“A movie is painting, it's photography, it's literature - because you have to have the screenplay - it's music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it's a tragedy. A movie combines all those forms and forces you to pay attention for two hours with a group of people.” PeopleTwoDifferentFormLiteratureForceHoursPayAttentionComedyGroupsPaintingPhotographyTragedyPay AttentionScreenplaysSoundtracks Author:Paula Patton
“Because of the spin-meisters and the focus groups and the way politics is run now. It's run by polls and focus groups. So it's even more true today, I think, than it was some 40 years ago.” ThinkingWayYearsRunningTodayComedyFocusGroupsYears AgoPollsFocus Groups Author:Bob Newhart
“When you make comedy, you make it for the people and you try to have as many screenings and as many tests and you do focus groups and you read the cards and you try to give the people what they want in this comedy.” PeopleWantGivingTryingComedyFocusGroupsTestsCardsScreeningFocus Groups Author:Chris Rock
“Tragedy massages the human ego even as comedy deflates it. ... Tragedy pits us against large foes and the trip wire is our own character. ... In comedy we fall afoul of one another. Comedy depends on social life, on our behavior in groups. In tragedy you can observe one human against the gods. In comedy it's one human versus other humans and often one man (or woman if I'm writing it) against her own worst impulses.” IfsMenWritingHumansCharacterFallSocialComedyGroupsWorstDependsEgoBehaviorTragedyImpulseOne ManVersusFoeWirePitsSocial LifeMassage Author:Rita Mae Brown
“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
“Sometimes I wonder about the people who can do very reflective work about their own ethnic group or their own families, or comedies that take place in the life that they've grown up in. That's a very special fortitude. Other brains have a curiosity for what they don't know - the life they're not leading.” PeopleKnowsSometimesCan DoBrainWonderComedyGroupsSpecialCuriosityFortitudeSometimes I WonderEthnic Groups Author:Debra Granik
“You know, if I started worrying about what the critics think, I'd never make another comedy. You couldn't pick a less funny group than critics - you couldn't find a more bitter group of people!” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorryComedyGroupsPicksCriticsBitter Author:Todd Phillips
“There was a male sketch group in my college. I was like why isn't there a female sketch group? So then I started doing sketch comedy and all that stuff. It just happened.” StuffComedyHappenedGroupsCollegeFemaleMalesSketch Comedy Author:Missi Pyle
“You never want to be the worst bowler of the group-because then everyone treats you like you have cancer. "You can do it! We're praying for you." The advice starts. "Use a heavier ball." "Keep your arm straight." "You should get a vasectomy." If you're really bad at bowling like me, they'll ask if want the bumpers up. Not that bowling is that complex anyway. "You want the bumpers? We can get rid of the pins. Why don't you take this coloring book and sit in the corner?"” IfsWantShouldBookUseFunnyAsksCan DoComedyGroupsWorstAdviceLike YouArmsPrayingTreatsBallsComplexesCancerCornersLike MeYou Can Do ItPinsBowlingBumperBowlersPraying For YouVasectomy Author:Jim Gaffigan
“You ever mix two different groups of friends? That can be stressful. You always feel like you have to prep 'em. You're like, "These people over here, uh, they don't think I drink. And don't be thrown by my British accent."” PeopleThinkingFeelsTwoDifferentFunnyComedyGroupsLike YouDrinkBritishThrownEmsAccentsStressfulPrepsGroup Of Friends Author:Jim Gaffigan
“Farrakhan got everybody together for the Million Man March and everything. But Farrakhan don't like the Jews. Which is bugged. I get my hair cut on Dekalb Avenue. I never been in a barbershop and heard a bunch of brothers talking about Jews. Black people don't hate Jews. Black people hate white people! We don't got time to dice white people up into little groups. I hate everybody! I don't care if you just got here. "Hey, I'm Romanian." "You Romanian cracker!"” PeopleIfsMenLittlesCareFunnyTogetherHateBlackWhiteTalkingMillionsComedyCuttingHeardGroupsBrotherHairI HateJewDon't CareBunchHeyI Don't CareMarchBlack PeopleAvenuesDiceDon't HateCrackersHair CutBarbershop Author:Chris Rock
“Well, I came down to LA initially to join The Groundlings, which is an improv comedy group. I didn't get in, of course, becaue I'm not a part of The Groundlings. I just assumed that I could walk in and take over. So they said: "Hit the road Jack." And I ended up getting an agent instead. They sent me out on a couple of leads and I ended up on a sitcom and Van Wilder thereafter and then pantsless with Sandra Bullock.” WellsSaidCoursesWalksComedyGroupsCoupleAgentsThey SaidVansSitcomWilderImprov Comedy Author:Ryan Reynolds
“I've been trained in dancing and I used to be quite good, though I am a bit rusty right now. But I could probably brush up in a couple of months. The funny thing is that I actually took classes from Savion Glover, who worked in Happy Feet, when I was a kid. Isn't that wild? I was part of a selected group that was brought into New York from New Jersey (which is where I'm from) to study, every Saturday: ballet, jazz and tap. It was a musical comedy group.” KidsUsedBitsClassStudyComedyGroupsFeetNew YorkMonthsCoupleRight NowDancingJazzMusicalUsed To BeBalletSaturdayBrushesJerseyFunny ThingsSelectedNew JerseyHappy Feet Author:Brittany Murphy
“I grew up in repertory theaters, so it was comedy one night, drama the next. I'm used to going from one to the other. And I worked for years in television as well. So, I like the interrelationship of it and having a good relationship with a group of artists creating something really where the sum is greater than all of our individual contributions, our parts.” YearsWellsUsedArtistNightNextIndividualComedyGreaterGroupsTelevisionGrewDramaCreatingGrew UpTheaterContributionOne NightGood RelationshipCreating Something Author:Howard Shore
“When you watch an audience watching my movies, you realize that nobody laughs at the same time. Some people enjoy a beat, and then another group of people are laughing at a sight gag, and then someone laughs where nobody laughs before. They're not timed like a comedy. You're not supposed to laugh at every joke. You decide.” PeopleEnjoyRealizingWatchesAudienceLaughingComedyGroupsBeatsJokesSightGags Author:Quentin Dupieux
“One of the great things about this cast is that we've been able to take actors of relatively the same age group that would never usually meet. You know, like bridging the comedy/drama world that for some reason casting directors never really want to bridge or you get into one community and that's kind of it.” KnowsWorldWantKindReasonAgeAbleActorsCommunityComedyGroupsDramaDirectorsCastsGreat ThingsBridgesCastingCasting Directors Author:Alison Pill
“I started out playing big bands shows and different things. I was with several different small bands and groups, doing comedy and singing, emceeing, and I got a break with a very big star of the late fifties whose name was Tommy Sands.” DifferentShowsBigsNamesStarsBreakComedyGroupsBandLateSingingSandDifferent Things Author:Hal Blaine