Quotes About Humor

I have always been a huge admirer of my own work. I'm one of the funniest and most entertaining writers I know.

Feeling different, feeling alienated, feeling persecuted, feeling that the only way to deal with the world is to laugh - because if you don't laugh you're going to cry and never stop crying - that's probably what's responsible for the Jews having developed such a great sense of humor. The people who had the greatest reason to weep, learned more than anyone else how to laugh.

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.

Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.

Could be worse ... could be raining." - Igor

Comedy is a very powerful component of life. It has the most to say about the human condition because if you laugh you can get by. You can struggle when things are bad if you have a sense of humor. Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long goodbye. It's a defense against unhappiness and depression.

But I have bad taste with a deep fount of intellectuality.

Comedy is protest. It's "I beg to differ," if you're fancy, or if you're Jewish, "Hey, listen to this!

We laughed hard at real stories of tragedy. It had to be real and it had to be funny. Somebody getting hurt was wonderful. Later, as the 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner I explained the difference between comedy and tragedy: If I cut my finger, that's tragedy. Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.

Even though it seems foolish and silly and crazy, comedy has the most to say about the human condition. Because if you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor.

Liebkind: Hitler. There was a painter. He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon. Two coats!

Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long goodbye. It's a defense against unhappiness and depression.

Comedy made me friends, big friends to protect me from bullies. I made them laugh, and you don't hit the kid that makes you laugh.

If I cut my finger, that's tragedy. Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.

But let's get back to Melvin Kaminsky.

A lot of people don't realize that without a valley, there is no peak. Without information, there is no joke. You've got to set things up.

Farts are a repressed minority. The mouth gets to say all kinds of things, but the other place is supposed to keep quiet. But maybe our lower colons have something interesting to say. Maybe we should listen to them. Farts are human, more human than a lot of people I know. I think we should bring them out of the water closet and into the parlor, and that's what I did in Blazing Saddles.

My wit is often characterized as being Jewish comedy. Occasionally, that's true. But for the most part to characterize my humor as purely Jewish humor is not accurate. It's really New York humor. New York humor is not just Jewish humor. It has a certain rhythm. It has a certain intensity and a certain pulse.

In every classic comedy duo, from Laurel and Hardy to Abbott and Costello to Martin and Lewis, in order for the exchange to work, the quality of the straight man had to be as dynamic as that of the funny guy. Carl was the best at this. I

Comedy is a weird but very beautiful thing. Even though it seems foolish and silly and crazy, comedy has the most to say about the human condition. Because if you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor.

I didn't realize it but I might have created the first cell phone. Had I patented it, I probably would have made so much money that I wouldn't have had to write this book.

Anytime I could make Carl laugh, I knew I had a winner.

call m-m-me." Then there was a long pause and he said, "If n-n-nobody answers…" another pause, "…it's m-me!

Comedy brings religious persecutors, dictators, and tyrants to their knees faster than any other weapon.