Brian Dunkleman Quotes

Comedy is only funny when there's real pain.

I don't think it's a contradiction to find painfulness funny.

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.

As with anything that involves emotional pain, comedy isn't too far behind. There's that element of no matter how painful something is - as long as it is not you that is going through it - it can be funny.

Oftentimes, the funniest comedians are people who've gone through personal torment.

Handling a painful situation in a comedic way is truly the funniest. That is extremely real to me and not kind of clownish. There is a thin line though; you can't overdo it.

Some people would say comedy draws from some dark places, from your dark stuff. Life's great optimists aren't necessarily the funniest people.

When things are really painful, I turn it into comedy.

It's always funny until someone gets hurt. Then it's just hilarious.

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

My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next.

Most comedy comes out of misery.

Much of the best humor is found in the frequently tragic reality of human experience.

A lot of joking stems from a very dark place a bit.

I can wax boringly about the role of comedy in mitigating pain. For so many comedians, comedy comes out of personal despair. I'm not a very despairing person myself, but I do fear despair and the death of loved ones.

People who become comedians… come from pain, come from conflict.

A comedian is not funny unless he is taking his demons out for a walk.

Look at the people who are kind of the funniest cultures, they're the cultures of the people who have been the most oppressed, black people and Jews. Not that they're the only funny people, but culturally, it comes from the pain, you know?

Most comedians come from a dark past and have a lot of sadness.

Comedy is a camouflage for depression.

Comedy is often about pain.

I think the funniest stuff comes from the heaviest stuff.

I take the most wrenchingly painful moments of my life, brush them off and present them for the amusement of others. Luckily for me, my childhood was torture.

Comedy can simultaneously allow you to dive headfirst into the world's pain and escape it.

Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.