A Quote by Paul Merton

If you became a comedian in the '80s, you had to work the circuit and make people laugh. Canned laughter is cheating.

Paul Merton

Quote Topics

Became Canned Cheating Circuit Comedian Had Laugh Laughter Make People Work

Quote Author

Paul Merton
British - Comedian
Born: July 9, 1957

I get very confused about being called a comedian, because when you say 'I'm a comedian,' people expect you to crack a joke. Maybe I use laughter and humour to make people think. I don't know what you call that - a humourist? A satirist? A pessimistic comedian? I don't know. Satirists can be very dark.

Bassem Youssef

A hero has to become a comedian to do a comic role but a comedian does not have to do anything. People laugh at him anyway. Even when I attend funerals, people look at my face and laugh.

Johnny Lever

If I'd been doing the cabaret circuit or the club circuit or the Saturday night telly that was around in the 80s, I wouldn't be around any more, because those shows have fallen by the wayside. So I have had to keep changing.

Les Dennis

Probably one of the reasons I became a comedian is that you get a chance to control when people laugh at you.

Ben Miller

I am a product... I'm a comedian. I'm not curing cancer. In the end, I tell jokes. I make people laugh. I make sense out of ridiculous situations, but in the end, it's all about laughter. It's all about your cheek hurting, your stomach hurting.

Carlos Mencia

I'm an entertainer first. But I do as a stand up comedian, the way for me to evolve is to make a difference, to make people laugh and learn and do something different. Because there's too many comedians out there just making people laugh. And anybody can do that.

Ralphie May

People are too lazy and too stupid to think for themselves that we've got sitcoms with canned laughter that lets you know when to laugh if you're too stupid to know when the joke is.

Marilyn Manson

I think the job of a comedian is to make people laugh, but also challenge them to laugh at things they didn't know they could until now.

Ricky Gervais

You know, a comedian's comedian is just that - it's a guy who's original and funny and can make comics laugh.

Jim Norton

I really hate sitcoms on television with canned laughter and stuff. What really makes me laugh is the real-life stuff. I've got a dry sense of humor.

Katie Price

A poet or a comedian can say what's on the mind of people. They should be funny. They should make you laugh. It may be so truthful that it hurts, but it makes you laugh.

Russell Simmons

I'm not a comedian, but I do make people laugh. I'm good at it.

Miriam Margolyes

As a comedian, I'm forced to have a tough skin. Until people laugh, they are detractors. You walk into a new audience where nobody knows you, they go: 'Make us laugh. Show us what you're made of. Prove why we should be listening to you.'

Trevor Noah

I'm an entertainer, not a commentator. If you're a comedian your job is to make people laugh.

Johnny Carson

I always was trying to make people laugh as a kid. I was a big fan of Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner. I watched them and I remember feeling as a child, when I heard the laughter they got, a little jealous that they made someone laugh like that.