QuoteProject
The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.
James Thurber
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The essence of comedy lies not just in the jokes but in the shared experience of laughter among the audience.

James Thurber emphasizes that comedy is deeply rooted in the collective experience of laughter. It suggests that the true impact of humor is felt when one is part of an audience, where the shared joy and warmth of laughter enhance the comedic experience and create lasting memories.

Themes

ComedyLaughterAudienceHumorExperience

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a comedy show to highlight the importance of audience reactions.

More from James Thurber

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
James ThurberRead
Speed is scarcely the noblest virtue of graphic composition, but it has its curious rewards. There is a sense of getting somewhere fast, which satisfies a native American urge.
James ThurberRead
The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
James ThurberRead
Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street.
James ThurberRead
Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man.
James ThurberRead
These are the days of bootleg love.
James ThurberRead

Similar quotes

If the Earth could be made to rotate twice as fast, managers would get twice as much done. If the Earth could be made to rotate twenty times as fast, everyone else would get twice as much done since all the managers would fly off.
Norman Ralph AugustineRead
I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.
Christopher WalkenRead
I was number 1 on the who's likely to die list for 10 years...I was really disappointed when I fell off that list.
Keith RichardsRead
New Rule: This Valentine’s Day Americans must remember that politicians are like a box of chocolates. We bite into them to find out what's on the inside only to discover that Democrats are too often soft and gooey and Republicans are mostly nuts.
Bill MaherRead
Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do “practice”?
George CarlinRead
Well, the most terrible fear that anybody should have is not war, is not a disease, not cancer or heart problems or food poisoning - it's a man or a woman without a sense of humor.
Jonathan WintersRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.