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Portrait of Simon Amstell

Simon Amstell

(1979) Comedian United Kingdom

112 quotes in 400 categories

Simon Amstell talks about comedy as a way to turn pain into something absurd. He says he prefers finding peace rather than upsetting people, and he describes his work as a fight against the dragon of shame. He also mentions how therapy often shows up when he reaches a new age.

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Simon Amstell is a comedian from the United Kingdom, best known for Help.

Quick Facts About Simon Amstell

Born: November 29, 1979
Nationality: United Kingdom
Profession: Comedian
Notable works: Help

About Simon Amstell

Simon Marc Amstell is an English comedian, writer and director. He wrote and directed the films Carnage (2017) and Benjamin (2018). His work on television has included presenting Popworld and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Quotes by Simon Amstell

There are things I did that I wouldn't do now.

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I was a really weird child.

Child

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I think I may be a determinist.

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I quite like being cheeky and naughty.

Being

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I'd really like to be able to play the piano.

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I never regret being honest.

Being

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Death is coming. That's my catchphrase.

Catchphrase

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I don't feel broken anymore.

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All I ever wanted, from maybe the age of 13, was to be on television.

Age

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It feels like an unkind thing to do, to attack religious people. It just feels rude.

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I had a good relationship with my grandmother. She used to really validate me.

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If you focus too much on being liked or respected, it will be difficult for people to like or respect you.

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Comedy is a place where you can tell all the truths, where you can tell your truth.

Comedy

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There's a freedom of just being new in a place, no matter what that place is.

Being

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I don't see the point of doing comedy unless it comes from pain.

Comedy

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I know that telling the truth frees me of shame and anxiety.

Anxiety

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I think the thing that connects everything I've done is that I'm just trying to say something truthful, wherever I am.

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There's a feeling of safety around the idea that no matter what happens in your life, you can always do stand-up. And…

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The changes that have been made in my life have happened because I've looked in great and horrific depth at my own…

Change

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I'm not interested in being gratuitously relatable and broadening out what I do in order to reach more people.

Being

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The show 'To Be Free' is about how I think I would be completely free in my life if I don't have…

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If you are somebody who is going to at some point be revealed as not like everyone else, then to be in…

Community

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I was used to putting on a performance in order to be loved. And it took me a long time to get…

Human

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We have these voices telling us that what is most true is the miserable part of our lives - but dancing around…

Dance

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My relationship with my mum is probably the defining one of my life. I was a really shy kid. I wouldn't go…

Alone

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I'm not actually motivated by trying to help anyone or make other people go to therapy. My only aim is that people…

Experience

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I think when I started doing stand-up properly, at 21, I had a feeling like... I wanted to be a comedian before…

Comedian

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I remember being around 25, at this incredible party in someone's very beautiful garden in Highgate and paper lanterns were being lit…

Age

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If you are the sort of comedian who's interested in sort of the mundane, then there's something in that and then it's…

Beautiful

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I think as much as I talk about humour being a defence mechanism, I'm also really grateful that I developed it, because…

Choice

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When I was 23, I went to my dad's second wedding, full of tightly repressed rage, given expression only by my wedding…

Dad

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The reason anything happened for me at all was because my parents, on advice from a primary school teacher, sent me to…

Actor

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I feel like we're all here on this planet, and intimacy is important. I can't bear small talk, it's awful. I want…

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If there's anything to be said in a broad way about different audiences it's that I live in a major city, and…

Audience

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I'm not interested in being gratuitously relatable and broadening out what I do in order to reach more people. When I'm going…

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At first I was very anxious about starting Twitter, because I didn't really know what was expected of me. I now feel…

Anxious

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My father found religion when my parents divorced.

Catholic

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I've solved aspects of myself.

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My mum makes me laugh a lot.

Laugh

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In reality, I do not find Justin Bieber attractive.

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Simon Amstell by topic

People (21) Comedy (15) Life (14) Humor (13) Being (10)