Toby Young Quotes

But I'm a humorist. I'm not a reporter, I never pretended to be a reporter.

Many of the writers who have inspired me most are outside the genre: Humorists like Robert Benchley and James Thurber, screenwriters like Ben Hecht and William Goldman, and journalists/columnists like H.L. Mencken, Mike Royko and Molly Ivins.

The humor section is the last place an author wants to be. They put your stuff next to collections of Cathy cartoons.

Humor writing is something that comes naturally to me.

I think a lot of humor is about distracting yourself. Pretend you're not trying to make it funny. Because for some reason the effort to be funny smells like sulphur in our culture.

Humor has justly been regarded as the finest perfection of poetic genius.

A humorist is a person who feels bad, but who feels good about it.

I think I write funny songs that make people kind of, like, stop what they're doing and be like, 'What did you say?' And then it makes them laugh a little bit.

When I write, I create really absurd situations which become false because I am after the joke.

David Sedaris is so good that it makes me mad.

I can't not write funny. It's literally the only way I know how to do it.

Primarily I'm a social commentator rather than someone who's out to get the belly laugh.

Newspaper people, once celebrated as founts of ribald humor and uncouth fun, have of late lost all their gaiety, and small wonder.

What most readers do not realize is that it takes a particular genius to write funny, to satirize.

At the risk of appearing disingenuous, I don't really think of myself as 'writing humor.' I'm simply reporting on the world I observe, which is frequently hilarious.

There's a real emphasis on being witty in Scotland, even in crime novels.

There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.

I remember interviewing someone I actually felt bad for, and therefore didn't want to take an ironic stance against him. It actually turned out to be a really funny piece.

People often ask me how I make things funny. I don't make things funny.

Everyone can write jokes and makes things clever.

I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces.

A lot of newspaper columns used to be written in a rat-a-tat-tat, fast-paced style - and they tended to be funny. They were a little relief from the grimmer, grayer parts of the newspaper, and one of the best people at doing this was Will Rogers.

My greatest regret as a writer is that I've never been able to include as many jokes as I'd like.

I write funny. If I can make my wife laugh, I know I'm on the right track.

Humorous writing is often thought of as substandard in comparison to work with a more dramatic or tragic intent. I don't know what to say to this except that I disagree wholeheartedly.