Joe Morton Quotes

I don't want to offend people and I don't want to be mean, but social commentary and comedy for me are part and parcel. I think the greatest social activists are comedians.

I've always been interested in socially political, or overtly political, comedy.

I love comedians that dive into politics. I personally don't feel comfortable, with my background, weighing in unless I have a take that I think is funny enough that I would put it in front of an audience.

I know who Dick Gregory is; I knew what his accomplishments are. I certainly knew him as a comedian and an activist.

Monty Python never directly said, 'We're liberals' - they just did their sketches, and you had to figure it out. Generally, they were anti-establishment, of course, making fun of the people in power. I think, comedians, that's their job - pointing out what other people might not notice and going, 'Yoo-hoo, over here.'

There's such a rich history in 'SNL' of political humor, and I think audience members expect that from us.

If you're watching a comedian on television and he's making a political point, I would say he's gotten too serious.

Bill Maher fancies himself the reincarnation of Lenny Bruce.

Sometimes people say I'm a political comedian, which, actually I'm not. I'm a comedian who sometimes discusses politics, culture - again, the word 'politics' to me is just life.

Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert. Those are the guys I look at who are telling me pretty much the truth. And they throw humor into it which makes it much more interesting to listen to.

Comedy has become, I think, a very important branch of public intellectualism. But it still ain't Washington.

Comedy is a great slayer of rogues in power.

I did comedy and parody television in the '70s. I was a liberal Democrat, and it was a very heady year.

Norman Lear is my all-time, ultimate hero. He's an amazing man. That's one person I'm looking forward to meeting. What he did, with shows and sitcoms, he's my hero.

I watch a lot of Bill Maher.

I look at a show like 'Roseanne.' That's super influential on me. It's very funny, very real, with real problems. That was a big influence, and I don't know if you see that all the time in the network world.

Mimicry artistes and comedians are supposed to incorporate incidents around him in his acts in a satirical way. For that, he should be well aware about the things happening around him.

Comedy has a responsibility to be a voice of society, so within that, there's always going to be those that talk about those subjects and things that are going on in the world.

The job of a comedian is to make people laugh, but a lot of my interests are in politics so I'm going to use that.

If you've never seen me perform live, I'm a must-see. I'm very funny. I have a different perspective sometimes on a lot of what I do and the world itself, especially America.

'The Dictator' - well, that was just a comedy, and I suppose the morality was incidental. It was just something to try and make people laugh rather than being a serious thing.

I feel so proud to see young people standing up against the injustice to stand up and say that "All lives matter." They're following in the footsteps of those who came before them.

The racist rhetoric from politicians is inspiring people to organize, as more people see what happens by not getting active.

I love the Tea Party. They are the ultimate beer goggles. They make everything look better.