Mort Sahl Quotes

When I started, you didn't make a lot of money by being a comedian. You didn't get a lot of respect.

'Saturday Night Live' will always be this amazing, powerful behemoth, but it's also not the only thing happening in comedy anymore.

You know the quickest way to get comedians to hate you? Do Letterman at age 24.

As music became more profitable in the 1990s, it seemed like it attracted a lot of people who were just interested in the financial aspect of it, which is depressing.

I think that for the most part, when I started doing comedy, it had become very commercialized.

It may have lost its special-ness forever and the clubs might not being doing well but I think standup is in the best shape it has been in a long time.

Once you become a comedian, you accept that people are just going to yell stuff at you.

Victor Saville was bad news because he wanted money just to do one big picture.

I moved from acting to stand-up because castings are just about what you look like. It doesn't matter if you can act or not. In comedy, no one cares what you look like.

It seems easier to make a career out of comedy now than it was in the 1980s.

I mean, the death in the late eighties and early nineties really shook out a lot of hacks. The pond just sort of dried up for a lot of really bad comedians.

I didn't become a comedian to work this hard.

I was always worried with comedy - what if I came to work and I wasn't in a funny mood? That hasn't been an issue.

Specifically in stand-up, I love jokes. I love short, structured ideas and a punchline.

Hopefully standup will become special again.

Comedy may be big business but it isn't pretty.

Well I think comedy everywhere has lost a bit of its bite. In Canada, I can't argue with the quality, but it feels like it's gotten a little safe.

I tell jokes for a check; I'm on TV for a check.

If I can make a teacher's salary doing comedy, I think that's better than being a teacher.

When you are in a room and your job is to write jokes 10 hours a day, your mind starts going to strange places.

Why are comedic parts for women the exception, not the rule?

Most comedies are really hard to write, or to watch, because you kind of generally know what's coming.

The minute I started doing comedy, the doors opened.

I've been doing stand-up for 15 years and I've never even been invited to the Comedy Awards! How mental is that?

I want more stand-up comics in prime time. It's great for every comedian.