Joan Rivers Quotes

I wanted to be a comedian.

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

With comedians, you have that understanding that we're trying to get laughs.

I think in my case, I had no choice but to have a good sense of humor. I grew up with my dad, Danny Thomas, and George Burns and Bob Hope and Milton Berle and Sid Caesar and all those guys were at our house all the time and telling jokes and making each other laugh.

That's what I hate about a lot of comedies, when you're hitting a line or making it funny.

Bad taste is not illegal. I always got my first laughs as a kid by saying inappropriate things. That's always how we're going to get our laughs as comics.

Comedians have a huge carte blanche and the ability to get away with saying a lot of things.

I've committed myself to perfecting the art of the straight man. I try really hard not to crack up.

Humour or comedy should not offend anyone.

Well, I'm not afraid to say something if I think it's funny, even if it's harsh or racist.

Here's the thing, with comedy - and I learned this from Will Ferrell - you can't be ashamed. If you're doing comedy, you have to fully commit to the joke. Shame is not part of it. If you act shy or uncomfortable about your body, that makes the audience shy and uncomfortable. And in a comedy you just want them to loosen up and laugh.

A lot of my humor centers on the act of telling jokes and I think this can prevent certain audiences from suspending their feeling of disbelief. It might piss a few people off, but I can't help it.

Jackie Gleason said that comedy is the most exacting form of dramatic art, because it has an instant critic: laughter.

I'm such a comedy fan that I just love laughing and so admire comedians who have brought me joy.

I like comedy as a group sport.

I do love jokes.

In real life, comedians aren't funny.

I'm not an artist. I tell inappropriate stories and jokes and I try to make people laugh.

The violence or the vaudeville style of comedy is a technique all by itself. You get up there, and you are a comedian, and you're doing one thing. That is, you're going to make the audience laugh.

It seems that two of the most basic forms of comedy are jokes and stories. And, of course, they are not mutually exclusive.

Kind of the exhausting thing about doing pure comedy, or something that's broader, is you're kind of a slave to the laugh. If it's not funny, then there's not much point in doing it. The kind of ueber-objective is to make people laugh. You always have to have that in the back of your mind, 'Eh, I've got to figure out a way to make this funny.'

If you're a comedian, you are looking for material in daily life.

We want to get people laughing; we don't want to offend anybody.

My friends always said that I should be a comedienne - I was named my class clown.

I'd like to do a bit of comedy.