Julian Barratt Quotes

Performers often can be quite socially inept, you know? And even great comedians are like that.

- Julian Barratt

Comedians, Socially, Even, Performers

I can't do jokes. I've always come from left field and tried to subvert conventional comedy. I started as a rebellion against that - albeit a very soft and surreal rebellion. It's escapist.

- Julian Barratt

Rebellion, Always, Very, Surreal

I could say I'm a writer or that I'm a musician but I don't really do music; I do music to go with things I'm developing. Then I do act in a few things, but I'm not really an actor. I'm not a comedian, but I am known for comedy. I just don't know. I feel like I'm a slightly interdisciplinary jack of all trades.

- Julian Barratt

Feel, Developing, Slightly, Trades

Adapting a book doesn't mean the book stops just because you've made a film out of it.

- Julian Barratt

Just Because, Mean, Made, Adapting

People can see that we are part of a tradition of absurd comedy, stretching from Spike Milligan and Peter Cook through to Monty Python and Vic Reeves. We're not like Ricky Gervais's hyper-real cringe comedy. We're at the other end of the scale, but there's room for the sillier stuff, too.

- Julian Barratt

Through, Other, Part, Monty Python

We just thought of 'Boosh' as an extension of our childhoods in a way, the stuff we had grown up on and loved: 'Monty Python,' The Goodies, Frank Zappa. It spoke to a certain type of person, and we just carried on doing it.

- Julian Barratt

Doing, Frank, Extension, Monty Python

Laughter's good, but it's not love. It's one aspect. One emotion you're eliciting from your audience.

- Julian Barratt

Love, Audience, Your, One Aspect

I write tragedies and things when I'm alone. Chekhovian dramas.

- Julian Barratt

Alone, Tragedies, I Write, Dramas

Me and Noel went to HBO once and pitched this really ludicrous idea about us driving around in a haunted car, and they just stared at us. Literally stared at us! It was awful. Luckily, we were together, so we could laugh about it, but if we were on our own, it would have been one of the worst moments ever.

- Julian Barratt

Own, Idea, Been, Haunted

I ran off stage at my first gig. Halfway through it, I forgot my lines and didn't know what to do, so I just ran out of the building down towards a lake. I was going to throw myself in, but the compere came out and said, 'No, it's going well, come back and finish the gig!'

- Julian Barratt

Through, Back, Gig, Lake

Most comedians are borderline psychotic. It's what makes their work interesting.

- Julian Barratt

Work, Comedians, Most, Borderline

My dad listened to a load of jazz - Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock.

- Julian Barratt

Jazz, Load, Dad, Report

We did have that, in the background of the character and the show, 'Mindhorn,' set on the Isle of Man, that every episode they would have to mention the temperate microclimate of the Isle of Man.

- Julian Barratt

Show, Set, Episode, Temperate

It's a weird profession, as I don't really consider myself an actor. I did at one point, and I went and started doing auditions, and I was so useless at them and so demoralised by doing audition after audition and not getting them and also not being able to take it in my stride at all. I just felt crushed and worthless.

- Julian Barratt

Doing, Point, Auditions, Stride

It's strange, but something about lack of structure needs a structure itself. Otherwise, after a while, it's like looking at a Rothko painting or a Peter Greenaway film. You think, 'OK, I want to see something else now.'

- Julian Barratt

About, Something Else, While, OK

I remember films I made at university, which are unbelievably pretentious. Poetry that I'd written that I delivered to camera, against a Venetian blind, strong shadows, looking slightly off-camera.

- Julian Barratt

Which, Films, Slightly, Pretentious

Writing can make you feel a bit psychotic. You create a world, and you're sitting inside it all day long, talking to people who are not really there.

- Julian Barratt

Feel, Talking, Bit, Sitting

I've got a lot of friends with whom I discuss jazz.

- Julian Barratt

Jazz, Lot, Whom, Discuss

I like the countryside. I like chopping wood. I'd like to be a carpenter.

- Julian Barratt

Like, Countryside, Chopping, Wood

I thought I could see how standup worked. I never thought of being an actor - or anything else, really - but I thought, 'I can see how you get on stage and tell jokes.'

- Julian Barratt

Thought, Tell, Could, Jokes

With the 'Boosh,' we were trying to do this strange, weird thing that had its own language and visual style, and it wasn't really what the powers that be wanted.

- Julian Barratt

Own, Had, Weird Thing, Powers

We should send a load of bad celebrities to colonise Mars. They would have to mate in space, and then their children would be sent back to Earth in 50 years' time.

- Julian Barratt

Bad, Mars, Celebrities, Send

I was going to be a jazz-fusion guitarist. I came to London at one point with my mate, and we were going to make it. We spent three days there and went back home to our mummies.

- Julian Barratt

London, Going, Spent, Mate

'Galaxy Quest' is a fantastic film.

- Julian Barratt

Film, Quest, Fantastic, Galaxy

When you're really laughing, you feel like a little kid, and nothing matters.

- Julian Barratt

Matters, Like, Little Kid, Laughing

In comedy terms, usually when the weather's bad, it goes much better. When it's sunny, people don't come to see comedy gigs because they're all really happy and don't need cheering up.

- Julian Barratt

Comedy, Bad, Need, Cheering

The profession is rife with fear about your age, about your validly, longevity, appearance. It's vanity, and it's hard to sort of avoid all those things; they come at you as an actor.

- Julian Barratt

Profession, About, Rife, Longevity

I don't like talking about myself; I'm not good at analysing myself. I don't want to analyse myself.

- Julian Barratt

Myself, Like, Analysing, Analyse

I want to do things or write things that make people feel a bit more beautiful or tragic or something because there are so many other things than just funny.

- Julian Barratt

Want, More, Other, Tragic

Musicals are just funny to me.

- Julian Barratt

Funny, Me, Just, Musicals

I did try and do some spooky stand up once, and some of my stand-up had - I tried to do some horror stand-up, but it didn't really work very well.

- Julian Barratt

Some, Horror, Very, Stand Up

We're so insecure, comedians. 'Did you laugh? Do you think I was funny?'

- Julian Barratt

Think, Comedians, Did, Insecure

I find the pressure to be funny when you're being interviewed live - quite intense.

- Julian Barratt

Pressure, Find, Quite, Intense

I've done interviews in the past where, apparently, I didn't give the journalist any eye contact. I'm a bit shy, yes. I've thought about refusing to do any press at all.

- Julian Barratt

Give, In The Past, Refusing, Press

I want to create a world where all the rules are different. It should be magical to enter.

- Julian Barratt

World, Want, Magical, Enter

Sometimes it takes you two or three seconds to get your head round a joke and laugh at it. With a snot-bubble laugh, it comes instinctively - almost in spite of yourself. It's caused by something silly - like when a little kid says something unexpectedly bizarre.

- Julian Barratt

Unexpectedly, Bizarre, Joke

If you come away from a show thinking of an image, that's as good as remembering a joke. A lot of those shows, like 'The Office,' they are brilliant, but they're not visually interesting.

- Julian Barratt

Brilliant, Away, Image, Joke

I'm not very funny at all in real life.

- Julian Barratt

Funny, Real, Very, Real Life

With something that's not based just in comedy, you can be a bit weirder in a slightly realistic way.

- Julian Barratt

Based, Weirder, Slightly, Realistic

Films do have suspense and tensions and scares and jumps, and I like to write things that have both in them, comedy and horror, but sometimes they are hard to balance.

- Julian Barratt

Horror, Like, Films, Tensions

I liked horror and comedy, basically, from a young age, but I just ended up getting into comedy because there was - I could do stand-up comedy, and that was my way into this business, and then there was no stand-up horror, and I didn't know how to get into that world.

- Julian Barratt

Young, Stand-Up Comedy, Young Age

For me, there's no dichotomy between being shy or a performer, because I think it's more a way of slightly presenting a version of things to the world.

- Julian Barratt

Think, I Think, Slightly, Version

I can act with either eye, but you've got to be twice as good as an actor to act with one eye. You need to put all your emotions just through one eye and really punch it out of that eye. I found it quite difficult to do at first, and then I found a technique that allowed me to act with one eye, which I patented.

- Julian Barratt

Through, Allowed, Technique, Punch

We have a need to make people laugh at things they'd never thought about, make them laugh at things that aren't logical.

- Julian Barratt

Thought, Never, Need, Logical

You don't need a high concept to make a great film, of course. 'Withnail & I' is not - it's probably not much on paper, but it's one of the funniest films ever made.

- Julian Barratt

Need, Films, Great Film, Funniest

This business is ephemeral, and you have to maintain a healthy cynicism about it. There's a 'flavour of the month' aspect to it, so you have to keep moving on and mutating.

- Julian Barratt

Moving On, Cynicism, Ephemeral

I think with performing, initially I was terrified on stage, absolutely terrified. And I did it again and again and again, and I learned sort of how it works, and then I was able to do it.

- Julian Barratt

Think, I Think, Works, Initially

I'm not a natural comic, I don't think. That's why I gave up stand-up. It was hard. It involved a lot of death. Dying. Dying on stage. But it's one of those jobs you can only learn by doing it.

- Julian Barratt

Death, Doing, Why, Comic

I love 'Airplane,' and I love 'Naked Gun' and all those films, where you're parodying.

- Julian Barratt

Love, Gun, Films, Airplane

The secret of comedy is don't grow up. That's why some comedians are a nightmare, because they never grow up.

- Julian Barratt

Grow, Comedy, Some, Nightmare

I miss quite major cultural signposts quite often.

- Julian Barratt

Cultural, Major, Quite, Signposts

When things start running a bit too well on the tracks, I tend to derail them if I can.

- Julian Barratt

Start, Them, Bit, Tracks

If the 'Boosh' was a bit more of a specific thing, or less multi-limbed, we would probably have done it and moved on.

- Julian Barratt

More, Less, Moved, Moved On

My dad wanted to be a musician, so when I started playing guitar, he was like, 'Go for it.' That is what I did for ages; I was in bands. And then I went to university and got into comedy somehow.

- Julian Barratt

Go For It, Like, Dad, Musician

I always dreamt of being in 'Kerrang.' That was my ambition. I read that religiously when I was into heavy metal. Then the jazz magazines took over.

- Julian Barratt

Always, Over, Took, Heavy

Pain - that is what life is about, isn't it? Suffering with moments of reprieve.

- Julian Barratt

Pain, Suffering, Moments, Reprieve

I was in a band called Groove Solution. Because there was a groove crisis, and we solved it.

- Julian Barratt

Solution, Groove, Crisis, Solved

It's good to give people a jolt. If they're expecting one thing, it's important to give them something else. If you do something startling, audiences might at first freak out, but then they start to think, 'This is not going to be conventional. I'm going to enjoy this.'

- Julian Barratt

Good, Enjoy, Something Else, Conventional

I have trouble keeping a lid on the self-hatred.

- Julian Barratt

Keeping, Lid, Trouble

Sometimes, you write things that sound really great when you're at home but don't work when you shine the light of an audience on them. Great writing and live writing are two separate things.

- Julian Barratt

Work, Audience, Separate, Shine

Sometimes I do that quite a lot, go back and forth a lot between ideas. Try things out.

- Julian Barratt

Sometimes, Go, Back, Quite A Lot

My life is divided up into before I had kids and after.

- Julian Barratt

My Life, Before, Had, Divided

We used to have to convince people we were funny, and it didn't always work.

- Julian Barratt

Work, Always, Were, Convince

Most stand-up is incredibly boring. It's time for people to do something else.

- Julian Barratt

Boring, Most, Else, Incredibly

Comedians are not well people. Well people are not drawn to creating.

- Julian Barratt

Creating, Well, Comedians, Drawn

The acting life can be quite scary, really.

- Julian Barratt

Life, Quite, Really, Scary

Sport doesn't do anything for me. And I don't do anything for it.

- Julian Barratt

Me, Anything, Sport

I don't do stand-up anymore.

- Julian Barratt

Anymore, Stand-Up

It's not immediately categorisable. I don't know what to say when anyone asks what the 'Boosh' is.

- Julian Barratt

Know, Say, Anyone, Immediately

I'm always trying to do anything between comedy and horror.

- Julian Barratt

Trying, Comedy, Always, Horror

I've been a horror fan pretty much in the sense that my sense of horror and my sense of humor were both equally kindled by films as a kid.

- Julian Barratt

Pretty, Been, Films, Horror

Not really a good idea to eat things fans have made because you don't know what state of mind they were in when they made them.

- Julian Barratt

Mind, Idea, Made, Good Idea

Life without music would be a mistake.

- Julian Barratt

Life, Music, Would, Mistake

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