comedy quotes

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”

— Charlie Chaplin

“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.”

— Charlie Chaplin

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”

— Sholem Aleichem

“Comedy is acting out optimism.”

— Robin Williams

“Friends applaud, the comedy is over.”

— Ludwig van Beethoven

“The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.”

“We participate in a tragedy; at a comedy we only look. ”

— Aldous Huxley

“What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.”

— Steve Martin

“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.”

— Steve Martin

“When I first started doing my comedy act, I just desperately needed material. So I took literally everything I knew how to do on stage with me, which was juggling, magic and banjo and my little comedy routines. I always felt the audience sorta tolerated the serious musical parts while I was doing my comedy.”

— Steve Martin

“With comedy, you have no place to go but more comedy, so you're never off the hook.”

— Steve Martin

“Comedy may be big business but it isn't pretty.”

— Steve Martin

“I loved doing 'Pennies from Heaven.' Because you have to understand that I'd been doing comedy for 15 to 20 years, and suddenly along came the opportunity to do this beautiful film. It was so emotional to me. I loved it. I don't think it was a good career move, but I have no regrets about doing it.”

— Steve Martin

“I thought 'Borat' was a breakthrough comedy, because it was really funny. It wasn't some studio-produced script with 14 writers.”

— Steve Martin

“In my banjo show with the Steep Canyon Rangers, I do do comedy during that show. It'd be absurd just to stand there mute and play 25 banjo songs.”

— Steve Martin

“If I had to perform in a comedy club I would bomb; I would be trying too hard.”

— Henry Rollins

“Most comedy is based on getting a laugh at somebody else's expense. And I find that that's just a form of bullying in a major way. So I want to be an example that you can be funny and be kind, and make people laugh without hurting somebody else's feelings.”

— Ellen DeGeneres

“Comedy can be, especially in a writer's room, really aggressive, kind of a very male-dominated room, and it would be hard for women. It's not a nurturing place. It's not like a lot of women are going to say, I can't wait to live that lifestyle and be in a writer's room until 2 or 3 a.m.”

— Ellen DeGeneres

“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

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”

— Erma Bombeck