Paul Provenza Quotes

The pun exists in a social and political void, caring nothing for the issues of its day, content merely to display itself in its small cleverness.

I tend to find comedy in dark places. I also tend to find comedy in taking on the status quo - which has always been something I find important.

Only in America could you get away with the kind of comedy I did.

Humor writing is something that comes naturally to me.

You're entering dangerous land when you start theorising about comedy.

I have wit in my work and a sense of humor, but I do not use irony in any way.

Jokes are a lot about meaning. I think if we understand what jokes mean and why they work, we'd understand everything else. Genuinely I do.

My dad's sense of humor was direct and sometimes surreal - his quick wit is well known amongst our family and friends. He raised me on Spike Jones records and W.C. Fields movies, and his sense of humor fell somewhere in between.

I think comedy is the perfect vehicle for that which is slightly beyond life.

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'm not hurting anybody. Comedy's all about innuendo. I'm putting it out there just like anybody else.

To me, comedy is just twisting reality. It's commenting or observing or twisting life.

Comedy isn't just timing; it's about rooting out the funny in the real. You just bend reality to the left a little.

The first thing I ever got my hands on was Andy Griffith's 'What It Was, Was Football.' I was fascinated with the fact that every syllable made it funny, and I would laugh even though I didn't know what any of it meant.

No humorist is under any obligation to provide answers and probably if you were to delve into the literary history of humour it's probably all about not providing answers because the humorist essentially says: this is the way things are.

I'm not funny ha-ha, but I look for real humour in just about everything I've ever played.

If written with enough care and thoughtfulness, a joke can make you laugh at a belief you hold dear.

Comedy can be very deep sometimes.

I like really bad puns - proper, red-top, nasty puns - I find them funny.

There are thousands of ways to make people laugh - satire, black comedy, slapstick.

My brand of comedy is taking a serious approach to silliness. Small moments of modern life and human behavior make me laugh. At least that's where everything starts, and then my other through line would be a dry absurdity that exponentially spirals out of reality.

The definition of comedy is 'unsafe space' - you can't control what people laugh at.

I would love to be part of dark comedies. I love them! They are no-nonsense, no spoonfeeding, and the norms and cliches are left behind.

Of course, my whole theory of comedy is based in reality. The funniest stuff comes from real life.

Comedies always need to be provocative and catch your attention in a way that dramas don't have to.