John Michael Higgins Quotes

I think so. I can't think of anything that requires more finesse than comedy, both from a verbal and visual point of view.

Comedy is so hard; it's so much harder than drama. The pacing of it, the energy of it.

Comedy is all about the pause.

Comedy is easy. You have to react to what others are saying and it is all about the timing, the dialogue delivery.

Comedy is all about rhythm and context, and there's all types of comedies, and it's about finding that right brand, that consistency in tone.

I think you make better jokes when you don't break logic for the joke, unless you make a movie just about jokes.

I think comedy, so much of it comes out of the strange sort of golden instant 'cause you don't know why it's funny, but you captured it.

If you play it straight it's funny - the best comedy is always played straight down the middle. The adjustment is understanding from the screenplay that a moment is hilarious.

Comedy is probably a lot harder for me. Maybe it's because I've been doing drama for so long or maybe it's because... you don't want to search for a laugh; you can't try to be funny, you just have to naturally be funny or be in a situation that's funny.

Comedy is not something that a person can fake or learn how to do.

Comedy takes a very specific technique, specific skills.

Robin Williams learned technique. He has the technique of being funny.

When I'm playing comedy, I never do 'jokes.' Sometimes I'll deliver a line in a way I think is more likely to get a laugh, but all the best comedy is played straight. What's funny is the way it hits the world around it or the way it hits the other characters.

If you work at comedy too laboriously, you can kill what's funny in the joke.

Humor writing requires a rhythm and timing, as well as some kind of connection to the reader, and I think that's how I tap into it.

Comedy is ridiculously hard. And if the rhythm is not right, if the music or the line is not right, it's not funny.

With comedy, you have no place to go but more comedy, so you're never off the hook.

I'd rather get a good clean laugh with good material, than an easy laugh by swearing or shocking. That's not clever or comedic, anybody can get a laugh that way, it's too easy.

Comedy writing is taking the brief thought and going with it.

He sort of gets comic moments. Not a lot of directors do.

Comedy is surprise. Comedy is not something that you can, necessarily, do twice.

You know, comedy's hard. With drama, you have a responsibility to the emotional truth, but with comedy, you have emotional truth and you have technique on top of it.

The first rule of comedy should be, you must be very lazy. Whoever works should be immediately removed.

The nature of comedy is 'just do it.' But I think what's interesting about it is this joke has been around and why. And it's just saying what's wrong and how wrong can you be if you say it.

I think comedy is one of the hardest things to do.