“Comedy arises out of necessity, because some things are so dark that you have to laugh about it.” DarkLaughingComedyArise Author:Zosia Mamet
“I love comedy. Playing the underdog, and getting the laughs is my form of entertainment. I could think of nothing different that I would want to be doing at this time in my life.” ThinkingWantDifferentFormLaughingComedyEntertainmentUnderdog Author:Eugene Levy
“One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I'm a comedian, which I'm not. A comedian is someone who can stand up in front of an audience and make you laugh. I've never done stand-up and I never will. I'm a comic actor. My comedy comes through my characters.” DoneCharacterActorsAudienceLaughingComedyFrontsComicComedianMisconceptionMake You Laugh Author:Eugene Levy
“Comedy is so subjective. You could be in a room with 400 people laughing at a joke and you could just not think it's funny. You're just sitting there like, 'Am I in the twilight zone? Why is everyone laughing?' It's such a personal thing. People have such a personal visceral response to comedy.” PeopleThinkingRoomsLaughingComedyJokesSittingResponseZoneTwilightSubjectiveVisceralPersonal ThingsTwilight Zone Author:Todd Phillips
“All I mean is, I'm not the kind of audience comedy directors want at a test screening because I seldom laugh, and if I do, it's not very loud. That doesn't mean I don't like the movie.” IfsWantKindMeanAudienceLaughingComedyDirectorsTestsLoudScreening Author:Todd Solondz
“I remember going to Bob Preston's dressing room because I was losing a laugh - as you do in a long run. He said, 'Give me the script. That's where you're going off the road.' That's comedy. It's never the line itself; it's in the foundation.” GivingLongSaidRunningRememberLinesRoomsLaughingComedyLosingGive MeFoundationScriptsBobLong RunsDressingsDressing Rooms Author:Jeffrey Tambor
“The Bill Engvall Show' is a comedy about a middle-class family in the Midwest. It's a great family show to watch if you want to laugh and unwind.” IfsWantShowsClassWatchesLaughingComedyMiddleBillsMiddle ClassMidwestUnwindGreat FamilyMiddle Class Family Author:Nancy Travis
“I came home in the afternoon to sleep, and there was this e-mail from Comedy Central saying they were interested in having me be part of this new show called 'Jump Cuts'! So I called them right away, and the producer started laughing and said, 'We sent that e-mail one minute ago - you're so fast!” SaidShowsHomeSleepLaughingComedyCuttingMinutesProducersAfternoonMailOne Minute Author:Lev Yilmaz
“It's safe to say I'm a comedy nerd. I listen to so many podcasts. I just love to laugh.” LaughingComedySafeNerd Author:Allison Williams
“My dream career would be to be in things that have real heart and are telling real stories but while doing that, you're getting really big laughs. I don't necessarily love the straight crazy comedies. 'Caddyshack' is amazing, but there's not a lot of new 'Caddyshack's.” HeartRealStoriesDreamBigsWould BeCareersLaughingComedyCrazyReal StoryReal Heart Author:Jake M. Johnson
“Don't take yourself too seriously. It just makes life all the harder. It'll all come out in the wash anyway, because God's glory eventually will eclipse everything that goes wrong on this earth. Lighten up and learn to laugh at yourself. None of us is infallible. We make mistakes in life, and more often than not, they're funny. Sometimes, being your own source of comedy is the most fun of all.” SelfSometimesEarthFunMistakeLaughingComedySourceGloryHarderMaking MistakesInfallibleEclipseLaugh At YourselfLife MistakesWe Make MistakesLearn To Laugh At Yourself Author:Luci Swindoll
“What turned me on to comedy was - well, first of all, I like being able to laugh, I like people who can make me laugh.” PeopleFirstsWellsAbleLaughingComedyMake Me Laugh Author:Nathan Fillion
“I realized, dumb people don't know they're dumb. When people try to make me laugh and they try to be funny, that's when they lose me. I find a lot of comedy in honesty.” PeopleKnowsTryingLosesLaughingComedyHonestyI RealizedDumbMake Me LaughDumb People Author:Nathan Fillion
“TORONTO -- When Cameron Crowe was flying to the Toronto film festival recently, he walked down the aisle of the plane and studied his fellow passengers sitting in front of their personal TV sets. They were just having the greatest time, there was so much joy in their eyes, .. And I looked to see what they were watching. And it was all out-and-out comedies. So many people watching The Longest Yard. And I just got the feeling that, 'You know what? People just like to let it all go, and have a laugh'.” PeopleKnowsFeelingsEyeFilmJoyLaughingComedyFrontsTvsSittingFellowsFlyingPlanesYardsFestivalsPassengersTorontoAisleCameronFilm FestivalsHave A Laugh Author:Cameron Crowe
“The scariest thing about screening a comedy ... if you screen a drama, you know, there's no real way to tell in real time if people are enjoying it or not. But in a comedy, it's like, if people aren't laughing, it's sort of scary.” PeopleIfsKnowsWayRealEnjoyLaughingComedyDramaScaryScreensScreening Author:Tim Heidecker
“Comedy is very important, yes. For one thing, it keeps you sane. But it's not really a conversion. I mean, it's marginally a conversion, because if people tune in or go to a nightclub or even watch television, and hear that a lot of other people are laughing at something you thought was not funny, at least it'll force you to reconsider.” PeopleIfsMeanImportantForceWatchesLaughingComedyOne ThingTelevisionConversionTunesSaneNightclubs Author:Tom Lehrer
“Comedy is harder than drama, because with comedy you're expecting a result..you make them laugh. [If] they ain't laughing then you're screwed.” IfsResultsLaughingComedyDramaHarderExpecting Author:Billy Bob Thornton
“I always knew I wanted to do comedy. I like making people laugh. I started out young just making my family laugh and trying to make kids laugh in school and getting into plays. I think it's the only thing I know how to do so hopefully it works out.” PeopleThinkingKnowsTryingPlayKidsWantedSchoolYoungLaughingKnow HowComedyMy FamilyWork OutHopefullyMaking People Laugh Author:Jillian Bell
“I do kind of aspire to do comedy that appeals to a wide range of audiences and doesn't divide people. I never want to do material that makes people laugh at the expense of making other people feel bad - not to say I'm not guilty of that at times. ... I try and make humor out of the really important issues of the day, like Hot Pockets and elevators and not wanting to get out of bed.” PeopleWantFeelsTryingKindImportantAudienceLaughingIssuesComedyMaterialsBedHotWideGuiltyAppealsRangePocketsExpensesDividesAspireMaking People LaughElevatorsImportant IssuesNot Guilty Author:Jim Gaffigan
“Audiences and critics they don't like seeing what happens in real life. Why do you think comedies make all the money at the box office? People want to go and laugh. I can understand that.” PeopleThinkingWantI CanRealHappensAudienceLaughingComedySeeingOfficeCriticsBoxesReal LifeBox Office Author:Channing Tatum
“If you're going to make a comedy and if your sole interest is in making people laugh and feel good and entertaining them, then you check your ego at the door.” PeopleIfsFeelsInterestLaughingComedyDoorsEgoChecksFeel GoodEntertainingSoleMaking People Laugh Author:Dwayne Johnson
“The whole idea of comedy, there is nothing normal about going up on stage to make strangers laugh. But I'm also not an exhibitionist like other comics. I'm not up there talking about masturbating.” IdeasWholeTalkingLaughingComedyStageNormalStrangerExhibitionist Author:Jim Gaffigan
“Listen to John Coltrane enough and after two bars, just two bars at any place, and you know that's him. We all have signature things that happen to be similar that you can predict and you try to stay away from that except the rhythms: those pauses, they're part of my signature, the part where I know when I say nothing, I already painted enough, led enough and I don't even have to say anything. But those pauses don't belong to me. Jack Benny was one of the first guys in comedy to make the anticipation so great that during the pause people start to laugh before the execution.” PeopleKnowsTryingFirstsTwoEnoughHappensGuyLaughingComedyBarsRhythmAnticipationExecutionPausesSay AnythingSignaturesColtrane Author:Bill Cosby
“Black Tragedy lets slip her grim disguise and shows you laughing lips and roguish eyes; but when, unmasked, gay Comedy appears, how wan her cheeks are, and what heavy tears!” ShowsEyeBlackLaughingComedyTearsGayTragedyLipsHeavySlipsCheeksDisguiseGrim Book:Poems Source: Poems
“When I was three, my dad thought it would be hilarious to teach me swear words, then have me say them to his friends. They would laugh and laugh. I realize now the laugh was pure shock value, but it felt really good, and I've been chasing it ever since.” Would BeValuesThreeFeltRealizingTeachLaughingComedyDadPureMy DadShockSwearChasingSwear WordShock Value Author:Sarah Silverman
“In junior high, there were a lot of really ugly guys who were popular because they made people laugh. I was like, "Wow, comedy is the great freer of hideous people." It was an incredibly liberating thing. If you ask a girl, "What do you want in a guy?" 99 percent are like, "I just want him to be funny." I thought, "If that applies to women, I'm set.” PeopleIfsWantMadeGuyGirlAsksLaughingComedyPercentUglyWowLiberatingJuniorsHideousWant HimJunior HighAsk A Girl Author:Mindy Kaling
“The real challenge in acting is in comedy. It's easier to get that gasp in a drama. Not easy, because you still have to find that emotional pitch. And when you do something in drama and you hear that sob from the audience it's so fulfilling. But as a comic actor, when the laugh is supposed to come and you punch in that line and nothing happens it is dreadful. It's horrific and you feel like dying right there.” FeelsStillsRealHappensActorsEasyChallengesLinesActingAudienceLaughingComedyDyingEmotionalEasierDramaThings HappenComicFulfillingHorrificFeel Like Dying Author:George Takei
“You always draw on your experiences with live audiences to know how to do comedy on films. You're working for a laugh that may or may not come six months later, but you're working in a vacuum at the time you are doing it.” KnowsMayFilmAudienceLaughingKnow HowComedyMonthsSixDrawsSix MonthsVacuums Author:Theodore Bikel
“I do love comedy, but I'm not brave enough to tackle a script whose goal is to make you laugh. That's tough. The ones that can do it, I tip my hat off to them, but I don't have that kind of humor or mind.” MindKindEnoughGoalCan DoLaughingComedyToughBraveScriptsHatsMake You LaughHats Off Author:William H. Macy
“My dad is funny in his own way, and so is my brother, but in terms of legitimately making a lot of people laugh, that's my mom. I inherit my sense of comedy from her.” PeopleWayTermLaughingComedyBrotherMomDadMy DadMy MomMy Brother Author:Mindy Kaling
“A formula for comedy is comedy equals tragedy plus time. A difficult or uncomfortable situation takes place, and then you laugh about it later down the road.” DifficultSituationLaughingComedyTragedyUncomfortablePlusFormulasDown The RoadUncomfortable Situations Author:Brian Regan
“Comedy exists to laugh at things that aren't laughable. But isn't it? That's what separates us from the animals. We laugh.” AnimalLaughingComedyLaughable Author:Joan Rivers
“Comedy is important! When youre having a stressful day, and you come home, you want to watch something that makes you laugh.” WantImportantHomeWatchesLaughingComedyComing HomeStressfulMake You LaughStressful Day Author:Michael Cudlitz
“Combining music, theater and comedy is a new and broader form of expression. In certain combinations you can make people laugh one moment, cry the next, and then be astounded by the beauty of the music.” PeopleMomentsFormCertainNextLaughingComedyCryExpressionTheaterCombinationMaking People LaughCombiningAstounded Author:Aleksey Igudesman
“In this political climate, people are so shut down to other ideas - I call it a hardening of the categories - that if you can get them to open up and laugh, there is a possibility of improvement, and a possibility of change. I think humor sneaks up on people, and before you know it, you're laughing at something you might not agree with.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsIdeasMightPoliticalLaughingComedyPossibilityLaughterAgreeClimateImprovementCategoriesSneakPossibility Of Change Author:Kate Clinton
“The ultimate objective [of comedy] is to get a laugh, so if you can get a laugh off the fact that you did not get a laugh, then you've kinda saved the moment. Other professions don't have that luxury. You don't want to hear a brain surgeon say, "Man, am I so stupid! I cut on the wrong side of your head!!"” IfsMenWantMomentsFactsSidesBrainLaughingComedyCuttingStupidUltimateProfessionSavedObjectivesLuxurySurgeonsBrain Surgeons Author:Brian Regan
“If I had a choice, I would do comedy all the time. It's just the most challenging thing. To make someone laugh is the most challenging thing, and the most rewarding thing, in entertainment.” IfsChoicesChallengesLaughingComedyEntertainmentMake Someone Laugh Author:Bruce Willis
“Not necessarily in the beginning, thinking I would have a career in comedy, but I was always interested in making people laugh.” PeopleThinkingCareersLaughingComedyMaking People Laugh Author:Reggie Watts
“After the first few readings in comedy venues I did begin to write for laughs. There's something so gratifying about stimulating laughter.” WritingFirstsReadingLaughingComedyLaughterVenues Author:Aaron Belz
“comedy ... is much harder to do than drama. It's not true that laugh and the world laughs with you. It's very hard to make a group of people laugh at the same thing; much easier to make them cry at the same thing. ... That's why great comic acting is probably the greatest acting there is.” PeopleWorldHardActorsActingLaughingComedyGroupsCryEasierDramaHarderComic Author:Glenda Jackson
“With comedy, it's a combination of knowing the comedic beat was good - it made you laugh, it made people on the crew laugh. With drama, you do something deep and if your stuff was really effective, the ultimate result is silence. Silence is not necessarily... that would also be the result if you sucked.” PeopleIfsMadeStuffResultsSilenceLaughingKnowingComedyDramaBeatsUltimateCombinationCrewSilence IsComedic Author:Chris Pratt
“I don't like stand-up comedy that requires a lot of props. I really respect people who can walk out onstage alone and with no other tool but their own minds and can make you laugh and maybe even think a little.” PeopleThinkingMindLittlesWalksLaughingComedyToolsPropsMake You LaughStand Up ComedyRespect People Author:David Letterman
“So often with beginning writers, the story that they want to start with is the most important story of their life - my molestation, my this, my horrible drug addiction - they want to tell that most important story, and they don't have the skills to tell it yet, so it ends up becoming a comedy. A powerful story told poorly becomes funny, it just makes people laugh behind their hands.” PeopleWantImportantEndsStoriesHandsPowerfulBehindsLaughingComedyBecomingDrugSkillsAddictionHorribleMaking People LaughDrug AddictionDrug AddictMolestationBeginning Writers Author:Chuck Palahniuk
“I have always felt comedy and tragedy are roommates. If you look up comedy and tragedy, you will find a very old picture of two masks. One mask is tragedy. It looks like its crying. The other mask is comedy. It looks like its laughing. Nowadays, we would say, How tasteless and insensitive. A comedy mask is laughing at a tragedy mask.” IfsLooksTwoFeltLaughingComedyCryTragedyLook UpMaskInsensitiveRoommateOld Picture Author:Gilbert Gottfried
“I think serious situations actually make for the best kind of belly laughs. But theyre also the hardest to convert into comedy at the outset.” ThinkingKindSituationLaughingComedySeriousHardestBellyBelly Laughs Author:Mike Birbiglia
“I really, really, really want to do a silly romantic comedy where I can just have a crush on the guy, trip over myself, and laugh and be goofy. I just feel like all I do is cry, sob, and fight zombies and the bad guys.” WantFeelsI CanGuyFightingLaughingComedyCrySillyCrushZombieBad GuysGoofy Author:Laurie Holden
“Comedy is the most palliative way to make a point. People are more willing to listen if they can laugh.” PeopleIfsWayLaughingComedyWilling Author:Judy Gold
“I love comedy because I can laugh at myself. I dont take myself too seriously.” I CanLaughingComedyBecause I Can Author:David Alan Basche
“I worked on dramas before, I love sinking my teeth into something dramatic or a period piece, but there's something so fun about doing a comedy. When you go to set and your only job is to make people laugh, there's an unbelievable energy on set.” PeopleJobsEnergyFunLaughingComedyPiecesPeriodsDramaTeethDramaticUnbelievableMaking People LaughSinking Author:Skylar Astin
“A lot of comedies are based on the reaction shot. You have one person doing something stupid and one person is generally the straight man, and the laughs generally come on the reaction of the straight man to the funny thing the other person has done.” MenPersonsDoneLaughingComedyStupidShotsReactionsFunny Things Author:Richard Ayoade