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The Thing About Improvisation Is That It's Not About What You Say. It's Listening To What Other People Say. It's About What You Hear.

-Paul Merton

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The Thing About Improvisation

Paul Merton

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The Thing About Improvisation Is That It's Not About What You Say. It's Listening To What Other People Say. It's About What You Hear.

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If You Became A Comedian In The '80s, You Had To Work The Circuit And Make People Laugh. Canned Laughter Is Cheating.

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I Don't Consider Myself A Fashion Victim. I Consider Fashion A Victim Of Me.

When I Wake Up On A Monday Morning And I Realise I Don't Have To Go And Work At The Civil Service, I Really Think I've Won.

When I Used To Do The Edinburgh Festival, There Was A Bunch Of Guys Selling Fresh Oysters And I'd Eat Ten Daily - Marvellous.

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And Like The Old Stereotype, I Overcame My Shyness By Making My Friends Laugh.

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My Favourite Riposte To A Heckle Is To Say, 'excuse Me, I'm Trying To Work Here. How Would You Like It If I Stood Yelling Down The Alley While You're Giving Blow Jobs To Transsexuals?'

I Was Trying To Organise My Dvds Into A Sort Of Chronological Order, And I Am Afraid That It All Trailed Off After The Sixties.

I Have Never Sold My Story, Done Hello! Magazine, Any Of That Stuff. I'm Not Guilty Of Exploiting My Private Life For Cash And Then Saying, 'oh, I Don't Want To Talk About My Private Life.' I've Never Crossed That Line.

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I Really Don't Take Any Interest At All In Contemporary Comedy.

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The Thing About Improvisation Is That It's Not About What You Say. It's Listening To What Other People Say. It's About What You Hear.

I Looked At Longevity In Show Business When I Was About 13, And The People Who Seemed To Have Longevity Were The Ones Who'd Spent Quite A Bit Of Time Learning About What They Were Doing Before They Made It.

In 1987, I Was In Edinburgh Doing My First One-man Show. I Took Part In A Kickabout With Some Fellow Comedians And Tripped Over My Trousers And Heard This Cracking Sound In My Leg. A Couple Of Days Later I Went Into A Coma And Was Diagnosed With A Pulmonary Embolism.

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