Jim Jefferies Quotes

The comics that are just conversing with you up there and drawing on their own life, yeah, I guess so. I guess some do political humor, some do topical humor, but the ones that I like, the ones that are appealing to me, were guys who were just talking to you about their life.

People constantly make pop-culture references. That's why it's called popular culture, because people are aware of it and reference it constantly.

'The Simpsons' basically - and 'Futurama' - are really smart shows. They're kind of disguised as these goofy animated sitcoms, but the references within the shows, if you're paying attention, are pretty smart and pretty sophisticated.

I know about two things: 'Rocky III' and Clubber Lang, and 'A-Team' and B.A. Baracus. That's who I am!

All my references are 50 years old-when somebody shot J.R., you know? Oh my god, I'm 100!

I get most of my news from the Jon Stewart Daily Show. It's the most level commentary you can find. You have to laugh, because it's all so true. It's the closest thing to a counterculture.

Apparently it's cool to watch The Daily Show.

Scotland needs comedy more than ever. With the independence debate, finally after 300 years, reaching room temperature.

Our solution on 'The Simpsons' is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!'

Comedians who are 22 years old can certainly be funny and clever, and be capable of telling jokes - but are they talking about their favorite TV shows, or a particular brand of shampoo?

First and foremost when you're doing comedy, you gotta be relevant and applicable to the times that you're living in. When you try and just do comedy about who is dating who and lifestyle jokes, it gets tiring after a while. It's hard to be funny in that realm.

I think up until the point when we started in the business, which was in the early '70s, most of the humor was political. The smart humor was political satire.

It's such a smart decision for comedy to not try to be relevant or contemporary.

Weird Al was something that kids would listen to. It's funny, super funny, smart. It's just kind of jokey. I remember hearing 'Smells Like Nirvana' before hearing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' That's how it really worked. I think it's just such a cool thing how he introduced us to so many cool bands. Even Queen - 'Another One Rides the Bus.'

Classic comedy is classic comedy, and it will go on for years.

People go, 'Oh, Trump must be good for comedy,' and I go, 'Ehhh.'

The first show I worked on was 'In Living Color.' I think 'The Daily Show' was the culmination of having that point of view - being able to look at this third rail in our society.

Most Americans I play for are clueless as to who Richard Ramirez was, so you can imagine how audiences in Portugal react. I'm not saying they don't enjoy the music; I'm just saying they're a little lost on some references.

I always refer to 'Blazing Saddles' or 'Young Frankenstein' as very much the kind of humor that I like to do.

When you watch some old sitcoms, however charming they are, they have often lost speed over the years. The speed of 'Fawlty Towers' has lasted the distance.

What makes 'Pootie Tang' the motion picture enjoyable is its no-brow ambitions; it's a joke action film. It slides through enough African-American pop culture signifiers to raise laughs out of those who will appreciate the references; it revels in more cheese per square inch than a soul food diner.

A lot of people call horror movies 'campy,' and I can certainly see why they think that they are, but being a product of the 80s, I didn't notice that they were campy - I came from a campy generation. I mean, Ronald Reagan is campy. But I don't think they're campy.

I'm going to put that on my gravestone. "He created such a category of unwanted pop culture - Famous for directing unwanted cultural references".

Everybody uses pop culture as a shorthand.

Everybody uses pop culture as a shorthand. You might make an obscure reference to Monty Python or Iron Eagle that only some people will get, but if they do it conveys a world of meaning.