If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you open to my ideas
John CleeseRead
When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
John Cleese highlights the challenges of catering to a younger audience while emphasizing the importance of quality in acting and writing.
In this quote, John Cleese reflects on the difficulties faced when creating content for American teenagers, suggesting that the appreciation for fine acting and writing has diminished in favor of simpler, perhaps less sophisticated entertainment. He advocates for a return to foundational principles of visual comedy, indicating that true artistry requires a solid understanding of what makes comedy effective and memorable.
Themes
ComedyActingWritingAudiencePrinciples
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the evolution of comedy, one might cite this quote to emphasize the importance of fundamental principles in art.
More from John Cleese
All quotes →Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.
John CleeseRead
If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time to be considering alternative strategies.
John CleeseRead
In Britain, girls seem to be either bright or attractive. In America, that's not the case. They're both.
John CleeseRead
I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
John CleeseRead
Well, the only way I can get a leading-man role is if I write it.
John CleeseRead
Similar quotes
I discovered that the most interesting music of all was made by simply lining the loops in unison, and letting them slowly shift out of phase with other.
Steve ReichRead
There is no art without intention.
Duke EllingtonRead
To be true to life, a novel must have an ending that is inevitable given the specific personalities of the characters involved. The novelist must not impose an ending upon them.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Movies and television have a way of using a soundtrack not just to create a mood but to literalize it. You could always count on a master class in splitting the difference between artistry and obviousness during the so-called Blaxploitation era.
Wesley MorrisRead
Her fine high forehead sloped gently up to where her hair, bordering it like an armorial shield, burst into lovelocks and waves and curlicues of ash blonde and gold. Her eyes were bright, big, clear, wet and shining, the colour of her cheeks was real, breaking close to the surface from the strong young pump of her heart. Her body hovered delicately on the last edge of childhood -- she was almost eighteen, nearly complete, but the dew was still on her.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don't remember ever having seen one weep.
Bette DavisRead