Quotes About Wit

Good comedy doesn't have to be a comedy idea.

You know, crankiness is at the essence of all comedy.

Patrice O'Neal is the best comic I ever saw.

I'm not a broad comic, but I think I can be funny and I think I make people laugh.

Show me a novel that's not comic, and I'll show you a novel that's not doing its job.

Shawn Michaels is one of those wise-cracking guys who would say a smart comment to you, but then if you face him, he would run and cry somewhere.

I went to the doctor and he said I had acute appendicitis, and I said compared to who?

I take comedy very seriously, and I feel very competitive.

A lot of men are competitive about being funny.

The thing I gravitated to was being the class clown. It was very competitive.

I've built a career on the survival skill I honed early on: being a smart aleck who is good with a fast comeback.

I swear like a sailor, assuming the sailor in question died in 1800 and was really square.

I'd rather get a good clean laugh with good material, than an easy laugh by swearing or shocking. That's not clever or comedic, anybody can get a laugh that way, it's too easy.

H. Jon Benjamin

People may say that what I do is very clever, but it's not really at all. It's not Swift.

The joke is mightier than the sword.

'One Leg Too Few' by Peter Cook is a perfect sketch. The setting is ridiculous, the language is beautiful, and the performances make the most of every syllable and movement.

Sorry?" said Dalziel turning. "What's that you said?" He cupped a large hand to a proportionally large ear. If the buggers get clever, he had once told Pascoe, pretend you can't hear. Then pretend you can't understand. Nothing's funny if it's repeated and explained.

I'm sorry," repeated Dree sincerely. "That's OK. Don't think of it as losing a sister-in-law, think of it as gaining a parasite. This soup's delicious. I may sting you for another bowlful.

He announced aggressively, 'I want to see Archie Goodwin.' 'You are.' 'I are what?' 'Seeing Archie Goodwin. Who am I seeing?' 'Oh, a wise guy.' We were off to a bad start, but we got it straightened out that he meant that I was a wise guy, not that I was seeing one...

Will she report what she told me?' 'No.' A corner of his mouth twitched. 'That's why I put up with you; you could have answered with fifty words and you did it with one.' 'I've often wondered. Now tell me why I put up with you.' 'That's beyond conjecture. ...

DN: I know a certain human with his brains in his, his other end.

He is indebted to his memory for his jests and to his imagination for his facts.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan