Top 180 Denis Leary Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “What firefighters and people in our military and cops do is separate from what the rest of us do; basically these people say, ‘I’m going to protect all these strangers.’”

— Denis Leary

102. “The only difference between kids and jungle animals is pants. Kids wear them. Jungle animals don’t.”

— Denis Leary

103. “I do have to say that I think that President Obama is the greatest President in the history of all of our Presidents, and that he can do no wrong in my book. So how’s that for prejudice on the Democratic side?”

— Denis Leary

104. “I like Jesus, I mean, I think he was a good guy.”

— Denis Leary

105. “How many whales do we really need? I figure five. One for each ocean.”

— Denis Leary

106. “Anthony Mackie in ‘The Hurt Locker’ is everything an actor can hope to be. So rock steady in his portrayal that you immediately forget every performance he may have previously given, and focus only on the character in front of you.”

— Denis Leary

107. “My father could swear in Gaelic and English, by the way, ladies and gentlemen.”

— Denis Leary

108. “I bought my daughter a Chihuahua and I fell in love with it. So now I carry Coco around with me all the time.”

— Denis Leary

109. “My wife and I were poor when I started but we struggled along until things happened for me in my thirties. I knew I was doing what I loved even if I wasn’t getting paid for it, so I think I’d still be doing it.”

— Denis Leary

110. “I guess you get pigeon-holed in Hollywood, but I’m ok with that because I’ve been able to do a lot. I started in the theater, then I went to stand-up comedy, and then when I went into the movies to do comedy and drama and big movies and small movies.”

— Denis Leary

111. “I’m in my truck talking to Jesus. And you can see a World Series ring on my right pinkie finger. But when I take my sunglasses off a second later, it’s gone. It’s the whole divine intervention thing. You know Jesus had something to do with them winning.”

— Denis Leary

112. “There’s a method aspect to Campbell Scott character and he really wants to get into his character and he wants to cast to go on a fast so that by the time the play opens nobody’s eaten in three days because he wants the audience to feel the pain from the stage.”

— Denis Leary

113. “I’m no prophet and I’m no genius, but I can only tell you what I seem to know. As a fan of television and the movies, I think it’s all for the better.”

— Denis Leary

114. “Everybody’s vying for people’s attention in terms of eyeballs, earholes, and dollars .”

— Denis Leary

115. “Most of the women placed in the fire department here in New York never passed the physical test. And a fat guy or a short guy, or anybody not passing the test in a life-or-death job, leads to friction.”

— Denis Leary

116. “I wanted to be a hockey player. Where I grew up, the basketball courts were rarely used. I was terrible in school and actually said, ‘I’m going to be a hockey player.’”

— Denis Leary

117. “My career plan at this point is ‘Ice Age 5’ through ‘10,’ and even ‘12,’ and ‘Spider Man’ – you know, basically I’d be Emma Stone’s dad for the rest of my career. I really don’t have any problem doing that.”

— Denis Leary

118. “Loud, stupid and overeating will suffice as long as we also have the funny, the fierce and the intellectual.”

— Denis Leary

119. “Most movies suck, even the independent ones. Hollywood is like baseball: Hit three good ones out of 10 and you’re a Hall of Famer.”

— Denis Leary

120. “My kids watch everything downloaded; they have no idea what the numbers or the names of the channels mean, except, ‘FX makes the show that I see on my computer.’ So it’s harder to get a show on the air, but at the same time, there are a lot of terrific shows.”

— Denis Leary

121. “We didn’t have rehab back in the Seventies. Back in the Seventies, rehab meant you stopped doing coke, but you kept smoking pot and drinking for a couple more weeks.”

— Denis Leary

122. “Wolfhounds helped kill off the wolves in Ireland.”

— Denis Leary

123. “I’m not saying being a comedian is brain surgery, but it is definitely – it’s like being a carpenter. You learn how to make tables and chairs. You have to have the right tools, and you have to know how to put the thing together, right?”

— Denis Leary

124. “There’s no male Oprah.”

— Denis Leary

125. “We’ve always talked about doing something else and Campbell Scott is always busy and I’m always busy. But when we came up with the idea of doing the potato famine as a hip hop musical, I wanted somebody who was going to bring gravity.”

— Denis Leary

126. “I’m one of the people that when I wake up I have to do what I do. It’s not like I want to do it. I kind of have to do it.”

— Denis Leary

127. “I spent a long time working in the movies to figure out that kind of acting and also how to write and produce for the screen.”

— Denis Leary

128. “I’m really good at laundry, and I have no problem cleaning the kitchen.”

— Denis Leary

129. “I’m really happy I went to a Catholic school because a lot of the repressive tactics they use make for great senses of humor.”

— Denis Leary

130. “At some level, you’ve got to have the ability to – especially in film and in front of the camera, you got to have the ability to drop into character and close off the entire crew and the camera and everything else.”

— Denis Leary

131. “You get to a certain point, especially if you’re a comedian, where people think certain things. It’s like, I don’t take the time to explain it to people, it’s just part of what I do.”

— Denis Leary

132. “The best thing about series TV is that everyone you work with is hand-picked, as compared to working on a film.”

— Denis Leary

133. “I’m pretty much a chocolate guy. I’m up for any type of chocolate. Any chocolate.”

— Denis Leary

134. “When I go to Batman movies, I always think, ‘Man, I would like to be a bad guy in a Batman movie.’ especially as they got darker when they go to the Christian Bale era.”

— Denis Leary

135. “Most people don’t know how underpaid and often ill-equipped urban fire departments are across North America.”

— Denis Leary

136. “You can’t teach somebody how to be funny. You’re either funny, or you ain’t.”

— Denis Leary

137. “Where I grew up, the basketball courts were rarely used.”

— Denis Leary

138. “It’s hard to have a film and television career and do music work at the same time.”

— Denis Leary

139. “There’s no way around it – drama is very difficult to shoot. It’s very heavy and something that you carry with you for the course of the day.”

— Denis Leary

140. “Bill Murray doesn’t do anything. He barely shows up at the movies he says he’s going to do.”

— Denis Leary

141. “Science fiction was never my thing. I have no interest in it.”

— Denis Leary

142. “With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you’ll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.”

— Denis Leary

143. “There’s not going to be a ‘Rescue Me’ movie. Not a chance.”

— Denis Leary

144. “I’m not really a Spider-Man fan. I’m more of a Batman guy.”

— Denis Leary

145. “Nobody can make more fun of me than I already make of myself.”

— Denis Leary

146. “I obviously identify with the anti-authority figure. I’ve pretty much always had problems with authority, ever since I was a kid.”

— Denis Leary

147. “The best comedy audiences in the country and this is tried and true, I’m not just saying it, in my opinion are Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago.”

— Denis Leary

148. “Science fiction was never my thing. I have no interest in it. So I don’t think I could successfully pull off being on a project like that without really losing my mind.”

— Denis Leary

149. “I really want to do a western film. It’s one of my favorite movie genres of all time.”

— Denis Leary

150. “Once people start to think they’ve wasted parts of their life, or they’re wasting their life as they speak, that means there’s going to be great dramatic and comedic tension.”

— Denis Leary