Richard Russo Quotes

Humor and seriousness are not in opposition to each other.

There is some humour in 'Family Values.' I don't want everyone to think it's not going to make them laugh. But there are quite a lot of poems there that aren't funny at all.

If you play comedic scenes like they're really serious, then it's so much more funny than if you're going for a laugh.

I'm known as a kind of dramatic, serious, almost humorless actor and the fact is, I'm a funny guy, and I spend most of my life trying to find a lighter side of things, and on stage was given plenty of opportunity to do that.

I think that there's a fine line between comedy and drama.

Funny is when you're serious.

Just because a subject is serious doesn't mean it doesn't have plenty of absurdities.

There is nothing that is so serious that you can't also see its comic side. Comedy is a way of talking about the most serious things.

Some things are so tragic that you don't know what's funny in it, and some things are so ridiculous you don't know if it's worth talking about it.

One does not contradict the other.Straight-faced is the basis of all decent comedy.

The more serious the situation, the funnier the comedy can be. The greatest comedy plays against the greatest tragedy. Comedy is a red rubber ball and if you throw it against a soft, funny wall, it will not come back. But if you throw it against the hard wall of ultimate reality, it will bounce back and be very lively. Very, very few people understand this.

Comedies always need to be provocative and catch your attention in a way that dramas don't have to.

A joke's a very serious thing.

I guess the more serious you play something, if the context is funny, then it will be funny and it doesn't really require you to be necessarily, explicitly humorous, or silly.

The best way to make the most serious point in the world is to be as unserious as possible.

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.

A situation is always comic if it participates simultaneously in two series of events which are absolutely independent of each other, and if it can be interpreted in two quite different meanings.

I remember nearly having a fit of the giggles during the reading because dear Daniel was SO respectful and serious and I was finding the whole situation funny because I was speaking to his profile.

I always believe that funny is serious and serious is funny. You don't really need a distinction between them.

I think it would be harder for me not to write comedy because the comic view of things is the one that comes most naturally to me.

Most period drama is so earnest. A lot of it is about making yourself take seriously things you wouldn't normally.

It's great extremes which leads to great drama and great comedy.

Many of my poems try to use a comic element to reach a place that isn't comic at all. The comic element works as a surprise. It is unexpected and energizing.

But as far as being popular, yeah, I think Dave Barry is really funny.

I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.