Jon Richardson Quotes

My comedy comes from pain. I can't stand to see someone hurting.

You don't want to diminish anybody's pain and suffering.

I like to make jokes; I consider myself a funny person. I just think making jokes about people who are in a situation beyond their control is not funny to them or their families.

My cancer continues to make for all kind of hilarity.

I will do almost anything for the sake of a joke or for the sake of someone's real belief in something to help tell a story. I will not do something shocking for the sake of being nasty. If it's not hurting anyone's feelings, I'm in on the joke.

As for jest, there are certain things which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man's present business of importance and any case that deserveth pity.

No more Nixon jokes. He is a sick man and we just can’t do that.

Growing up in Westboro, there was a culture of celebrating death and tragedy... a very calloused way of seeing other people's pain. After I left, it took me a while to be able to really empathize with what it must have been like for the loved ones of people whose funerals we protested.

Don't make light of any man's pain.

It's a terrible thing wishing that it can be someone else's tragedy.

To deaden yourself against any hurt is to deaden yourself also against the hurt of others.

I'm not playing 'Survivor' when someone I love has cancer.

Cancer is something that, tragically, affects almost all of our lives.

I can't do comedy that is cutting and vicious. If I knew I'd said something that was going to make someone feel bad, well, that supersedes everything.

A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.

I'm very, very sensitive to pain and to people who suffer.

Ever since I was a child, I would start crying seeing anyone in pain.

I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damn thing. It only leads to violence and pain.

I have understood that the most important things are tenderness and kindness. I can't do without them.

When you walk through the hospital, you waiver between feeling bad for everyone else and feeling bad for yourself. It's a war of the worlds - the healthy and the sick.

Life is a comedy when watching and a tragedy when experiencing. I try and share anything I have.

In our own lives and in our communities, we need to find a way to include others rather than exclude them. We need to find a way to allow our pain and suffering, individually and collectively.

You never have a comedian who hasn't got a very deep strain of sadness within him or her. Every great clown has been very near to tragedy.

Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.

There is always something infinitely mean about other people's tragedies.