Billy Bob Thornton

Like, if you and I are just hanging out, you know, all of us, you know, having a beer, you know, maybe I can be kind of funny sometimes, but...

To get on a stage, and the reason I'm afraid of it is because if you're doing a play, if you're doing a cat on a hot tin roof or whatever the hell it is, you don't really know the reaction from the audience.

I mean, it's like they either love the shit out of this or they don't get it or whatever, but you don't know in the moment.

If you're a stand-up comic, you have one reason.

to be up there, and that's to make them laugh.

So if you don't make them laugh pretty soon, you're fucked.

And I mean, I can't imagine bombing as a comic.

And I think about different people over the years that had a very different type of comedy, you know?

And like Stephen Wright, for instance.

Yeah, perfect example.

Stephen Wright.

who walks out there, doesn't say shit to the audience for a minute, takes a drink of water and then he goes, so last night I accidentally put my car key into my door at my house and started my house up.

I drove it around the block.

Cop pulled me over and said, where do you live?

I said, right here.

You know, or he goes, he says, I bought some powdered water, only I don't know what to mix it with.

I mean, you know, that kind of stuff.

So this is very sort of like nobody ever did that before.

Right.

He did that.