What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke. — Steve Martin
Comedy is defiance. It's a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it's the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale. — Will Durst
Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end. — Sid Caesar
Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious. — Peter Ustinov
Comedy is difficult, especially slapstick. The trick is to have fun while you are performing it. — Maureen O'Hara
Comedy itself is based upon very old principles of which I can readily name seven. They are, in short: the joke, exaggeration, ridicule, ignorance, surprise, the pun, and finally, the comic situation. — Jack Benny
The Internet is a great place to find unconventional comedy that you can't find anywhere else. — Andy Dick
There's sketch, improv, writing, acting, music, and badminton. Those are the seven forms of comedy. — T. J. Miller
As much experience, education and awareness as one can attain is important for a comedian. — Shelley Berman
There are a hell of a lot of jobs that are scarier than live comedy. Like standing in the operating room when a guy's heart stops, and you're the one who has to fix it! — Jon Stewart
Without comedy as a defense mechanism I wouldn't be able to survive. — Garry Shandling
We sit in a room, laugh, and all come up with comedy situations, which we work out. Sometimes we cross the line, like getting a guy to pull out of his own wedding while the ceremony's taking place. — Joe Gatto
A farce, or slapstick humor, does well universally. — John Ratzenberger
That's really what 'Jokers' is - an improv show. — James Murray
Stand Up Comedy Image Quotes
Be not afraid of going slowly, Be afraid of standing still.
Stand-up Comedians Quotes
The skill of a good actor is to make it always seem like you're in that fantastically spontaneous moment. Very often, a stand-up comedian has a different instinct, which is to reinvent. Once you've laid down some material, and made them laugh, you move on and find some new material. — Colin Firth
Meal isn't over when I'm full. Meal's over when I hate myself. — Patton Oswalt
Jesus was a brilliant Jewish stand-up comedian, a phenomenal improviser. His parables are great one-liners. — Camille Anna Paglia
Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice.
I better start doing stand up comedy in Spanish before every comedian in Mexico translates my jokes. — Felipe Esparza
Jesus was a brilliant Jewish stand-up comedian, a phenomenal improviser. His parables are great one-liners. — Camille Paglia
I think of a lot of comedy being watched alone, for some reason. It's surprising to me that people are getting together to watch stand-up comedy. — Gary Gulman
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.
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. — Eugene Levy
Laughter is good for you. Nine out of ten stand-up comedians recommend laughter in the face of intense stupidity. — Jim Butcher
I'm a comedian, for God's sake. Viewers shouldn't trust me. And you know what? They're hip enough to know they shouldn't trust me. I'm just doing stand-up comedy. — Dennis Miller
I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly. — Ian Mckellen
Stand Up Comedian Quotes
When you're in Hollywood and you're a comedian, everybody wants you to do other things. All right, you're a stand-up comedian, can you write us a script? That's not fair. That's like if I worked hard to become a cook, and I'm a really good cook, they'd say, "OK, you're a cook. Can you farm?" — Mitch Hedberg
It seemed to me you could do anything in comics. So I started doing my thing, which is mainly influenced by novelists, stand-up comedians, that sort of thing — Harvey Pekar
It's also that comedians don't have the kind of narcissism that actors have. They're writers who perform their own material. It's more interesting. And they're sexy because they risk more. Stand-up comedians risk more than anyone. — Rachel Weisz
If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining.
I just want to kind of tackle every kind of form that exists in the comedy world; whether it be stand-up or hidden camera or parody. Kind of slap it in a movie with hip-hop artists and actors, comedians and girls. I just want to do something fun. — Pauly Shore
The really good stand up comedians can be angry but relatable, and they have interestingly humanizing personalities. Their observational skills are far greater than mine, so I'll just stick to reading lines off a page. — Kunal Nayyar
And what is the reaction of the British politcal class? Well the Lib Dems, still think that the Euro is a success! I don't quiet think where Cleggy gets this from, I don't know. Prehaps he is cosidering an alternative career, as a stand up comedian, once he's out of politics. — Nigel Farage
Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
I'm a stand-up comedian-turned-actor-turned-vampire at night. — Vir Das
Imagine the Creator as a stand up comedian - and at once the world becomes explicable. — H. L. Mencken
There's a big thing right now with people using stand-up as a scapegoat. People think comedians have the power to change someone in an hour. If we had that ability, the art would not be legal. It would too dangerous. — Bill Burr
I also could see myself as a stand-up comedian, a fashion designer (for people of all sizes), a hairdresser, an earnest and eventually burnt-out politician, or the owner of a small bistro. But I fear that, without poetry, I would have simply been going through the motions. — Denise Duhamel
Stand-up Quotes
What my campaign is about is a political revolution - millions of people standing up and saying, enough is enough. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the hand full of billionaires. — Bernie Sanders
Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world. — Barack Obama
Be strong enough to stand alone, be yourself enough to stand apart, but be wise enough to stand together when the time comes.
When you trip over love, it is easy to get up. But when you fall in love, it is impossible to stand again. — Albert Einstein
When the people stand up, imperialism trembles. — Thomas Sankara
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else. — Maya Angelou
Why fit in when you we born to stand out?
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. — Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Baptists never make love standing up. They're afraid someone might see them and think they're dancing. — Lewis Grizzard
Stand up like a mountain; have faith like a rock; love like an avalanche — Bob Goff
Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to stand back up. — Jackie Chan
Standup Quotes
There's this other world where all comedians want to do is make funny videos. Typically what's happened in the past is that a comedian gets a standup career and over the course of 20 years builds it up to the point where Comedy Central gives them a sketch show. — Gavin McInnes
The most memorable performance was my appearance in concert in Carnegie Hall. The first standup to do so. — Shelley Berman
I'm fascinated by mankind. I grew up watching 'Candid Camera' and thought it was funnier than any standup, any joke, anything that could possibly be written because you're dealing with humanity. And people can relate to that. It touches everybody who sees it. It hits a nerve. — Howie Mandel
It's easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.
I tell the stories in front of audiences and wait for something to happen. It's similar to a standup comic doing his schtick for an audience. — Robert Munsch
As a standup, I try to change the world. As an entertainer, I try to entertain. And as a lesbian, I try to pick up the prettiest girl in the room. — Lea DeLaria
When you go to standup, there seems to be a common denominator of some form of need or want for validation from the audience that maybe you were lacking as a kid. — Ray Romano
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be only afraid of standing still.
Unquestionably, standup comedy is and has always been an art form. — Shelley Berman
I come to Maui and go surfing, standup paddling, slacklining, swimming, and free-diving. — Julia Mancuso
I do longer runs on things, a lot stories. I really like one-liners, I like a lot of different kinds of standup but I've always been long-winded. — John Mulaney
I follow K-1 closely and also train Ray Sefo. My heart is with K-1 and I love the sport of standup kickboxing. — Shawn Tompkins
Comedian Quotes
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. — Steven Wright
Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?... He's a mile away and you've got his shoes! — Billy Connolly
It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any. — Hugh Laurie
A child can teach an adult three things: To be happy for no reason, to always be curious, to fight tirelessly for something.
When a man carries a gun all the time, the respect he thinks he's getting might really be fear. So I don't carry a gun because I don't want the people of Mayberry to fear a gun. I'd rather they respect me. — Andy Griffith
I've come to view Jesus much the way I view Elvis. I love the guy but the fan clubs really freak me out. — John Fugelsang
I don't think I was awake for much of my childhood. I did a lot of napping. This might have been a defensive measure against encroaching depression. Until about the age of eleven or twelve, I had zero interests other than trying to steal gumballs from supermarket gumball machines. — Michael Ian Black
People will hate you, rate you, shake you, and break you. But how strong you stand is what makes you.
In the dark times, if you have something to hold on to, which is yourself, you'll survive. — Whoopi Goldberg
There are only three things women need in life: food, water, and compliments. — Chris Rock
I have learned from my mistakes, and I am sure I can repeat them exactly — Peter Cook
I was terrified when my doctor told me that I had a unique and interesting personality trait, but then he told me about new Zoloft or Prozac and now I just take three pills a day and I blend right into this horrible inbred corporate landscape. — Doug Stanhope
Comedy Shows Quotes
We're barely a prank show, in my opinion. We don't consider it that, we don't call our stuff pranks. The challenges that we do are more social experiments that put each other in awkward situations. — Joe Gatto
I was drafted and went to Korea where I had an opportunity to create a production team that did dramatic and comedy shows. I had also done a little disc jockeying. — Casey Kasem
Jokers' is an improv show in disguise. — James Murray
With the show itself, we try to think of new and different ways to make each other laugh, while enjoying what we're doing. — Joe Gatto
We even say a lot of the times, we'll put our own filter on. We'll rein each other in when somebody's out there. If we see somebody's getting mad we'll change the direction on purpose. Cause that's not what our show is. It's not getting people upset. It's making each other laugh. — Joe Gatto
The thing that we like about our show is that it's our take on a kind of format. It's a hidden camera comedy show where we don't even call it a 'prank show' because we're made to fool each other and our friends. — Joe Gatto
Hitler was a vegetarian. Just goes to show, vegetarianism, not always a good thing. Can in some extreme cases lead to genocide. — Bill Bailey
Saturday Night Live is such a comedy boot camp in a way, because you get to work with so many different people who come in to host the show and you get thrown into so many situations and learn how to think on your feet, so filmmaking actually feels slow, in a good way. — Will Ferrell
When I was in third grade I taught myself ventriloquism... What's hard is to learn to be an entertainer and make people laugh. I was a few years out of college before I felt I had enough material. Then in 1988 I moved to L.A. and started to do some shows at comedy clubs. — Jeff Dunham
The great thing about 'The Office' and it being single-camera and the documentary style is that it's mostly a comedy, but 10 percent of it is, we get to show the existential angst that exists in the American workplace. — Rainn Wilson
Sketch Comedy Quotes
We did sketch comedy, performed live improv, and then we made the transition to TV with 'Impractical Jokers.' — Joe Gatto
I wanted to be an English teacher. I wanted to do it for the corduroy jackets with patches on the side. When I got to college, as I was walking across campus one day, I ripped off a little flyer for this sketch-comedy group. It ended up being one of the greatest things I've ever done. — John Krasinski
We're an improv group and a sketch comedy group called the Tenderloins, that's our alter ego. — James Murray
That's what I love about sketch comedy: a sketch is five minutes, then it goes dark, and there's the potential for something else. — Jason Sudeikis
Monty Python crowd; half of them came from Cambridge, and half of them came from Oxford. But, there seems to be this jewel, this sort of two headed tradition of doing comedy, of doing sketches, and that kind of thing. — Rowan Atkinson
I was very serene, and I still am, until I start talking in another voice, then suddenly I have a lot of volume and I'm frantic. But I didn't want to be one of those people who's always talking in accents in real life, so I started doing sketch comedy. — Kate McKinnon
If you look at any successful skit comedy show, ever, there is that format of introducing you to the player in the beginning, and then going on to see those sketches. — Keegan-Michael Key
Nobody wants to see sketch comedy that's the same sketch they've seen time and time again, or that's just a rehash of that thing. — Jordan Peele
Everybody needs some good sketch comedy. — Bob Odenkirk
I'm not a comedian. I didn't study sketch comedy; my background isn't that. — Paul Rudd
Comedy Clubs Quotes
I was in NYC during 9/11; it happened on a Tuesday, I was on stage Thursday. It was a small crowd, but it took about 10 days and comedy clubs were packed. — Bill Burr
Comedy clubs have brick walls behind the performer. Bricks make you funny. When I'm in front of a fireplace, I'm hilarious. — Mitch Hedberg
I LOVE THE COMEDY CLUBS AND THE CLOSENESS OF THE CROWD. HOWEVER THE MORE YA DO THE BIG ROOMS THEY START TO BECOME YOUR HOME AS WELL AND YOU ADJUST TO THE SURROUNDINGS. I LOVE THEM BOTH. I MISS THE CLUBS BUT THATS WHAT YA WORK FOR TO DO THE BIG ROOMS! — Larry the Cable Guy
Nothing against comedy clubs, they work. But when you're sitting with a tablecloth and a candle and an appetizer menu, three-drink minimum, it can feel more like a dinner theater than a live experience. — Doug Stanhope
If I had to perform in a comedy club I would bomb; I would be trying too hard. — Henry Rollins
Even though I have fond feelings for comedy clubs, I enjoy the focus you get in a theater. Comedy clubs are a different animal. People are being served nachos and there's a blender going off in the background. — Brian Regan
I think the comedy clubs tend to homogenize the acts a little bit, because they force them to be palatable in way too many environments. — Bo Burnham
If I'm not on tour, I can run down to the comedy club and do a little stand-up. If you're an actor, you can't go - I guess there's forms of it. — Louis C. K.
My wife made me join a bridge club... I jump off next Tuesday. — Rodney Dangerfield
It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members. — E. B. White
Writing Comedy Quotes
All we need is a meteorologist who has once been soaked to the skin without ill effect. No one can write knowingly of the weather who walks bent over on wet days. — E. B. White
It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is. — Jack Lemmon
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. — Garrison Keillor
I have a paper cut from writing my suicide note. It's a start. — Steven Wright
Welcome to my world! I've been through it all, and I often pinch myself to believe my luck. I design jewlery, create cosmetics, perform comedy, act, lecture, write books, travel, have a fabulous daughter, and a phenomenal grandson-and I feel I'm the luckiest woman on the planet. — Joan Rivers
I've done for the most part pretty much what I intended - I ended up doing comedy, writing and painting. I've had a ball. And as I get older, I just become an older kid. — Jonathan Winters
Most of my comedy writing happens through improvisation on stage; doing it in the moment. — Marc Maron
Comedy, although it is not one of the fine arts - it's a vulgar art, it's one of the people's arts, it's the spoken word, the writing that goes into it is an art form - it's certainly artistry. — George Carlin
Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. — E. B. White
That's the best advice I can give - when you're trying to write a comedy, first write a drama, and then make it funny. — Jason Segel
Female Comedian Quotes
If you're creating anything at all, it's really dangerous to care about what people think. — Kristen Wiig
If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important Rule of Beauty. “Who cares?” — Tina Fey
Comedy is something that I'm definitely looking to get into. I had a little taste of it and I do intend on going to classes for it because I think it's a different muscle, and it's hard to find female comedians. — Ashley Greene
Its really irritating. Even people who like my work sometimes come up to me and say, I usually dont like female comedians, but your material is great! It makes the job prospect more daunting. Funny is funny, you know? — Chelsea Peretti
I see myself as a comedian rather than a female comedian. I happen to be a woman, but I am a comedian by trade. — Miranda Hart
The logic was, there weren't too many female comedians, so I thought I might as well try a field that had fewer competitors than the field I was in, which was acting, singing and dancing. — Rita Rudner
I've been trying to find women writers for my staff for a while now and I have three women on my staff and three guys so it's pretty equal. I don't know why that is. It's been the same thing for a while. It's hard for female comedians to stand out. That's weird. That's a shame. — Ellen DeGeneres
I found out I had a real love for comedy and comedy writing. The logic was, there weren't too many female comedians, so I thought I might as well try a field that had fewer competitors than the field I was in, which was acting, singing and dancing. — Rita Rudner
I did six Broadway shows, and I noticed there weren't many female comedians. When I went to a dancing audition, there were 1,000 girls. And there were three jobs. So I said I'll just try comedy. And I loved it. — Rita Rudner
I try not to focus on politics too much - I would never be described as a hugely political woman - but the fact of the matter is, just me being a female, immigrant, stand-up comedian, single-mother ... that is political. We still live in a world where a woman with a voice is a political gesture. — Katherine Ryan
I can't imagine being a woman in the world of acting, like where you age starts to weigh you down - you go from being attractive to where they [directors] decided you're out... I feel like with stand-up comedy, it doesn't matter if I've gotten fatter. — Jim Jefferies
It’s the ultimate pinnacle of stand-up to have an hour on HBO, but way more people see Comedy Central and they’ve been good to me. — Daniel Tosh
I keep my stand-up comedy notes in a pile on my desk. I don't organize my act. I keep myself in a state of confusion. It stresses me out, but I prefer creative chaos. — Joy Behar
I just love entertaining. I will do anything - stand-up comedy, video games, fencing, internet shorts - I just want to keep being lucky enough to entertain people anyway I can. I try never to limit my art to a medium. — Matthew Gray Gubler
I don't do drugs. If I want a rush I just stand up when I'm not expecting it. — Dylan Moran
Stand-up comedy is an art form and it dies unless you expand it. — Sam Kinison
Stand up comedy is this thing you get to do, so you have to treat it with respect. You can't just be like, 'Alright, I got my hour down, people are coming to see me now. Now, I'm going to lean on the mike stand.' No, you gotta work even harder now. You got to top what you already did. Because they'll find someone else. — Bill Burr
I play these sort of comical instruments I invented, like the electric rake and the electric plunger. I do a lot of almost stand-up comedy material. Just the juxtaposition of the different styles in itself sometimes is funny. Like, I do sort of an acoustic version of 'Purple Haze' that has some bluegrass licks in it. — Eugene Chadbourne
I hate being mean. I watch those roasts on Comedy Central and they make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. — Downtown Julie Brown
My road to success was a long road to success was a long road. You get out of something what you put into it. I put blood, sweat and tears into stand-up comedy and the entertainment realm in general. For me to just know be coming around is a blessing. It's a blessing and it's an honor. It makes me say I can get more and I can do more. — Kevin Hart
I watch a happy person doing stand-up, and I go, "What the hell is this? This person's happy!" You need internal conflict. You need the guy to be out of step with society. It's a tool for comedy. — Zach Galifianakis
When you're standing around for an hour doing stand up it's no big deal but when you're standing around watching a show for an hour - it's a big difference. It's annoying - your feet hurt, your back hurts - it's just not the most comfortable way to see stand-up comedy. — Joe Rogan
I've seen stand up comedy, and after a while you start to notice that a lot of people are doing things that are like a lot of other people. There can be a bit of a herd mentality, and that's obviously less interesting because there's less going on. I'm just being totally frank with you. — Dylan Moran
It's exciting to be able to do something completely independent without anybody challenging it, and it's a big part of the reason why I'm enjoying doing the stand-up comedy, is I'm able to go out and interact with people one-on-one after the show. It's very punk-rock. — Tom Green
I'm a stand-up comic. Anything else I do besides that is a plus, but stand-up comedy is what I do, it's what I've been doing and it's what I'm going to keep doing. — Dave Attell
When has stand-up comedy been kind to anyone? It goes after anyone who's the target. Comedy attacks, man. — Sam Kinison
Have four things going. I have stand-up comedy, two television shows and I'm working on a play. I like to work, and I fear that something could fall through. You know what they say: 'The show must go off. — Joy Behar
Wrestling was like stand-up comedy for me. — Dwayne Johnson
While awaiting sentencing, I decided to give stand-up comedy a shot. The judge had suggested I get my act together, and I took him seriously. — Tim Allen
I think a lot comes from having the experience of doing stand-up comedy. It allows you to figure out the psychology of an audience; what things are funny and not. — Keenen Ivory Wayans
I never wanted to be a model. I never wanted to be a serious actress. I started off doing comedy. I did a stand-up comedy camp at the Laugh Factory, and I started out on Nickelodeon. — Amanda Bynes
The two things I understand best are stand-up comedy and martial arts. And those things require an ultimate grasp of the truth. You have to be objective about your skills and abilities to compete in both. — Joe Rogan
I started to do a study on how not to do stand-up comedy. Yeah, it's lonely work. You die, you die alone. It's you, the light, and the audience. If you win, you win big. If you lose, you lose big time. — Jim Varney
I'm going to try really hard not to be bossy, but I've only done stand-up comedy and then my own show where you're the total boss of everything! — Rosie O'Donnell
I usually have sex to my stand-up comedy album. Power move. — Jeff Ross
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. — David Letterman
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. — Russell Peters
Improvisation is almost like the retarded cousin in the comedy world. We've been trying forever to get improvisation on TV. It's just like stand-up. It's best when it's just left alone. It doesn't translate always on TV. It's best live. — Amy Poehler
When I was nine, we'd take a bus to the seaside. Coming back, we'd take turns entertaining, singing songs and the like. I tried some stand-up comedy. I had a captive audience in that bus. Then I realized I wanted to do more than that. — Jim Dale
My mom and dad are both in stand-up comedy, so that's where I started, that's where I got everything. My roots are holding the mic. — Pauly Shore
I can only develop a stand-up show by being on stage. I can't write it. Whenever I see comedy written down, it very rarely makes me laugh. — John Bishop
When I started stand-up - and this is in the '90s - there was definitely people hadn't watched decades of Comedy Central, where people are really much more educated on stand-up comedy. — Jim Gaffigan
Stand-up comedy - I love this job, and I gotta tell you, folks - knock wood - it's been working. 'Cause I was one of those kind of people, even when I had a regular job, I couldn't even call in sick right. You know, I was like, 'Hello? Yeah, I can't come in today. I have scurvy. — Carol Leifer
I do think that stand-up comedy in general heavily favors masculinity and so I like to act a little feminine onstage. — Bo Burnham
I am a guy who talks about bacon and escalators. Stand-up comedy is very much a conversation. It's very personal, stylistically. — Jim Gaffigan
Stand-up comedy is the most relaxing thing I do. If I want to unwind and de-stress, I go out and do stand-up, often several shows in a night. — Sayings
I also want to return to doing stand-up. I've become frightened of live audiences. This is a really telling sign that I need to go back on the comedy circuit again. — Johnny Vegas
My sense of stand up comedy would be so esoteric. — Paul Rudd
I am trying to work out what my taste is, comedy-wise. I look up to stand up comedians who appear to be telling the truth, but I don't mind if they are lying. — Jessie Cave
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