Tom Ellis Quotes

A poet or a comedian can say what's on the mind of people. They should be funny. They should make you laugh. It may be so truthful that it hurts, but it makes you laugh.

I think comedy stems from being honest, often painfully so. I hope I can achieve that perspective in my own life and also have fun.

I always try to attack the most honest issues I can in my comedy.

Comedy is just honesty. Whether things are going well or bad.

I think for me the trick is not to aim to impress or to even try to make people laugh but instead to tell the truth.

Comedy too can sometimes discern what is right. I shall not please, but I shall say what is true.

Everything I do is intended to make people laugh and think. I just think something is funny, it's not hurting anybody, not stabbing anybody, not shooting anybody, not making anybody watch me perform. There are thousands of comedians, don't come see me because it's not like I hide it.

I tell the truth and I don't try to sugarcoat things. But I also decided that if you don't use humor or satire, then it's just too dark all the time. And one of my favorite literary works is A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. As you know, that was an enormously famous satire piece that was able to point out, you know, things to people in a different way. And I do believe that satire and humor can reveal truth in a way that sometimes doesn't get revealed through other means. And so I decided to, every now and then, use satire and humor as well.

As a comedian, I think we all look for those areas where the truth diverts from what people are saying. That's why politics is such a rich area for us, because politicians make promises, and they don't keep them, and when we point out the difference, we get the laugh.

You should tell the truth as often as you can, but in such a way as people don't believe you or think that you're being funny.

You can be funny and say what you mean; these ideas are not mutually exclusive. Some of the best jokes came from people who meant it. See: Pryor, Bruce, Carlin, etc.

Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.

The best comedy to me - and again, I grew up with comedy since I was a baby, so I've seen it all - is when you exaggerate the truth, like Richard Pryor did, you understand?

The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.

Humor's a weapon if you want to make it one.

A good comedy with a purpose behind it is exhilarating.

Humor must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever.

I've heard too many times where people say that I'm this ultra-serious guy. In truth, I've got an extremely absurd sense of humor. I thrive on the absurd - I love it.

I definitely prefer working in comedy over drama, but at the same time, when it comes to comedy, I tend to prefer comedies that have a great sense of truth to them and that come from an honest place.

Actually being funny is mostly telling the truth about things.

Most jokes state a bitter truth.

Sure, I am funny and have a good sense of humor. Mostly, though, I just tell the truth. The internal dialogue people have in their heads - I just write it.

I am trying to work out what my taste is, comedy-wise. I look up to stand up comedians who appear to be telling the truth, but I don't mind if they are lying.

I love that I can tell the truth and have people laugh at it.