Umberto Eco Quotes

Satire is, by definition, offensive. It is meant to make us feel uncomfortable. It is meant to make us scratch our heads, think, do a double-take, and then think again.

Cartooning is about deconstruction: you gotta tear something down to make a joke.

I write what I think is funny and I write from a sense of popping a balloon or a sense of injustice, whether it's about yourself, or whether it's about something else. It's my worldview; it doesn't mean that everybody has to agree with it.

Social satire has been around since people have been around.

Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.

Comedy is a great weapon of attack. It's not a great weapon of support.

Being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people.

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

Satire is a form of social control, it's what you do. It's not personal. It's a job.

I think to simply make fun of something isn't particularly interesting. I try to not just do a parody of something or belittle something or disparage something.

Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.

Parody is homage gone sour.

I would think a sense of the absurd is more important for a political cartoonist, because that could define things like a sense of hypocrisy or a sense of the things one has to be skeptical about.

I'm not an impersonator. I'm a lousy impersonator, actually.

Postmodernism surely requires an even greater grasp of symbolism, as it's increasingly an art of gesture alone.

I'd like to say that parody is a celebration of a person's specific characteristics, as opposed to mockery.

The best cartoons work by making fun of sacred cows, in trying to inflict the uncomfortable.

As satirists, we get to stand on the sidelines of life and comment on what's happening.

I can only parody stuff I love.

Effective satire has to be almost identical to the subject that it is skewering.

It's rare in satirical comedy not just to be cynical.

I see the absurdity in things, and I think it's my job to point it out.

If written with enough care and thoughtfulness, a joke can make you laugh at a belief you hold dear.

Basic Instinct 2' is camp, not because it takes itself too seriously, nor because it sends itself up, but because we are not sure quite how seriously it wants us to take it.

That's what I love about 'MADtv': If you exist, if you breathe, we will take you down.