Comedy can do so much more than make you laugh.
About the best thing an actor can do when all is said and done is to make people laugh.
The themes that make one laugh always stem from poverty, hunger, misery, old age, sickness, and death. These are the themes that make Italians laugh, anyway.
I think just because life is hard, it does seem fun to have a break and laugh about things, so I think in the end, my instincts go there.
It’s so clear cut with a comedian – you have that reflex action, whereby you laugh or you don’t. And so you either love us or you simply cannot see why people are laughing.
Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.
A woman can laugh and cry in three seconds and it’s not weird. But if a man does it, it’s very disturbing. The way I’d describe it is like this: I have been allowed inside the house of womanhood, but I feel that they wouldn’t let me in any of the interesting rooms.
George Saunders is the funniest. He makes me laugh in the way I want to laugh – with so much empathy and deep understanding of people. He illuminates things and people I’ve never thought about – and I’ve dedicated my life to the study of people and their idiosyncrasies. He is light years ahead.
Only one in four jokes ever works, and I still can’t predict what people will laugh at.
But I didn’t ask to have somebody nose around in my private life. I didn’t even ask to be famous. All I asked was to be able to earn a living making people laugh.
Comedy is surprises, so if you’re intending to make somebody laugh and they don’t laugh, that’s funny.
There is no bad time to laugh. I always joke, even five minutes before a game. It’s not bad to stay a little immature.
The audience changes every night. You’re the same person. You have to speak your mind and do the stuff that you think is funny and makes you laugh.
I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
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.
I can laugh on cue, and it sounds real. People laugh with me.
I love making people laugh. I just happened to do it dressed as a woman.
I was put on earth to make people laugh.
The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.
Making someone laugh is a good way to get their defences down so that they might then be open to new ideas, especially when they’re laughing at some common ground they relate to. Comedy’s always been an amazing tool for social change.
I think repeating yourself is a sign of old age, telling the same joke again and again. Especially if they’re jokes that don’t make people laugh.
If you wanted to hear politics, you’d go to Henry Kissinger; you wouldn’t go to hear Jackie Mason. The reason I speak about politics is because I know I can get a laugh out of it.
I’m not a virtuoso on an instrument. You know, I’m not always singing in pitch. I laugh sometimes my way through the shows, but I’m an honest songwriter who’s always tried to bring the audience with me on my journey in hopes that they see their own lives reflected in the work.
He makes me laugh, Mick! He tended to turn up when we were having lunch and entertain us all. He bought an Enigma machine! I’ve never worked with a producer who was more famous than everyone put together.
Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart, don’t know how to laugh either.
I’m not a comedian, but I do make people laugh. I’m good at it.
The stereotypical gay man is someone whose company I enjoy, someone who makes me laugh, someone I’d want my kid to be. The stereotypical gay woman makes me insecure, conscious of my failings as a feminist.
It’s okay to laugh in the bedroom so long as you don’t point.
I have an extra set of eyelashes because you never know. I could cry or laugh, or it could be windy, and I’ll need a standby pair.
I just want real reactions. I want people to laugh from the gut, be sad from the gut – or get angry from the gut.
I did an imitation of him to make the crew laugh. To my shock, there was Cary Grant behind me. He got very angry. I was sent all the way from RKO to David Selznick’s office and was told not to do it anymore. I thought to myself, ‘I must have been pretty good to make him that angry.’
I try to write the books I would love to come upon that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness – and that can make me laugh.
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.
Don’t let people see when you’re mad – just smile and laugh.
Honestly, just live your life to the fullest. Laugh a lot, love and find your true happiness.
I think we grew up thinking that the funniest things on TV were the old, serious movies. I always liked the Marx Brothers, but the thing that always made us laugh were movies like Zero Hour. That’s what inspired us.
Perhaps the mission of those who love mankind is to make people laugh at the truth, to make truth laugh, because the only truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for the truth.
It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
I was worried people would laugh at me when I started to talk the language, but they were just pleasantly surprised that I could. The sense of humour here is great – once I could have a giggle, I settled down.
There’s so many great wrestlers in this sport who could probably work circles around me and it’s amazing to see that, but I love being the kind of character who can take you on a roller coaster, make you smile and laugh.
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!
I was dyslexic – was, still am – ’cause I would see words that weren’t there. And people just started laughing, and I thought, well, this is a good way to make a living. I’ll just go downtown to read and have people laugh, you know?
In school, I wasn’t a very good student – I was very irresponsible and never did the studying but always liked to get the laugh.
I learned very early that an audience would relax and look at things differently if they felt they could laugh with you from time to time. There’s an energy that comes through the release of tension that is laughter.
Yes, I have this crazy honk of a laugh.
But then I quite enjoy when something goes wrong, because when I watch DJs that take it very seriously, it’s nice when you make a mistake and laugh about it.
We need comedies in the world! We need to laugh, it’s all so hard.
You know what, I’m very attracted to someone who makes me laugh and is that charming. Really, I could be charmed by anyone. I’m just a sucker for somebody that is charming.
My mom and dad just loved the fact that I fooled around. They just embraced it. They’d always kind of enjoy it, and they liked it when I made them laugh.
You can laugh at anything. It depends on the joke.
If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.
There’s no better feeling than making your little girls laugh.
When you say a friend has a sense of humor do you mean that he makes you laugh, or that he can make you laugh?
It’s such a great feeling to make people laugh. I know I’ve made people cry or want to slit their wrists, but to make people laugh is a very intoxicating, wonderful thing.
Each cast member brings their own vibe and antics to the set. You’re constantly surrounded by fun loving people who can make you laugh in their own way.
I sometimes use a girl singer the way Henny Youngman uses his violin – as a bridge between one laugh and the next.
It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.
You grow up the day you have the first real laugh at yourself.
We are not here to laugh.
If we could all just laugh at ourselves, in hard times or good times, it would be an incredible world.
I always wanted attention, and I realized I could make people laugh.
I love ‘Harry Potter’ and JK Rowling – don’t laugh at me!
As a kid I watched television 24 hours a day and loved every minute of it. The two shows that always make me laugh and are therefore my favourites are The Dick Van Dyke Show and Fawlty Towers.
The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool.
But filming is good for you, because the crew isn’t allowed to laugh. You can’t get addicted to getting the laugh.
The Linux philosophy is ‘Laugh in the face of danger’. Oops. Wrong One. ‘Do it yourself’. Yes, that’s it.
I’m not comically oriented. I get angry and I start complaining and then people start laughing. I don’t even want them to laugh half the time.
I love laugh lines. It means you’ve had a good life. The most beautiful women – Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Hutton, Ali MacGraw – all embraced the aging process.
All the other guys I think had a scream on Lock, Stock. They just had a laugh and a crack, and thought it would never come out; they were just having a good time. On this one, I felt that.
