Quotes by Michael Showalter

“In each case, the minute you see them, you know theyre wrong, ... The instant they walk on the screen, they give you some information that immediately makes the audience turn to the person sitting next to them and say, Hes wrong for her. Itll never work out.”

“Shes sweet and shes nice, shes just not Andie MacDowell. God forbid, youre not Andie MacDowell. Youre just a person, ... Im playing with that whole idea that the characters have these quirks about their personalities that weve been conditioned to believe equal wrongness.”

“Theres a Baxter in every single romantic comedy,”

“Their unifying characteristic is theyre not romantic. They have this inability to recognize the simple romantic needs of their counterpart. They just never know the right thing!”

“David [Wain] and I had been writing a spoof of romantic comedies, and we started thinking about this stereotypical character. We started imagining an entire movie about him.”

“Baxters overdo it. The Baxter is the guy whos going to take a girl to the best restaurant in town, having no clue if its appropriate for her. All that matters is, its the best. Anything recommended as the most romantic place, thats where youll find the Baxter.”

“[In contrast, the non-Baxter will simply go with his gut:] he has a spontaneous, Hey, whats that thing across the street? thing, ... And, of course, its perfect.”

“Hell cook too complicated a dinner, and it backfires. Or, hell plan the whole night out minute by minute.”

“Theyre [the Baxters] trying very hard. It just doesnt come naturally. They dont have a gift for it.”

“John Roberts is a Baxter. Have you seen his hair? Its parted with a snow shovel!”

A lot of my humor centers on the act of telling jokes and I think this can prevent certain audiences from suspending their feeling of disbelief. It might piss a few people off, but I cant help it.

For me, Twitter works best as a way of taking pictures of being stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. If people really want to read really funny quips about life, parenting, and pop culture, then by all means read Michael Ian Blacks tweets.