Gene Wilder on His Shyness and Comedic Acting

Interviewer: Do you find that a lot of comics are basically shy? Gene Wilder: Yes, yes, except for those who aren’t. Interviewer: I guess what I’m getting at is very often being a comic, whether it’s a stand-up comic or comic within a movie, in a sense is very often a way to fight your own shyness. Gene Wilder: Ya, ya, I think that was true with me a lot. Because I was very, very when I was 11, 12, 13, 14, and yet I wanted to be a comedian. I switched later on after I saw “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, I switched to wanting to be an actor and then I studied very hard, and I realized that my gifts lie in comedy, but it’s as a comic actor that I perform, not as a comedian. Interviewer: There’s a big distinction there. Gene Wilder: Big difference. I wouldn’t want to get up on a stage in front of 2000 people with a spotlight hitting me and be funny. But go onto a set, in a situation that’s been written, then I enjoy being funny and I’m not nervous doing it.