Quotes by Nina Conti

About Nina Conti:

Nina M. Conti is an English actress, comedian and ventriloquist. Among many characters, her primary on-stage puppet sidekicks are a white-haired Scottish grandmother named Granny and a deadpan and somewhat sinister monkey named Monk.
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I will remember the night I won the New Comedy Awards, as I was young and unformed, so that sticks in the mind. I've also done a fantastic gig at the Royal Albert Hall, which was amazing. Appearing in the Christopher Guest film was also a real highli...

Nina Conti

When I'm gigging, there's an uneasy shift when I pull a puppet out. People look at me aghast and I feel I have about 20 seconds to win them over. You even get the prejudice among other people in your own profession.

Nina Conti

The character of the monkey just grew from something out of his face and my granddad's personality. They fused, and that's what I ended up with! The monkey belonged to a friend of mine, and I saw that it had such a little beguiling face and it grew f...

Nina Conti

If I have a gig in the evening, I get 'the doom' at about 5 P.M., when I think I'm getting flu.

Nina Conti

My puppets are far more liberated than I am. Ventriloquism is a useful way of expressing myself.

Nina Conti

Having a puppet is a way of having opposing opinions - I say a thing; he says the other.

Nina Conti

I'm training to become a giggle doctor. It's a kind of hospital clown who changes the atmosphere on the ward and helps recovery. It's about making patients laugh but also much more.

Nina Conti

I had a terrible dream when I was pregnant; I dreamt the baby had a ventriloquial mouth, but there was no hand hole; I had to flick the mouth down to get words out.

Nina Conti

I was really awful at auditions. There's something about sitting down and saying into the camera: 'I'm Nina and this is the name of my agent.' That makes me just die inside.

Nina Conti

I like my squishy, red, high-heeled Vivienne Westwood jelly shoes. They make you seem like you're much more of a go-er.

Nina Conti

I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can't say.

Nina Conti

I've started running three or four times a week, which prompts millions of sketch ideas.

Nina Conti

If I'm on my own, I'll speak to 'Monkey' to generate new stuff for the act. I mean, I don't do it for moral support, although I wouldn't say that's out of the question. In fact, I could do it, I might do it... yes, I think I should actually start doi...

Nina Conti

I looked into studying psychoanalysis, wrote to the governing body and was about to start the year where they psychoanalyse you, four times a week, before you get to do it yourself. I just thought I'd taken the ventriloquism as far as I could. My act...

Nina Conti

With acting, I always felt like I didn't have control of it. It was all about other people giving me a job.

Nina Conti

I think acting is overrated. I'm not sure I enjoyed it. You never get to write your own roles. It's wonderful for some people, but I found it nerve-wracking. I was too busy worrying that no one would give me their words to speak.

Nina Conti

I feel Scottish when with English people, and when I'm with Scottish people, I realise I'm English.

Nina Conti

The way I talk to the puppets is real, and it's in the moment, and it's seeing what will happen. It's not something that is scripted.

Nina Conti

I think I've got it pretty easy compared with somebody who works at a desk nine to five. I'm just working for an hour in the evening. I get a bit breathless, as I have to talk non-stop because of the puppets.

Nina Conti

Because I'm around comedians all the time, in my downtime I tend not to watch comedy. Something the whole family enjoys is 'You've Been Framed!' It satisfies all of us. It's universal, and we all laugh a lot.

Nina Conti

Author Bio

  • NameNina Conti
  • DescriptionBritish actress
  • BornJune 5, 1974
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionComedian; Ventriloquist