Zach Woods

“When I was a kid, I wanted desperately to be a jazz musician. I would practice the trumpet for hours, but when I got braces, that messed up my ability to play, so all of a sudden I had all this free time.”

“It's funny; I think I'm at a level of recognizability - is that even a word? - where it's just really nice. I think when people are really famous, it can be hard for them because they feel like it's an invasion. But for me, it's just a few times every day when someone will say something sweet and validating, and it's just the best.”

“You can't be a professional rejector of opportunities.”

“I kind of feel like the job of actors and writers and people who make television and movies is to keep people company. In whatever modest way I'm able to accomplish that, I want to.”

“It's always fun to improvise.”

“I think that if you're improvising on TV, it's a great way to help the dialogue between actors and writers.”

“I think a challenge with every sitcom is, how do you maintain things that people are attached to without becoming so reiterative that it just feels like you're sort of watching a reenactment of previous episodes?”

“If you talk in a way that is too dissimilar to the character, when people are showing up to see you talk about the show, often it seems like it's jarring to them.”

“When I was a kid, my father would read Neil Simon plays with me, when I was going to bed, as bedtime stories.”

“I think in movies, in television, and in advice columns, often there's this idea that what people are really attracted to is confidence. And I think people, especially young men, sometimes misinterpret that to mean being brash, or trying to be an alpha.”

“I've played a lot of characters who are creeps or weirdos, with a deep darkness underneath the surface.”

“I really love 'Fleabag.' I've been harassing my agents, like, 'Can you please get me a meeting with Phoebe Waller-Bridge?' I just want to talk to her.”

“I don't know anything about tech, but I do know something about slightly socially crippled and overly cerebral guys.”

“I always think it's hilarious when the stand-ins come in for 'Silicon Valley,' because it's a complete inversion of the attractiveness quotient that is supposed to exist.”