A biography for Reggie Wattshasn’t been written yet.
“No matter how big a comedian gets, they're ultimately all just a bunch of nerds with their weird insecurities. You realize these are just the people in high school who were making people laugh.”
“Every performance is an opportunity to have something new or to learn something new.”
“I'm pretty lazy when it comes to creativity. I just want it to be easy and fun.”
“Technology is a wonderful tool, but also if used incorrectly a horrible tool. We're fascinated by all aspects of it, whatever makes our human lives easier on the planet, but eventually there will have to be some sort of merger. The fascination isn't going to die down.”
“What I'm doing is not really based on a definite identification or a definition of what it is. It's intended to be open to interpretation.”
“Music is very similar to comedy: It's all about texture, timing, context, vocabulary, performance. When someone's onstage doing a solo, essentially it's the same thing as what a comedian does. They're in the moment. They're listening.”
“As a child I was very into gadgets and machines and robots. The idea of experimenting with machines to create art was always something I tinkered with.”
“In theater, they say a theater piece is only as good as its transitions.”
“For most of my life I've liked to pretend I live in a starship. Punching in fake codes to get into doorways that obviously are not secure. I love that idea of living on a spaceship. Because essentially we are: a gigantic thing floating in some infinite darkness that's running on principles that we don't even understand.”
“Just because you live longer doesn't necessarily give you a greater edge in quality.”
“I try not to eat right before I perform. It's better to perform on an empty stomach - it just feels better. You just feel like a leaner machine. You're not worrying about digesting things.”
“I love the idea of something beautiful happening, and then it being abrasively cut into. Because in a way it's similar to switching channels or surfing the web; I like people getting lulled into something and then taking them somewhere else.”
“Sometimes airport security people recognize me. I'll go through the whole screening process and at the end they'll go, 'Hey, man, I really like your work.' That's so cool.”
“As long as I have a good time, the audience usually has a good time.”
“I love photographs. I love taking photographs. When I see something that's great, I want to capture that. You put it out there and on a place like Instagram you can put it there and review it later.”
“I'm doing the kind of show that I would want to see.”
“Essentially a joke is creating an idea, whether sonic or visual, whether it's something musical or a traditional joke.”
“I had a job at a movie theater for like a year and a half and then a job at a health food store for, like, two years. Those were the only two jobs I ever had.”
“I guess, in a way, I grew up mixed race: half white, half black. That question's always been on my mind: 'What are you? Are you this or that? Are you a white dude or are you a black dude?' In a strange way, music and comedy is kind of the same thing. I'm both. They're just different modes of expression.”
“I consider myself something of a self-taught anthropologist. I try not to talk about something unless it's something I love. But if it's something that really annoys me, I fixate on it, learn something about it and then, when I'm onstage, it comes out.”