The improvisation had to be in public, because you only get value playing to strangers.

As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. I could still remember the amazing intensity of the world I'd lived in as a child, but I thought the dulling of perception was an inevitable consequence of age - just as a lens of the eye is bound gradually to dim. I didn't understand that clarity is in the mind.

I'm not against work, I think work is great, I work a lot; but if you want to play, the consequences must not be important.

If you have a good idea, open your mouth and say something else.

Light entertainment means it mustn't teach you anything.

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

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.