Zach Galifianakis

“Some people can be choosy because they're ultratalented or lucky or whatever, but yeah, there are certain things that might not be the greatest thing on my resume. But I don't sit back and go, 'Gosh, I wish I didn't do that.' It's all part of the growth of a career, whether you're an entertainer or a librarian.”

“American society loves to prop people up and then take them down.”

“I am going to be the next Ryan Gosling.”

“As you get older, you see the world at a different angle, maybe more cynically, but I just bury my anger.”

“There was a long time where I was an 'artist' in quotes, who had no money. But I guess back then I also never had a girlfriend.”

“I don't like cursing in movies. I feel like cursing has become the new hackiness. You try to find substitutions for cursing.”

“There's more to life than being an actor in a Hollywood movie. I'm not going to adapt my life after that existence, where a lot of people do. And they get the publicist, and they get all that stuff, and it becomes them. I think it's a stupid way to live your life. A really dumb way to live your life.”

“Privacy is big for me. To do interviews even, I have a very love/hate with it.”

“People get TV deals by doing something in their grandmother's basement. It is definitely the wave. Everybody is trying to do all that stuff. I mean, the Internet is the only reason that I've gotten work is because I've somehow created a line and people have seen it. And then I've been asked to auditions.”

“I wish I could sit back and say, 'Oh, I'm gonna wait for a Merchant-Ivory film to come my way. Or Ivory-Merchant. Whatever it's called. But you just take what's given and then, hopefully, down the road you can be more choosy and only do, say, Wayans brothers movies. That's my goal: to be more Merchant-Ivory-Wayans.”

“Hollywood's built on insecurity. People are trying to prove things. And I probably have that. I probably do. Probably guilty of it, in a way.”

“Have you seen that show on Lifetime about that woman...?”

“My forte is awkwardness.”

“Actually, I used to be a busboy in a strip joint in New York and so I hate strip joints. I'm not that kind of person.”

“I understand Tea Partyers' anger with the system, but they are in way over their heads and often racially motivated, and I can't be part of that.”

“I just try to keep myself a traditionalist. I liked being an underground comic doing my thing. I want to maintain that. I just do.”

“I think comedy does have that powerful thing that doesn't seem too preachy because you're also making people laugh, so it's really kind of a good tool for messaging.”

“When I do stand-up for a long time, I'll get burned out, then I'll get an acting gig. For me, the grass is always greener. I'd like to do a mixture of all of it. My goal is just to do small movies that I've written. That's what I'm trying to do now, just write smaller movies.”

“When a role seems fun it's easy to play. It kind of comes organically.”

“My dad doesn't get any of my jokes. He laughs at them, but he doesn't understand them. He's just laughing because people around him are laughing.”