Norman Wisdom Quotes

It is quite possible for the vulgar to be funny, but to succeed, it must rise to a certain genius.

I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night.

Rob and I both have this strange sense of comedy which always involves us being the butt of our own jokes.

Comedy is created when someone is trying very earnestly to do what he feels is the right thing to do at that moment.

I think that a big part of comedy is being made fun of, and it is looking silly or looking stupid.

Optimism isn't funny unless you are laughing at the person, whereas extreme pessimism is extremely funny. It's exaggeration.

Sometimes a witticism has no truth behind it.

I've always thought something that makes you laugh, it makes you laugh because there's a little bit of truth to it.

There is certainly a higher percentage of wit in British comedy than in American comedy. What always tickles me is the way in which people try to use their intellect to get themselves out of tricky situations but never quite manage to do so - much to their enormous embarrassment.

Only the pun remains. The pun, beloved of Shakespeare, children and tabloid headline-writers, is normally eschewed in the modern, sophisticated circles in which I move.

Comedically, unpleasantness is great fun.

I always believe that funny is serious and serious is funny. You don't really need a distinction between them.

Incongruity is the mainspring of laughter.

It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington.

What makes me laugh? Richard Nixon always made me laugh.

Everything is ironic to me. There are moments I find hysterical, but I'm probably the only one who would find that, except for a few people.

I remember having this friend in school who said she didn't like the Beach Boys. And in that moment I knew we couldn't be friends anymore.

No subject is unsuitable for comedy.

A sitcom isn't usually the right tool for satire.

You can parody almost anything.

When you take a character seriously, there's more room for comedy because you're not aware of how absurd you are.

Everything can be satirized.

I think puns are not just the lowest form of wit, but the lowest form of human behavior.

Humor is everywhere in that there's irony in just about anything a human does.

The best jokes resonate because they uncover ridiculousness in our daily lives, reveal the silliness - and sometimes sadness - of things we see every day.