Shelley Berman Quotes: Remembering The Famed 'Sit-Down' Comic Through Popular Sayings

One of the most famed comedians of the 1950s and 60s, "sit-down" comic Shelley Berman, died Friday aged 92. His popular live record, "Inside Shelley Berman," released in 1959 became the first comedy album to go gold, reaching sales of 500,000 units, according to the Hollywood Reporter. It was also the first non-musical recording to win a Grammy Award.

Unlike his contemporaries, Berman did his long monologues by sitting on a barstool, which earned him the name the "sit-down" comic. The ace comedian's signature act was to sit cross-legged on a bar stool, pretend as if he were on the telephone and conduct long one-sided conversations, improvising along the way.

According to Variety, Berman was caught on camera, on NBC's television documentary show "Comedian Backstage," becoming angry when a telephone began to ring backstage during one of his performances. This reduced his popularity for sometime after which he crossed over into film and television. Berman was recently seen playing Larry David’s father on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Here are some of the best quotes of the famed comedian to remember him by, courtesy Brainy Quote and AZQuotes.

• Unquestionably, standup comedy is and has always been an art form.
• I believe it is important for comedians to know who came before them.
• As a culture, I see us as presently deprived of subtleties. The music is loud, the anger is elevated, sex seems lacking in sweetness and privacy.
• So that this thing that aired in 1963 would result a few years later in personal bankruptcy, would result in having people be on edge with me, wondering when I'm going to blow up.
• The old problems — love, money, security, status, health, etc. — are still here to plague us or please us.
• While you're improvising, you may come up with something which will break him up. As soon as that smile comes out, you know that, hey, we're having fun [on improvising for the audience].
• The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon.
• If you've never met a student from the University of Chicago, I'll describe him to you. If you give him a glass of water, he says, 'This is a glass of water. But is it a glass of water? And if it is a glass of water, why is it a glass of water?' And eventually, he dies of thirst.
• We teach reading, writing and math by [having students do] them. But we teach democracy by lecture.
• As much experience, education and awareness as one can attain is important for a comedian.
• I developed several comedy phone calls.
• The most memorable performance was my appearance in concert in Carnegie Hall. The first stand-up to do so.
• Incidentally, I'm still looking for acting work, my first love.
• I was an actor before becoming a comedian.
• My whole act is confession.