I mean, in the foreword to Impro in Denmark is by Søren Iversen, who I taught long ago, he was a Danish director, after he left. He said he'd read about [Eugeny] Vakhtangov. I'm a fan of his. When he heard that Vakhtangov had lots of tricks, he thought this was very bad. But when he came to be my student, he realised it was very good to have a lot of tricks. You saw some this morning.

Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.

If people had no fear, you'd hardly need to have to teach them. It's the fear that screws everything up.

The problem's always been to deal with the fear.Cos the fear is pretty . . . it ruins everybody really.

Truth is that the best ideas are often psychotic, obscene and unoriginal.

I think my brain is much more intelligent than I am...so I tend to trust it.

Suppose Mozart had tried to be original? It would have been like a man at the North Pole trying to walk north, and this is true of all of the rest of us. Striving after originality takes you far away from your true self, and makes your work mediocre.