Daily Inspiration Quote by Will Arnett

"Most shows, you really have to force it. And everybody's nervous, and the network is nervous, and they've all got their notepads out, and they're all going to give notes on what they think is funny, and everybody's trying to spin their jokes, and this was so - the script was so good that we didn't have to really do anything, and it made it so easy for us to do well"

Will Arnett, Actor

About this Quote

Arnett is slipping a whole industry critique into what looks like a humble compliment. The setup is blunt: most shows are something you "force", a word that captures how comedy gets treated like a product you can muscle into shape. Then comes the real villain of the piece: anxiety. Not just the actors' nerves, but the network's, multiplied into a room full of notepads and "notes" - bureaucratized taste, the corporate fantasy that humor can be audited line by line.

The repetition of "everybody" matters. It paints a crowded ecosystem where no single person is fully in charge, yet everyone feels entitled to tinker. That swarm dynamic is how good jokes get sanded down: people "spin their jokes" to survive the room, not to serve the character or story. Arnett is describing a subtle incentive structure where being agreeable and quick matters more than being right.

Then he pivots to the outlier: a script so strong "we didn't have to really do anything". On its face, that's self-effacing. Underneath, it's a declaration of what actually makes comedy work: clarity of writing creates trust, and trust creates timing. When the foundation is solid, performance stops being a panic response to executive oversight and becomes what it should be - interpretation. The line also signals status. An actor who can casually dismiss the usual note-storm is telling you he's been in the trenches, and he's naming the rare moment when the machine briefly got out of the way.

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About the Author

Will Arnett (born May 4, 1970) is a Actor from Canada.

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