A biography for Soupy Saleshasn’t been written yet.
“Being funny is a very serious business.”
“Although I've never been to a psychiatrist, I think I've probably been analyzed as much as any person in the United States.”
“I've seen eras come and go.”
“I miss TV. I miss the creative outlet, the energy, the attention.”
“As long as you're happy and have a roof over your mouth, you're in great shape.”
“I like to get up in the morning and eat a little whitefish and a bagel.”
“One of my younger fans made the mistake of heaving a frozen pie at me before it defrosted. It caught me in the neck and I dropped like a pile of bricks.”
“I'm a college graduate.”
“I've always been outrageous, but never in bad taste.”
“I've done quite a few television shows in Toronto, and it's a great city.”
“Very few people have been around as long as I have and are still working. They come and go, but I always work. It's what I'm about.”
“I did the first TV dance show six months before they ever had 'American Bandstand.' But my luck was that the owner of the station said, 'Who wants to see a bunch of teenagers dance? Get that show off the air.”
“One woman wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission complaining that I was teaching kids to steal.”
“You cannot be dumb and be in this business.”
“To perform stand-up comedy in a club, that's the most exciting profession in the world. You're like Spartacus going into battle because every show is a different audience. And you're not hiding behind anything; you're yourself out there and being judged on your own merits.”
“Most of my stuff requires no thought at all.”
“I just wanted to do the funniest show I could do. It just so happens that when you put a guy out there with a sweater and a bow tie, it becomes a kids' show.”
“On the show-biz ladder, comedy may only be the fifth rung, but it's the most popular.”
“Our shows were not actually written, but they were precisely thought out. But the greatest thing about the show, and I think the reason for its success, was that it seemed undisciplined.”
“When you're 24, 25, you're fearless.”