Wendi McLendon-Covey Quotes

I had seen some shows at the Groundlings [legendary L.A. improvisational and sketch comedy troupe] and thought, "If I could ever do that, that would really mean something, that I have arrived." So I went through the program and said to myself, "I'm going to stay here until they kick me out." Seriously, they can ask you to leave at any point. Luckily, they never did that to me.

I've got a bunch of books ... I rely on funny books and movies to cheer me up. Oh, but I must say, I do have the world's most perfect husband, so a cuddle from him always cheers me up. He's a good guy.

Come on, planning a wedding, let's be honest, it's not fun. It's not fun being in a wedding.

You know what? At the end of the day, funny is funny. I hope to see the end of all the female cliches that are written in a lot of comedies that are named chick flicks.

Different people's houses smell like different weird things. God forbid someone should come and nail down what my house smells like. It'd probably be a litter box ... sweaty socks ... and burnt bacon. That probably is what it smells like.

Improv is more than just spitting out a bunch of funny stuff that's unrelated to the material. You have to stay in character, you have to react and respond as the character you're trying to play. You have to service the story, and I think improv training has helped with my listening, responding, and my audition technique. It's sounds so silly, but it's true. Because not only do you improvise during the audition, but once you get the part, they'll say, "Throw away everything. Just improv this scene. Do whatever you want." Someone could panic if they're not used to doing something like that.

I grew up fascinated with comedy and with people who could capture someone's attention.

As a performer, you can't just sit around waiting for the phone to ring. You have to write and develop projects for yourself, because casting people aren't always going to see you the way you want to be seen. Write a one-person show, shoot a short film, do plays, whatever - activity breeds activity. No one's interested in a stay-at-home actress.

Pulling away from your parents, that's the natural thing to do; that's how life progresses.

Now, I love playing moms who can't hide their paranoia.

What's the most humiliating thing? When you take someone to dinner or you cook somebody dinner and they get food poisoning. I mean, how bad do you feel?

Oh my gosh, if I could be on '30 Rock', my life would be made. That is my favorite show. My absolute favorite show.

Back when I was growing up, it was like, 'You're too young to know what you want. We're telling you what you want. It doesn't matter if you like it. And you are stupid. Just so you know.'

Weddings are really good for making you feel terrible about yourself if you're not where you want to be in life.

If you want to play the good roles, spend more time in in college and in acting class than you do in the gym, and you'll have the career you want.

I used humor to avoid being picked on as a kid. Or I would try and make my parents laugh, so I wouldn't get in trouble. But as a kid, I would watch Flip Wilson and I would memorize his whole routine, listen to Bill Cosby's records constantly, Steve Martin, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball. I just drank that stuff up and loved it.

You have to ask yourself if you want to be the kind of actress who's interesting, or the kind of actress who's meant to play the pretty-but-uninteresting wife of a chubby guy on a network sitcom.