A Quote by Billy Connolly

I've always been fascinated by the difference between the jokes you can tell your friends but you can't tell to an audience. There's a fine line you have to tread because you don't know who is out there in the auditorium. A lot of people are too easily offended.

Billy Connolly

Quote Topics

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Quote Author

Billy Connolly
Scottish - Comedian
Born: November 24, 1942

I've told Michael Jackson jokes. If you got really technical, you could say those are jokes about child molestation. You could, if you got technical. A lot of this is just selective outrage because honestly, the audience are the ones that tell us that something shouldn't be spoken. The audience lets us know. And I've never, in my almost 30 years of being a comedian, seen a comedian continue to tell a joke that the audience doesn't respond to. I've never seen it.

Chris Rock

I always tell young filmmakers, don't go make a feature. Make a short. When you're ready to make a feature, people will tell you. Your friends will tell you. Your fans will tell you. Festivals will tell you. Listen to your audience.

Jay Duplass

There are jokes I know I want to tell, and there's sort of a rough order, but usually I try to change it up every show, to improvise and talk with the audience. I think when you tell jokes, if you're not careful, you can end up telling the whole list of jokes and then that's it. And that can get a little boring.

Demetri Martin

A lot of the time the experts, the people who are supposed to be able to tell you what to do, will tell you that you can't do something even when you know you can. And a lot of the time it's your friends ... who tell you you can do it.

Mark Zuckerberg

What shall I say? I must tread a fine line between glaciosity and friendlinosity. With just a hint of 'you don't know what you are missing, my fine-feathered friend.

Louise Rennison

The difference between writing where you know where to draw the line and writing where you're being way too mean is whether you can tell that the writer is not talking to family or friends anymore. Generally, if you say something bad about somebody on stage, you need to say two bad things about yourself. A lot of times, I think I'm the worst person in the room.

David Sedaris

We have some straight journalism, but then we have opinion and perspective. And I think a lot of people, especially young people, don't know how to tell the difference, and aren't motivated to tell the difference.

Susan Rice

I've always been terrible on regular sitcoms with lots of jokes. I don't know how to tell jokes.

Rainn Wilson

There's a very interesting article or symposium to be written on just the real difference between comedy filmmaking and non-comedy. Because, you know, when you work in comedy, you depend on audience screenings to tell you about your movie.

Shawn Anthony Levy

I make comedies and I always try... I don't try but I allow to have at least 5% of the jokes or have some jokes that I know will be understood by only about 5% of the audience. It's that guy in the corner who gets it and laughs. But he has to have his jokes too. That's part of my audience. Part of my audience is the people who will only get certain things.

Alexander Payne

The difference between ambition and discontent is quite a fine line and sometimes it is hard to tell which is which and which you are feeling!

Rachel Field

I never feel like I've been pushed towards a certain thing, but now, at 26, I do feel like I have integrity over my output, you know? There's a fine line between saying, 'You can't tell me what I can and can't do,' and taking on board people's opinions.

Cassie Ventura

How forthright does the audience want the broadcasters to be? Because when you tell your truth, there's a lot of anger that comes out. I think it's a good question to ask TV people [executives] too. How much truth do they want to be told? How much truth does the league want told? Because the truth isn't just a positive truth. If you're going to tell the truth, you would be telling a lot of positive and some negative.

Jeff Van Gundy

If you think of the people who are funny in your life, you'll note it's not because they tell jokes, it's because of their character. If you develop characters, then you'll know them, and you'll know how they'll speak. The comedy will come out of the character.

Anne Beatts

Every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. Once they realize that we are indeed their children, that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and all. And once you do, you will feel so much better