None of my comedy depended on looks. I never did tons of fat jokes.
— Lisa Lampanelli
I thought I had to work at someplace everybody's heard of. It was never, 'I'm interested in such and such. I want to work in such and such magazine.' It was like, 'Oh, my G-d, I really need to work for somebody so people will think I'm OK.' So I got a job at 'Popular Mechanics'.
I always order soup, dessert, and a sandwich or whatever main course. But then the idea is you have to eat such a small portion of it and bring the rest home.
This thing happened where I noticed anytime I got together with four friends or more, the conversation goes to food.
I'm not a private person. I like hanging out and talking to fans. But my life isn't so interesting that you want to see the inside of it.
I keep getting asked out by really young, good looking boys and really ugly lesbians. So, even if I wanted to jump onto the tuna boat, I wouldn't because I'm not getting high-class babes that I should get at this level of my career. And I always know the ugly ones are serious and that the good-looking ones are goofing on me.
I do a big roast of Trump during my set now - which I clearly expanded on - because there's so much to make fun of him about now.
I lasted seven years as a journalist, and I've been doing comedy for twenty years.
People with HIV and AIDS are nothing to be afraid of. They are people just like every single one of us, and each has a story to tell. These people should be helped, embraced, and not dismissed. We need to open our hearts and our minds to them, and we just may learn we're pretty much all the same.
If they hate you, they hate you, but I've always been polarizing, and I love that.
I was 25 myself once. I also thought I knew everything. I also thought that I could give singers singing advice and comics comedy advice. When you're that age, you know it all, so I understand it. But when you're tired and you don't have patience for it, you definitely snap.
Mr. Trump, I really can't comment, because he was my boss on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' and I just don't think we should let him be president until he produces evidence that the thing on his head is real. Because he wanted to see Obama's birth certificate, we should ask for a certificate of real hair.
What you bring to the stage is what you are in real life... people sense that.
Interesting-looking people have always been comedians, and it's rare that someone who has the choice to model ends up being a comic. Except for maybe Whitney Cummings, but that's about it. That's why she's special: because she can combine it.
I kind of knew inside that I wanted to try comedy, but it was a mystery. How do you start? So when I hit 30 and I had done everything I wanted to do in journalism, so I went to a comedy class. I figured I'd learn how to do five minutes and see how it feels.
I heard Cher say, 'I answer to two people: Myself and God.' I say, 'I only answer to me. I'm not sure I appreciate God's opinion.'
I'm not looking for 'outer esteem' anymore, what they call 'other esteem.' I'm looking for self-esteem. And people think that self-esteem is built with accomplishments. And, 'Hey, look what I did in my life.'
I order food like a normal human being. If I'm out to lunch, I'm going to order three courses like everybody else. I'm not going to feel like some kind of freak.
I've gone through literally over 30 years of struggle with weight and food and body image... and I'm like, 'Wait a minute.'
Ticket sales will get higher the day after roasts.
I'm always proud of what I've done and what I continue to do.
When doing comedy, I do what makes me laugh. The first person I learned from said I should talk about things I am passionate about - that I love or hate - because the audience likes to see passion. The stuff I rant and rave about stems from a place that really pisses me off.
I've played every comedy club and every theatre across the country for the last 25 years and seen a lot of audience members from different ethnic persuasions.
Shortly after college, I was working in New York City at 'Rolling Stone' magazine.
We usually let our husbands negotiate the house and the cars. But I never had a husband, so I was always buying my own houses and cars, so I knew how to negotiate.
I wasn't ready to be a dog's mother! Trust me, I'm completely unfit and irresponsible. I'm a comic that travels 48 weeks a year, but I make it work, so you can, too.
My thing has always been, I've never been very open and vulnerable with people, so the minute I got this dog, everything changed. It just opened me up and made me more loving... It's all because of him... He's made me a better person... I can tell people what I feel now. I can cry in front of people sometimes.
I don't sell myself. I've never explained my comedy to people who don't get it. Never complain. Never explain.
With Don Rickles and me, we're just telling the truth. We're not terrific people, and we're not gonna win the beauty contest. We're just average Joes. We're just being who we are, and I think people like that.
I looked around and couldn't believe no one has written a show about women and eating. It's the biggest issue women have.
When you're dealing with a sick person, you're not important at all. You're just a nobody.
I got sick of trying everything. I tried every single thing imaginable - diet, exercise. I even bought a house on the health spa property, and I still gained weight.
I remember, after the Pamela Anderson roast, being told, 'You're sold out - you can add two more shows.'
If Flavor Flav was any smaller and darker, Brad and Angelina would try to adopt him.
I'm not a political comic at all, so it would be weird if I just turned into a preachy, sort-of political commentator.
I always wrote about myself in the third person. I knew how to promote myself so it sounded intelligent. I know how to package myself.
Too many people have already lost their lives to HIV and AIDS, and the more celebrities who can bring attention to the issue, the better.
When I decided to do 'The Celebrity Apprentice,' there was absolutely no question that I would play the game for GMHC.
I say every slur on the planet - racial, homosexual, everything to do with every ethnic group on the planet - and guess what? I will never apologize for that because I know why I do it, and it is to make a valid point about ignorance in this society.
The dog lasted. The marriage didn't. So it shows which relationship was meant to be.
I feel that if I retire today, I've done enough. I've achieved everything in comedy... I feel I don't need anything else. It's already built.
Insult comedy has been around forever. I can make fun of people, and they won't get mad at me.
I've never wanted to be a person where somebody would be like, 'I like her; she's okay.' Love or hate is fine, because it sells tickets.
