I was a huge fan of comedy and movies and TV growing up, and I was able to memorize and mimic a lot of things, not realizing that that meant I probably wanted to be an actor. I just really, really amused myself and my friends with memorizing entire George Carlin or Steve Martin albums.

Azaria reflects on how childhood fandom can function as an early apprenticeship: by memorizing and imitating comedians’ routines, he was unknowingly training the core skills of an actor—voice, timing, character, and audience awareness. The quote also hints at a common retrospective pattern in artists’ biographies: what felt like play or self-amusement later reads as vocation. By naming George Carlin and Steve Martin, he situates his formative influences in a tradition of performance built on precision, rhythm, and persona, suggesting that his later success (notably in voice and character work) grew from deep, repeated exposure to expertly crafted comedic language.