Jonathan Krisel

“In your twenties, you might want to be radical and change the world, but in your thirties, you might just want to be happy and ground yourself.”

“I definitely feel the pressure to keep things fresh and original.”

“I saw Sleater Kinney perform back when I was in college.”

“Louie Anderson thinks my thing is the absurdness of reality. That's what we do on 'Portlandia' all the time. I try to bring that absurdness of reality to everything.”

“One second here and there will make all the difference between something being funny and not being funny. That's why I like going, 'Well, we wrote that six months ago, and it was funny one time we read it, but it's not funny anymore. So what? Just dump it.'”

“If you have, especially with siblings, something like the competition for mom's affection, it just never goes away.”

“The end goal is to make a piece that everybody has ownership over and everybody's proud of because everybody contributed to it. I think there's a communist, socialist vibe to 'Portlandia' to make it work.”

“I love the beige, tan, stucco world where the sun bleaches things out to the point that it can look somewhat ugly.”

“My brand of comedy is taking a serious approach to silliness. Small moments of modern life and human behavior make me laugh. At least that's where everything starts, and then my other through line would be a dry absurdity that exponentially spirals out of reality.”

“Nobody sets out to be evil. They're insecure, and they make bad decisions.”

“I went to film school, and I came in when video art was king, weird stuff was king, and there, you don't have a script as your bible.”

“I think when you work with people who are super exceptional, there's simplicity to it because everybody is on the same page in terms of tone.”

“With comedy, I've always had a pretty good sense of what I like and how to execute it well, but drama has its own rules.”

“Everything on TV is perfect, and it's so boring.”

“Portland is utopia. My favorite thing would be it's earnestness. I am earnest, too.”

“'Portlandia' is 100 percent improvised, and I came into this business not knowing anything.”

“Everything else was snarky and high concept, while 'Roseanne' was just a normal family.”

“I love awesome mixed drinks.”

“Once the big lights come in, you can feel self-conscious. How can you capture the scene without ruining it and freezing people up? You keep it small and lean.”

“My whole thing is, you listen to the actor and help them bring out their best thing.”