Top 40 Jake Johnson Quotes

If you’ll see on my social media, I’m never going to get political. I do think there’s something about entertainers where it’s nice where you just get entertainment.

I always thought, if you’re gonna do TV, you want to play a straight, solid, pillar-of-the-show kind of guy.

I would want to go to the future, 25 years in the future, and see if the Cubs ever win a World Series.

There are some similarities, I think, with all the characters I play. I’m not a guy who sees the desire to transform with each part; I’m not a piece of clay.

I moved to Los Angeles in January 2004 because a buddy of mine, who I met at a friend’s wedding, said he could get me a room in his apartment for $500 a month. I took it thinking that it would probably only be about six months before I moved back to Chicago, but I fell in love with it.

I’ve got a theory with each character I play. Regardless of the actions that they do, I, as Jake, have to like these people. And I have to say, ‘I wouldn’t mind hanging out with this guy for an hour and a half.’

First, I wanted to be Chris Farley. When I was growing up, Chris Farley was still on the stages and fun to us. In my house, John Belushi was king. I didn’t grow up when he was – I was born in ’78 – the reruns of Belushi in ‘Animal House,’ and knowing he was at Second City, he was viewed as a king in my house.

When you do a Tom Cruise movie, you don’t do a Tom Cruise movie and ask a lot of questions.

I don’t really party. I’ll occasionally have a drink.

When I was growing up, I used to love television. TV was everything. And it was a real connector for my family.

I like pizza and I like cheeseburgers a lot and I like Chicago food a lot.

What attracted to me about it was the cast. Working on ‘New Girl’ – I like working with an ensemble.

I wanted to be a second baseman for the Chicago Cubs. Problem is that my athletic abilities in my mind are greater than what my body can accomplish.

My dream career would be to be in things that have real heart and are telling real stories but while doing that, you’re getting really big laughs. I don’t necessarily love the straight crazy comedies. ‘Caddyshack’ is amazing, but there’s not a lot of new ‘Caddyshack’s.

I’ve been a fan of Prince my whole life.

If I were a teacher, I would like to teach freshman English – so I could be the Robin Williams type in ‘Dead Poets Society.’

I think you can meet the right girl at the wrong time, and it gets screwed up. If you meet the right girl at the wrong time, that girl has to be the most understanding person in the world because there’s going to be a lot more bumps in the road.

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.

There were two paths I was on: pre- and post-meeting my wife. I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t have headshots until I met her.

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.’

Always take your own path. And do what feels right for you.

I prefer to work with first-time directors.

I love when people on Twitter give advice.

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.’

I was really into classifieds for awhile. I’m a big negotiator. My father owned a car dealership when I was younger… it’s just in my blood.

I’m a grinding actor. That’s how I’ve always viewed myself. You go from one job to the next.

People ask me, ‘Did you ever want to be a live-action Peter Parker?’ Are you kidding me? These actors live in a gym and wear really uncomfortable tights for 14 hours a day. And it’s not like you’re doing some very fun acting. Shooting is a real drag. Then you do press for five months? I don’t think I could get it.

I was an out-of-work actor for 10 years.

Bob Dylan, I’d say, is probably my favorite musician.

I have a group of friends that I’m pretty sentimental about.

I think that Zoe Kazan is an unbelievable talent.

I’m a family man. I like being home.

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.

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.’

My brother was an improviser. He’s now a lobbyist, but he used to perform improv in the city when he was in high school, and one of the funniest guys I know to this day.

When people do get to see each other and know each other more – you’ll see it in New York, all these cultures are together – other cultures become far less scary and less foreign to you.

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.

Alex Kurtzman – he’s one of the nicest guys.

Zooey Deschanel loves music, loves musical theater, loves the show of it.

I knew I wanted to be an actor for a long time, but I was based out of Chicago and then I went to New York and I did ‘The Upright Citizens Brigade’ out there. I had a two-man show with a guy named Oliver Ralli who’s now in the band Pass Kontrol, which is a big band out of New York.