I never went to acting school, so improv was my training. Just being quick on your feet helps in everyday life.
Ben Schwartz
Taking improv has helped every other aspect of my field.
When I was coming up in high school, if you wanted to be in the musical it was during the winter, so I had to choose between playing basketball or being in the musical. And I ended up playing basketball.
At the very beginning, I was a page at Letterman, and I freelanced for any place that would let me write any word. I wanted to do this so badly. Then when I got a tiny bit of success, I was petrified that I was going to lose it.
I really was interested in doing something for a premium channel like Showtime or HBO, just because you get to really let loose. I think they let their storylines go wherever they want, and it's really a special place to work.
I did a lot of short films online, so I come from that background where a lot of people see your stuff.
I really like the stuff that Showtime puts out. I think that 'Homeland' is phenomenal. I think 'Dexter' is amazing.
If I play a video game, I have to get through the whole thing. Like, when the new 'Resident Evil' comes out, I have to sit and do the whole thing. It will consume my life. I'm at a point where I don't have much time to play around anymore, so I don't really get started on the games if I won't be able to finish them.
'The Simpsons' is still my favorite show. I have a really strong connection to it.
It's funny: I put money into short films, and I put really good actors in it, and I write some stuff that's really funny, and I'll get, like, a million views. But to the right of me, there will be a video of a kitten that falls into a toilet bowl, and it's three seconds long, and it will get 25 million views.
The perfect thing for me is to be on something I love, where I'm doing it and have enough money not to be poor, and I'm allowed to go on vacation.
I love doing comedy. One of my favorite things in the world is to do 'Parks and Recreation'; a big fun character.
I think it's always super exciting to watch something before you can see it in theaters.
Live-action is more fun for me, because you're acting with people. When you do voice-acting, many times you're not even in the room with the person that you're acting with.
I hope I don't get driven to the point where, to be honest, I'm never satisfied. I hope there's some part of me that can be content.
I love just working. I love the idea of being a working class citizen.
I love video games. When I was growing up, video games were very important to me.
When I do the roles, when I'm in the room and auditioning, I'll ask the director if they're cool with me adding stuff, or just improvising while we're doing it. And I would say, like, 90 percent of the time, they say, 'Absolutely.'
A lot of the time, you're supposed to play to the top of your intelligence, as truthful as possible. But when you're on stage making people laugh, you're still acting. I think it helped me a bunch to go on stage two or three times a week.
