Who said this: If comedians really ran their own show, every sketch would end with a hanging, a dead baby, or an uncomfortable silence.

December 8, 2011 6:12 PM

Who said this: If comedians really ran their own show, every sketch would end with a hanging, a dead baby, or an uncomfortable silence.

I don't think it's an exact quote, it could have been anyone from Ricky Gervais to Lorne Michaels, discussing how comedians need to keep pushing the envelope to be funny, and they have dulled their sense of humor to the point well beyond where most people think funny is.

If comedians really ran their own show, every sketch would end with a hanging, a dead baby, or an uncomfortable silence.

Maybe it was in "The Aristocrats," never saw that. Maybe an interview with Terry Gross? Sounds like something I might have heard on the radio.

(A quick Google didn't bring it up, but there are a lot of vague terms in there, and that might not be the exact quote. Just seeing if this is on the top of anyone else's head. Thanks!)

posted by brownbat to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: Was it : this interview with a writer on Conan, by any chance?

"If there were a late-night comedy show completely run by comedy writers, without any interference from a host, producer, or network, that show would probably be called The Darkest and Most Impossibly Horrible Things You Can Imagine, Presented as Comedy. Every sketch would end with a gunshot or an infant’s stroller engulfed in flames, and the show would be canceled halfway through its opening titles. That’s because most comedy writers are so inured by humor that only the most shockingly toxic ideas can achieve the proper velocity to penetrate their indifference."
posted by mellifluous at 6:14 PM on December 8, 2011 [24 favorites]

Hopefully mellifluous' quote is the one you're looking for. Here's an amusing video example of this exact phenomenon.
posted by :-) at 6:21 PM on December 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Sorry if I'm getting carried away, but here's another example.
posted by :-) at 6:25 PM on December 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think mellifluous has the quote -- the interview's a relatively recent one, so it may be riffing on an older one -- and from what I know of comedy writers, it's entirely accurate. And here's another demonstration, from the inimitable Chris Morris.
posted by holgate at 6:35 PM on December 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

That moth joke cracked me up.
posted by small_ruminant at 7:04 PM on December 8, 2011

What's the most offensive joke you've ever written? 55s youtube jimmy carr.
posted by lalochezia at 8:36 AM on December 9, 2011