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I did about 10-12 national commercials and then got one line parts in things like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and the show 'The Unit.' Got a little part in the movie 'Redbelt' by David Mamet and kept slowly grinding up and then started getting bigger parts in independents and getting noticed by Liz Meriwether.

Jake M. Johnson

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More quotes by Jake M. Johnson

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In L.A., if you're in improv, and you're on those stages, all the big agents and managers and producers are watching those shows. They're not flying to Chicago to see the show. People are booking jobs off the stages in L.A. who aren't more talented than the guys in Chicago. But the most guys book out of L.A., and the second is New York.
Jake M. Johnson
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I never thought I'd be one of those guys who gets recognized.
Jake M. Johnson
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I'll be honest, I like shooting 'New Girl.' I like the people. The show is still new to me. I've never done TV like this before.
Jake M. Johnson
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I always thought, if you're gonna do TV, you want to play a straight, solid, pillar-of-the-show kind of guy.
Jake M. Johnson
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If you have the ability to work with people smarter than you, always try to be the least smartest person in the room and surround yourself with talent, because iron sharpens iron.
Jake M. Johnson
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The craziest thing about TV directing is I turned in a version, and then they made their final changes - so I don't know what they are. So I'm like, Ooo, I'm dying to see the final print.
Jake M. Johnson
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We didn't make money but we never lost money. We'd sit around Times Square with fliers, walk around the Village and try and get people to come. Now you'd just tweet it, but that was the beginning of emails, or the beginning of me doing emails - I'm sure there were people in 1986 who were doing emails.
Jake M. Johnson
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There are a lot of comedic actors who are just out to be the funny one and get all the laughs and they'll sacrifice your joke, the scene, the story just to be the star. All they want is attention and to be number one. You can spot those guys from a mile away and they're the worst.
Jake M. Johnson
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I feel like L.A. is more of a showcase, and Chicago is a pure comedy scene where you're doing comedy for comedy. You're doing comedy actually for the audience that's there.
Jake M. Johnson
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It's a really weird feeling when you write something and you really know it and then you watch actors come in and do it.
Jake M. Johnson
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My big break was really Liz Meriwether saw me in a movie called 'Paper Heart' and really liked it, and then saw me in a movie called 'Ceremony' because she knew Max Winkler and said, 'I want you to be in 'No Strings Attached,' but you gotta audition for it.' From that it was easier for her to get me in 'New Girl.
Jake M. Johnson
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You know, what 'New Girl' is doing is they're bringing in really cool people. These are home-run people who aren't your typical guest-star-type people.
Jake M. Johnson
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I'm not a guy who sees the desire to transform with each part I'm not a piece of clay.
Jake M. Johnson
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You know, I'll tell you, nothing changed after 'No Strings' for me. A lot of people said, like, 'Your game will be different,' but it wasn't. It really wasn't.
Jake M. Johnson
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I try to collect money and I keep it in a special place called the bank. I collect a bunch of things called money, dollar bills, and I keep them in a safe under my bed.
Jake M. Johnson
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If I took over the 'Glamour' offices for a day, I would put Joe Pesci on the cover. I would say 'We've got to change all these magazines a little bit. We have to bring out a different version of what is, like, cool. You know, what's winning. Joe Pesci, Burt Reynolds.
Jake M. Johnson
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I had spent 10 days of my life digging for garbage.
Jake M. Johnson
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Sometimes, when you work with directors who have done it a lot and are established in the business and know the game, there are all these rules that they have. First-time directors will allow you to come in with choices. They're not so jaded by actors that they're like, 'Ugh, just do your job, man.
Jake M. Johnson
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I aspired to be a writer and then I just started getting acting work. I really didn't have a direct goal, I just knew I wanted to be in this industry telling stories and doing this for a job. I thought my path was going to be as a writer, but I'm pretty happy doing it as an actor.
Jake M. Johnson
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All of a sudden Mindy [Kaling] was writing on The Office and had sold a TV show. When we'd try to write shows, we'd jokingly call the word documents Hit Show. We just couldn't crack the code.
Jake M. Johnson