Evan Osnos Quotes

I don't think a lot of people gave 'Beavis & Butt-Head' credit for how subtle it could be.

There's always been this tradition of satirizing these rich groups of people.

Films with a message just make me laugh.

The satiric ethos of Mad was a much bigger childhood influence.

Is there a sharper commentary on American culture and the world than The Simpsons?

It was just us lampooning our own peer group, saying, well hey, where did this stuff come from? And where does British guys get to be so good at it suddenly?

'S.N.L.' has become what it was always trying to make fun of. It's become this big machine. I don't want to be plugged into a machine.

The best thing about writing speculative fiction is the opportunity to satirize the whole wide world. The America in 'A Better World' isn't ours, but it's pretty close, so I could lampoon everything from partisan politics to the cult of celebrity to our general disaffection. To me, all that is the point.

The 'Superman vs. Muhammad Ali' book was printed in every free country in the world, OK? Now, it's so good in its way that we can go in and make fun of it and feel good about it.

The mark of a really great satire is its ability to seem prophetic, and I think that the television culture that film predicted really came true in the age of reality television and is a testament to how great it really is.

Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet.

Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire.

I truly love 'Gangnam Style.' I guess it's a meme. I feel like it's one of the few times where the meme and the quality combines nicely.

All satire is blind to the forces liberated by decay. Which is why total decay has absorbed the forces of satire.

'American Dad' is, by its nature, much more political.

Social satire has been around since people have been around.

If you go back to 'Pretty Fly,' it was a very popish song, but there was a satirical side to it, and I think that's cool. I like the idea that it's making people think just a little bit.

Satire is fascinating stuff. It's deadly serious, and when politics begin to break down, there is a drift towards satire, because it's the only thing that makes any sense.

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

I think comedians have a function in society, which is to make fun of our icons.

I've spent my entire career being a satirist.

If you're going to get into social criticism with absurdity and satire, you can't be politically correct when you do that.

I don't ever try to make a serious social comment.

You know, you can be really quite subversive in popular fiction, which is capable of taking on big issues of politics, war, the rise and fall of commercial dynasties.

But in terms of satire and comedy, our biggest and earliest influence was Mad magazine.