Paul Merton Quotes

It's true; I have a skill and it's... it has not related to acting, it's not related to auditions, it's not related to studios, not related to public whim. It's whether I'm funny or not and whether I can entertain people.

You can't be funny if you don't have good material.

I'm probably not very good at rom-com, being funny on demand; I'll leave that to the comedians.

I love to write jokes and that's all I think about.

You can't teach someone to be funny, but you can teach comic timing. If you listen to a good comic, you can learn how to put it on a page.

Comedy is learning to be funny, and you learn to be funny in small rooms with young audiences.

My humor is channeling everything through my brain. For example, when I talk about something, it's how Richard Lewis feels about it. I'm a storyteller. I do a lot of free association.

To do comedy, you have to be a pretty good actor to start with.

All I know is just how to make people laugh.

George Carlin is brilliant with words, and Johnny Winters is very creative. It's taking something common and drawing out the humor, being clever with words.

From the age of 4 or 5, I loved to make people laugh.

Ever since I was a kid, I just loved those comedians on TV who would just have fun with the language.

I love comedy, and I think that's sort of what comes naturally to me.

Once I realised the value of making people laugh, I got very good at it. Fast.

When you're doing stand-up, you want to stand onstage and, to the extent that you can, uncomplicatedly entertain.

Robin Williams learned technique. He has the technique of being funny.

I can't crack jokes because I don't have any.

I'm not the type of guy who's funny in the room. I'm the guy who's funny late at night on a computer, trying to construct jokes.

I really don't know what makes a comedian. I think it's a family background and environment. Yet if you put the same ingredients in another person, he may never utter a funny line.

With drama, you know if you're having a true moment, but in comedy, if somebody doesn't laugh, then you know you're not being funny. That's a really fun challenge, and that's what draws me to comedy.

I'm really bad at writing jokes.

A fellow who has a funny bone can learn to hone his skills, but I don't think you can develop a funny bone - you either have it or you don't. And by the way - when you get it, we don't know it.

I think comedy is one of the hardest things to do.

Being funny has always mattered a lot to me. It's why I started acting - to make my friends laugh.

Essentially a joke is creating an idea, whether sonic or visual, whether it's something musical or a traditional joke.