Jason Bateman Quotes

Although in Abbott and Costello, and straight man was first. That's a very interesting concept.

A standup set ends on a buildup of tension and subsequent release for a big laugh.

I've always felt that in a comedy script the stage directions should also have a comedic value.

If you have a character that doesn't have anything wrong with him, there's nothing funny about it. The idea of the straight man is very important. But I'd rather it be somebody else, because it's not as fun.

A lot of comedies, I think, make the wrong choice of having the straight man being this bland emotional conduit for the audience.

A lot of comedies are based on the reaction shot. You have one person doing something stupid and one person is generally the straight man, and the laughs generally come on the reaction of the straight man to the funny thing the other person has done.

For a comedian, there is nothing better than watching another great comedian.

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

People confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke, and they're very rarely the same.

You know something is a hit comedically if you can just call up one of your friends and belt out a line from the show and you both start laughing.

Every sitcom needs their straight man or straight woman.

Comedy is the most difficult. Comic timing is something which you either have it in you, or you don't. You have to have a good sense of humour to be able to understand it. A split second can make you lose the punch.

I see my role in the Bonzos as being the straight man, in many ways.

Especially with a comedy, you've got the clear cut goal of trying to make a scene funny. It's not like drama where you're trying to achieve some kind of emotion or trying to further the story along. You're trying to figure out what's the funniest way to do something.

A lot of the jokes had some build-up to some nasty stuff. But most of it was all character situations leading to what the ultimate payoff would be for that character.

My definitions of comedy, drama, and straight man are all blurry for me. I don't think of it in those terms.

You have to know you are in a comedy. You have to know that you are actually allowing the audience to participate on some level. When you go dark and mean it, then you don't let them in.

Even in comedy, I'm always the straight guy, which is okay because that's a skill. But it would be nice to get out of that box.

The best comedy not only makes you laugh, but on the moment of the laugh, you learned.

I've committed myself to perfecting the art of the straight man. I try really hard not to crack up.

People say: 'Why do you want to play the straight man?' Well, it's because he gets to be in every scene.

I once did a flip-flop joke in San Diego, and I got booed... but it's all in good fun.

A lot of the time, a comedy script is just dialogue, and that's the main thing you have to worry about.

Actually the hardest films to make are comedies. In normal life, funny things happen by accident; to re-create those by design in a film takes real technique.

You know, I liken it to - when you write a joke for somebody else, it's like you - you know, like the Wile E. Coyote dynamite plunger, where he pushes the plunger down and then you see the fuse go then there's an explosion in the distance? That's like writing a joke for somebody. When you tell the joke, you're in the explosion.