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
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.
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
All quotes →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.
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The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
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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.
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Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man.
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These are the days of bootleg love.
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