Bernard Sahlins Quotes

You can be funny and say what you mean; these ideas are not mutually exclusive. Some of the best jokes came from people who meant it. See: Pryor, Bruce, Carlin, etc.

You shouldn't get too close to the truth, because then maybe you stop being funny.

If you record the world honestly, there's no way people can stop being funny. A lot of fiction writing doesn't get that idea, as if to acknowledge it would trivialize the story or trivialize human nature, when in fact human nature is reduced and falsified if the comic aspects are not included.

I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation.

I am trying to work out what my taste is, comedy-wise. I look up to stand up comedians who appear to be telling the truth, but I don't mind if they are lying.

Comedy is just honesty. Whether things are going well or bad.

The best comedy is based on truth.

I'll see something, and I'll go, 'Oh, wow, that's interesting,' because really, comedy comes from the truth.

You have to be so honest in comedy.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.

I think comedy stems from being honest, often painfully so. I hope I can achieve that perspective in my own life and also have fun.

I definitely prefer working in comedy over drama, but at the same time, when it comes to comedy, I tend to prefer comedies that have a great sense of truth to them and that come from an honest place.

It's good just to laugh sometimes, and if it comes out of some truth, it's even stronger.

With all comedy, you try to ground it in credibility and reality.

And I think comedy obviously a great way to get a message out because you know the reason why things are funny is because they're true.

What all my favorite comedians have in common is extraordinary honesty.

Most humor comes from truth. In the end, if I can laugh about it, who cares?

I think you can tell the human condition better through comedy.

I've always thought something that makes you laugh, it makes you laugh because there's a little bit of truth to it.

I think comedy has to come from a real place. It has to come from an honest place.

I always try to attack the most honest issues I can in my comedy.

I suppose I look for humor in most situations because it humanizes things; it makes a character much more three-dimensional if there's some kind of humor. Not necessarily laugh-out-loud type of stuff, just a sense that there is a humorous edge to things. I do like that.

Cool is the enemy of funny. You can't be cool and be funny at the same time. Only Eddie Murphy could do that.

The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.

I've always been very upfront about the way I write, and I've always used the tools humorists use, such as exaggeration.