Humor Timing Quotes

The role of a comedian is to make the audience laugh, at a minimum of once every fifteen seconds.

Comedy is more difficult than drama. I think it's really difficult to make someone laugh because people have very different comedic sensibilities. In drama, you can get away with being a great actor and surrounded by great actors and having good writing. But in comedy you have to listen and you have to perform with a certain rhythm, because if you don't, it's like playing a wrong note in the orchestra and you can hear the off key and it will fall flat and you won't get that instant response.

Like I said, a sketch is one joke. They shouldn't really be more than a minute, two minutes. There are some shows where the sketch goes on for five minutes. It's like, "I get it! I'm already bored. I did like the joke, but I don't anymore, because you went on too long."

I think, in comedy, timing is everything. You and I could tell the same joke, but if one of our timing is off, it won't be as funny. You've gotta know when to deliver your punch-lines.

I'm not quiet, nor am I the class clown. I pick my moments.

We [me and Eugene Levy] both try to play the reality of a moment and don't try to impose humor on something where it doesn't belong. Contrary to what other people seem to think sometimes.

Any attempts at humor immediately after September 11th were deemed tasteless.

I have seen and heard comedians who had really funny 'stuff' but yet could not make the people laugh; then, again - I have seen others whose stuff was anything but humorous, and the audience would howl with laughter.

I think comedies should be short. I don't want to be self-indulgent; I don't want a two-hour comedy.

I mean I'm one of those people that laugh at a funeral. And it's always the worst time, but there's always a place to find something funny.

I know how to play comedy when it's needed. So even when it's really not there, my facial expressions are really great. I have a lot of facial expressions in my face, you know.

Comedy always works better when you're tracking the story and you care about the characters. That's why there's a lot of movies where there's not a ton of jokes, but you get huge laughs because there's a moment of relief.

The hardest thing in comedy is to have the biggest laugh at the end, and it’s the most satisfying thing.

If you try to deliver a funny line in a funny way, it comes out as wacky and you ruin the scene.

I think when you go in, with film or television, you want to tell this narrative. And with 'Joshy,' you want it to be grounded with moments - it's not like, 'Everyone be as funny as you can, quickly, at all times!' It's not like that. You have to pick the right improvisers.

I did try and do some spooky stand up once, and some of my stand-up had - I tried to do some horror stand-up, but it didn't really work very well.

The best joke-tellers are those who have the patience to wait for conversation to come around to the point where the jokes in their repertoire have application.

For a comedian to kind of catch onto something right as something's catching on in our culture, a lot of it is luck, and you hope the joke is funny.

I don't like forcing comedy and people just trying to do things just to find a funny beat all the time.

We always try to go back to character: What do they want? What are they doing? What's in motion that they're dealing with? When things get particularly heavy, we will take a step back and look at who has some room to have some things lighter, funnier, or sweeter happen.

I don't want to have so much humor [in films] that it undermines the jeopardy, but enough to sometime relieve tension.