. It`s moronic and I don`t find it funny at all. - when asked to define the tradition of English humor.

Comedy is like music. You have to know the key and you have to find players with good chops.

But I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They`re so earnest about it. But that`s true of so many things.

I don`t work with high-concept things that start with a premise, "Wouldn`t it be funny if there was this spy who met a ..." For me, it could be, "What about people who sell shoes? That must be a bizarre world ... when they meet at conventions and talk about shoes."

No. I don`t talk about the family. This is kind of an on-going thing that gets, honestly, to be kind of tiresome, only because, you know, you meet people in Boston and they say, `Boy, what`s it like to wake up with Jamie Lee Curtis?` Well, you know what? We`ve been married for 12 years, and we have kids, and it`s not like we`re living some bizarre life here. We go home and we wear sweatpants and the baby takes a dump and we change the diaper. I don`t mean to put you off here, but I just tend not to talk about it.

I liked directing The Big Picture (1989). I was happy with it, but I remembered working on "Spinal Tap" and what a joy it was to make and how much we made each other laugh.

I spent more time in America, but I developed a very English sense of humour. I clicked into it deeply with Peter Sellers, who is still probably my favourite comedian. I loved The Goons and then I got into "Beyond the Fringe" and by accident I met Jonathan Miller and those guys. And, of course, they led straight to (Monty) Python.

It`s real acting, in a sense. You`re reacting spontaneously to things you`ve never heard before. You can either do it or not, and if you`re with a bunch of people who can, there`s nothing more fun. - on improvised acting.

On being banned (as a hereditary peer) from the House of Lords: There`s no question that the old system was unfair. I mean, why should you be born to this? But now it`s all just sheer cronyism. The Prime Minister can put in whoever he wants and bus them in to vote. The Upper House should be an elected body, it`s that simple.

People want me to be funny all the time. They think I`m being funny no matter what I say or do and that`s not the case. I rarely joke unless I`m in front of a camera. It`s not what I am in real life. It`s what I do for a living.