You're trying your best to make people laugh; then if you fail, they hate you. But your intent's the same. It's not like you're trying to do evil to them.
Norm MacdonaldRead
I miss seeing real comics, Shecky Greene and Buddy Hackett, those types. I like straight stand-up, talking about the Olympics and why I feel obligated to watch them. 'Why am I watching archery at 4 in the afternoon?'
Interpretation
Norm Macdonald expresses nostalgia for traditional stand-up comedy, reflecting on the absurdity of modern entertainment.
In this quote, Norm Macdonald reminisces about a time when comedy focused more on straightforward, observational humor, contrasting it with his current experiences of watching seemingly mundane events like archery during the Olympics. He highlights the inherent silliness in popular television programming and how it can lead to questioning one's own viewing habits, illustrating a deeper commentary on entertainment values and preferences.
In practice
During a stand-up comedy event to highlight the evolution of humor.
You're trying your best to make people laugh; then if you fail, they hate you. But your intent's the same. It's not like you're trying to do evil to them.
It's a very odd thing with Hollywood, where you do stand-up, you're good at it, then they go, 'How would you like to be a horrible actor?' Then you say, 'All right, that sounds good. I'll do that.'
I sort of try to write everything for me. I'm a huge sports fan but have no interest in minutiae. I don't remember who won Super Bowls five years ago or listen to sports talk radio. I'm trying to make sure the jokes are self-contained so they're accessible to everyone.
I've just seen really, really funny guys, and if I didn't know them, I wouldn't know they were funny from the television. I don't know what it does, it just sucks it away.
I'm no good at anything but comedy, which I think I'm good at. I'm absolutely no good at networking; I'm terrible at acting; I'm terrible at dealing with executives; I'm terrible at collaborating. And I say whatever I want to say. But I think I'm good enough at comedy that I can survive. And I don't really have an ambition for money.
When I hear a guy lost a battle to cancer, that really did bother me, that that's a term. It implies that he failed and that somebody else that defeated cancer is heroic and courageous.
If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.
When a dramatic actor does a funny film, people are like, 'Wonderful! I didn't know he was funny!' But when it flips, people can get really thrown by it.
Responding to a question about remarks attributed to him that he did not think were his: "I really didn't say everything I said."
Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant.
I wouldn’t mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge
It seems that laughter needs an echo.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.