Quotes About Satire

Eighty per cent of my output is 'Mallory clowns on the Western canon,' and I'm happy to be that person.

If you do a Western that's funny, there's no way people don't call it a spoof or a parody, even though it may not be.

I've always done just pretty much what I wanted to do. I mean, I just did a thing for a small press called 'Zeppelins West' that's nothing but an absolute, over-the-top farce, almost like an Abbott & Costello, alternate-universe Western.

Satire has been a sanctuary historically monopolized by progressives, originally used as a discreet tool against Western religious fundamentalism.

Me being able to beat up Austin Powers? I mean, how great can that be?

You're supposed to not like the 'Austin Powers' movies because people ruin the catchphrases. 'Austin Powers' is so funny.

I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't happy. But usually you can find a funny side to practically anything.

That's the thing about 'The Daily Show' - we're doing four shows a week, so we can't be too precious about what's going on.

I have nothing wrong with comics and writers poking fun at the President, as long as it's funny. When it's the same retread jokes with predictable punchlines, that's when it's offensive.

With 'Arrested Development,' we tried showing the deep disdain that connects a family. We wanted to hold up a mirror to American society. And, just as predicted, America looked away.

To single out a particular group and say we can't make a joke about them is almost a form of prejudice and it's kind of patronizing.

There is a strong ethical dimension to the best comedy. Not only does it avoid reinforcing prejudices, it actively challenges them.

I fell into presenting after doing about a decade of parody shows of presenter-based shows, and a lot of it was me parodying a presenter, so when I started doing 'Have I Got News For You', I carried on that persona.

No one is better at deprecating President Trump than President Trump - just ask him.

In the days of Caesar, kings had fools and jesters. Now network presidents have anchormen.

That's what Letterman did. He mocked everything and everyone in show business, even though he was at the top of show business. He was in it but not really of it, and that's one thing I came to love about him. I mean, you can't sit there and interview Cher and pretend you're not in show business, but he managed to pull it off somehow.

The joy of the roasts is to watch people get hurt and offended, and then have to laugh to pretend they're a good sport.

Over the years, I'd hear Jon Stewart disavow being a journalist and say, 'No, I'm a comedian.' I'd be like, 'Stop pretending. You know you're a journalist.'

The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to be.

Even at its height, 'The Daily Show' would do one great show a week, one pretty good show a week, and then two 'meh' ones. It was filler.

I like 'The Nightly Show.' People ask me what it is, and I say, 'If you're watching 'The Daily Show,' and it feels like it's getting a little darker, you're probably watching 'The Nightly Show.''

I'm not someone who shies away from darkness being funny. I think that life is very dark at times, and there are things that are very funny about that.

When you make 'The Daily Show', it's usually not for a laurel, it's for a dart.

David Steinberg was the reason the Smothers Brothers got cancelled.