Quotessence
Home / Topics / Comedians Quotes

Comedians Quotes

Browse 18 quotes about Comedians.

Comedians Quotes

“People who are not blessed with the ability to make others laugh compensate for that by saying (or trying to say) things that are profound.”

WisdomHumorAbleQuotesAbilityComedyWiseTalentHumourBlessingIntellectualIntelligentQuoteBlessedProfoundInsightIntellectGiftComicComedianSatireBlessInsightfulAphorismGiftedQuotationsBlessingsGiftsCompensationTalentsAphorismsComicsQuotationIntellectualsInsightsTalentedUntalentedComediansCompensateUnable
Author:Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Create image

“Richie Tienken, Comic Strip owner and Eddie Murphy’s co-manager at the time, wasn’t that amused by his client’s new friends. Tienken recalled Keenen and Arsenio, in particular, jostling for Eddie’s affections. “Keenen and Arsenio didn’t get along,” he says. “It was like watching two broads try to pick up a guy.”

JealousyComedians
Book:Homey Don't Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
Create image

“You guys know each other?” I held my breath, my chest tight. Could this be it? Cover blown so fast? Ted stared at me. After several moments he said, “Yeah.” Ah, crap. He breathed out a heavy sigh. “We dated for a short time. It, uh, didn’t end well.” "Didn’t end well?” Bill snorted. “You two went out in a hail of bullets.”

DisguiseBulletsDateBruhComediansCover BlownHail Of BulletsRocky Past
Book:Demons in Disguise
Create image

“Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987) was released in theaters — unheard of for a standup concert film — and grossed over $50M. Behind the scenes there was some grumbling over Keenen’s credits as both a writer and producer. Murphy's then-manager, Richie Tienken, insists Keenen’s work on Raw was negligible. “Eddie was working on his routine and was having a problem with a line,” says Tienken. “He talked to Keenen about it and Keenen basically said, ‘Well, why don’t you say it this way?’ And it worked. I said to Eddie, ‘That was really nice of Keenen to help you with that.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, he asked me for a co-writing credit.’ I was like, ‘What? It was one fucking line. This guy’s your friend.’ ” Tienken points out that comedians are always helping each other out with bits. He’s worked with comics such as Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, and Ray Romano. “They all helped each other. They didn’t ask for anything. I think I even went to Keenen and said, ‘You’ve got some pair of fucking balls asking him for that.’ ” Chris Rock, who was just getting to know Eddie and Keenen around this time, recalled watching Eddie prepare for the shows on his Raw tour, batting around material with friends. Occasionally, Rock and others might help “tag” a joke. “I might have got a line in,” Rock told Marc Maron during a 2011 interview, referring to Raw. “That’s what friends are for, for tags. It’s only when they’re not your friends when they go, ‘I should get a writing credit for that tag.’ ” Eddie and Keenen had a falling-out over all this, and one person close to the situation at the time says Arsenio Hall called Keenen afterward and said something to the effect of “You’re out and I’m in.” For his part, though, Eddie never publicly complained about Keenen’s contributions — or lack thereof — to Raw.”

Writing ProcessComedy WritingBlack ComedyComediansStandup ComedyAccreditations
Book:Homey Don't Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
Create image

“Everyone who is at all successful in comedy has had a secret comedy dork life in their adolescence. Whether it's sitcoms or stand-ups, wallowing in the muck of comedy and repeating classic routines and jokes through your teenage years is what gives every aspiring comic or comedic actor the seed of their absurdist imagination that later takes flower.”

HumorComedyAbsurdTeensAdolescenceComediansTeen YearsComediennes
Book:The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy
Create image

“Finally, my watchers had to fess up. In embarrassed and genuinely polite tones, they said they had no other choice but to arrest me. Then they accompanied me to the prison across the way. As I entered, an extremely tall SS man leapt in front of me and asked: “Do you have any weapons?” “Why?” I responded. “Do I need any?”

HumorHistoryJokesGermanyDictatorshipNaziThird ReichComediansWerner Flinck
Book:Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany
Create image

“Comrades, we are going to try to cheer you up, and our sense of humor will help us in this endeavor, although the phrase gallows humor has never seemed so logical and appropriate. The external circumstances are exactly in our favor. We need only to take a look at the barbed wire fences, so high and full of electricity. Just like your expectations. And then there are the watchtowers that monitor our every move. The guards have machine guns. But machine guns won’t intimidate us, comrades. They just have barrels of guns, whereas we are going to have barrels of laughs. You may be surprised at how upbeat and cheerful we are. Well, comrades, there are goods reasons for this. It’s been a long time since we were in Berlin. But every time we appeared there, we felt very uneasy. We were afraid we’d get sent to the concentration camps. Now that fear is gone. We’re already here.”

HumorHistoryJokesGermanyDictatorshipNaziThird ReichConcentration CampsComediansWerner Flinck
Book:Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany
Create image