Comedy quotes
1.6K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside comedy — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic."
"If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment."
"Do it [stand-up comedy] because it feels like the right thing to do. Do it because you don't want to do anything else. There is something in you that does not want you to do anything else other than comedy."
"My show is my statement. What I have to say is on the screen. My life is my own. I don't want to talk about my private self. Why should I?"
"Don't order one for the road, because the road is already laid out."
"When you're hot, you're hot; when you're not, you're not."
"I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away."
"Riots and comedy are but symptoms of the times, profoundly revealing. They betray the psychological tone, the deep uncertainties....and the striving for something better, plus the fear that nothing would come of it all."
"I can pretty much guarantee that if I do a show in a comedy club, there will be someone who will come out of the audience and tell me the worst joke ever. It's just a guarantee."
"Comedy to me is all about the bumps and bruises and weird tics."
"I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?"
"I don't do comedy so much although I would like to do a comedy."
"Horror is like comedy. Woody Allen's comedy is going to be very different from Ben Stiller's comedy which is going to be different from Adam Sandler's comedy which is going to be different from Judd Apatow's comedy. They're all comedy, but they're all very different types and you can enjoy all of them. Horror is the same way."
"I always loved acting and improv and sketch comedy and theater, which I did at a local youth theater."
"I'm Dave Chappelle and I'm a chronic masturbator."
"Comedy is a very approval-oriented field."
"Just put down 9/11... I think, on most things I'm liberal, except on defending ourselves and keeping half the money. Those things I'm kind of conservative on."
"There's always been physical suffering in comedy."
"I'd consider myself a flailing comedy writer."
"In the world of comedy, there's this: "If it's going badly, get off. If it's going well, get off". You can't argue with that either."
