I love crazy names. It comes right from Monty Python and Woody Allen - nothing in the world makes me giggle more than a funny name. It became a thing I started doing when I wrote. If a person came into a store and said, "How much is this apple?" that person would have an insane name.

Michael Schur

Categorized in : Names Crazy Python

The best shows are always the ones that are very, very low-concept and just about great characters.

Michael Schur

shows lows character

Sometimes you've got to just commit to the idea and press forward and trust that you made the right decision.

Michael Schur

decision sometimes ideas

If the doors aren't open, just kick them in and keep walking.

Michael Schur

kicks walking doors

My main qualm about TV criticism has been when people review TV the way they review movies. They watch the pilot, and write a definitive review of the show. The obvious analogy is that you don't read the first eight pages of a book and then talk about whether the book works or not. People want so desperately in this day and age to declare something thumbs-up or thumbs-down that they declare it immediately.

Michael Schur

writing book people

You should be nice to people because it's better to be nice to people than mean to people, not because you think there's something in it for you.

Michael Schur

nice mean thinking

I got a lot of texts from friends and emails from friends and most of them were just pure jealousy.

Michael Schur

email pure

I stopped using Twitter for a while just because I got sick of it and I started using it again, but I don't check the "mentions."

Michael Schur

checks sick

Topical-sketch writing were incredibly rational and well reasoned: don't do a joke if the subject doesn't deserve it. An ad hominem attack on someone might get you a cheap laugh, but it doesn't earn you any long-term trust. The biggest rule was: you attack whoever's in power. Don't bring your personal bias to the table.

Michael Schur

writing laughing long

In a world where your interactions with humans are solely about rating one to five, two things happen: One is all humanity is lost in the name of fake pleasantries and also there's no nuance to that system. There's no room for complex interactions that are rich and meaningful.

Michael Schur

names meaningful two

You really don't settle on an idea until you're really sure it's the best idea. Then once you settle on it you commit to it entirely. That was always the plan.

Michael Schur

settling plans ideas

I think if you're too concerned with being cool or hip or liked, you can't really make good TV because sincerity and coolness are opposites.

Michael Schur

hips opposites thinking

You can't achieve anything entirely by yourself. There's a support system that is a basic requirement of human existence. To be happy and successful on earth, you just have to have people that you rely on.

Michael Schur

support-systems successful people

My favorite TV show of all time is 'The Wire,' which has the feeling of a project-based show. You draw in people from disparate parts of the world, and they have to work together to achieve a goal.

Michael Schur

tv-shows goal people

You can't just sit around in leopard-print slippers and drink champagne all day and think everything's gonna work out somehow.

Michael Schur

leopards work-out thinking

And personally I will say that Amy Poehler deserves about a thousand trophies and so one is a good start, and I'm hoping this is the first of a thousand. That's my personal hope.

Michael Schur

amy trophies firsts

I am not on Facebook. I'm not on Instagram. I only use Twitter, which I wish I didn't.

Michael Schur

instagram use wish

All of comedy at some level is trial-and-error, whether it's a stand-up trying out jokes or a comedy show trying stories.

Michael Schur

errors levels trying

I care more about making sure the story is correct and the characters are behaving in character than I do about the individual jokes.

Michael Schur

care stories character

Society is completely unreasonable. People want everything and want to pay for nothing. They panic if they think about their taxes being raised, but if their garbage collection is a day late they scream and yell.

Michael Schur

panic people thinking

I think that that the main problem with a lot of social media stuff in terms of ratings is it's a very skewed motivation.

Michael Schur

media motivation thinking