Steve Allen

“Dark energy is perhaps the biggest mystery in physics.”

“Totalitarianism is patriotism institutionalized.”

“Humor is a social lubricant that helps us get over some of the bad spots.”

“There used to be an art form called the 'comedy of manners.' Why aren't comedies of manners made now in this country? The answer is simple. We no longer have manners to speak of.”

“In general, the straight line of a joke sets up a premise, an expectation. Then the funny ending - the punch line - in a sense contradicts the original assumption by refusing to follow what had seemed a reasonable train of thought. Many jokes involve that simple matter of leaping outside what had appeared to be the rules of the game at the moment.”

“I was in sixth grade the first time I was required to speak in front of an audience. I had terrible stage fright and felt quite ill, in fact, by the time I had to give my little talk to students in another class across the hall.”

“Ours is a government of checks and balances. The Mafia and crooked businessmen make out checks, and the politicians and other compromised officials improve their bank balances.”

“I personally find it difficult to accept that there could be anyone on earth insensitive to the comic abilities of Laurel and Hardy, Sid Caesar, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, or Martin Short. But no matter who the comic entertainer is, there is always at least a minority prepared to say, 'What's all the excitement about? He doesn't seem funny to me.'”

“If the Old Testament were a reliable guide in the matter of capital punishment, half the people in the United States would have to be killed tomorrow.”

“If there is a God, the phrase that must disgust him is - holy war.”

“In a rational society we would want our presidents to be teachers. In our actual society we insist they be cheerleaders.”

“We will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that we have no sense of humor.”

“In those of us who have the mysterious ability to amuse others, it is usually the case that even before we were aware of our own abilities, we had become practiced at laughing more than other children in our social circle.”

“Much of the best humor is found in the frequently tragic reality of human experience.”

“What people will - or will not - laugh at is mainly determined by their social conditioning.”

“If we do not know what humor is, that may be because we do not know what humankind is.”

“Given a little time for the pain to subside, dreadful experiences often can be the basis of funny jokes or stories.”

“Many comedians and comedy writers have shared the childhood experience of learning to joke to protect themselves from neighborhood bullies when challenge or physical defense were not among the sensible options.”

“To the extent that there is anything properly identifiable as dignity in our society today, our present writers of comedy would be inclined to treat it as a proper object of ridicule.”

“It often seems that, for whatever strange reasons, comedians, in addition to their formal performances, have more comic experiences in real life than other people do.”