Robert Mankoff Quotes

My standup is observational, but it's self-observational, and it's self-deprecating, definitely.

I think there's a certain objectivity that comes from being Canadian. You're partly British and partly American; you have a good bird's-eye view of both countries. So much of the comedy that comes out of Canada is impersonation - it's less 'look at me' than it is 'look at me playing other people.'

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.

I'm really sarcastic. Not Morgan Webb sarcastic. She's dry, 100%. I'm different from her.

Animation did not become the dominant form of children's television until the '60s.

Our solution on 'The Simpsons' is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!'

The really funny comedies to me are always the ones that are played the straightest or given the most emotional content. And when people start making faces and setting things up and commenting and winking at you, I don't find that to be very funny.

I think the biggest influence on my stand-up would be Chris Rock, in that I love that Chris is basically an essayist, in that he'll take a subject and just try and attack it from as many different angles as he can.

I'm a very observational type of comedian that points out everyday absurdities.

My brand of comedy is taking a serious approach to silliness. Small moments of modern life and human behavior make me laugh. At least that's where everything starts, and then my other through line would be a dry absurdity that exponentially spirals out of reality.

My comedy is a bit cartoonlike, if I really think about it.

My style of comedy is probably absurdist, observational, and Olympian.

These people [the Christians] watched the Flintstones as if it were a documentary.

I love doing meta-humor, as long as it doesn't become too distracting and it's subtle.

My standup persona is like I'll heighten things, but I'm observing the world as it is in sort of a heightened emotional state.

I watch people's behavior and notice things. I think that's why I became a comedian. I notice how stupid the things we do are.

God has a sense of humor. If you don't believe me, tomorrow go to wal-mart and just look at people.

I don't like stand-up comedy that requires a lot of props. I really respect people who can walk out onstage alone and with no other tool but their own minds and can make you laugh and maybe even think a little.

The whole Gorillaz concept is one for mavericks; it's a way for people who never have a chance to work together being able to ally behind the cartoons.

I'm very fond of the strictly visual cartoons I did when I was breaking in in the 1970's. Over time I migrated to a more verbal approach.

I don’t understand why people take pictures of mimes. Everyone looks like a mime in a picture.

A poet or a comedian can say what's on the mind of people. They should be funny. They should make you laugh. It may be so truthful that it hurts, but it makes you laugh.

You are always looking at people like this.” And then she made a face, one he couldn’t possibly begin to describe. “If I ever look like that,” he said dryly, “precisely like that, to be more precise, I give you leave to shoot me.

People think I'm as shallow and superficial as I look, and it's a surprise when they find out, sure enough, I am.

I'm trying to think if there was ever the Lenny Bruce-y, observational, George Carlin kind of magician: "You know what I hate is ..." I don't think that ever existed.