Some people are only funny when they try to be serious.

You can pretend to be serious but you can't pretend to be witty.

It is not possible to have fun when you try.

What we eventually run up against are the forces of humourlessness, and let me assure you that the humourless as a bunch don't just not know what's funny, they don't know what's serious. They have no common sense, either, and shouldn't be trusted with anything.

One who is serious all day will never have a good time, while one who is frivolous all day will never establish a household.

[On Boris Johnson] Look, this is a joke but this is not a joke. Somebody has to call a halt to the gathering pretence that if only you're sufficiently comical in politics you can laugh everything off. Somebody has to remind us that it's not enough for those who seek to govern us simply to be: they have to do. Incompetence is not funny. Policy vacuum is not funny. Administrative sloth is not funny. Breaking promises is not funny. A careless disregard for the truth is not funny. Advising old mates planning to beat somebody up is not funny. Abortions and gagging orders are not funny. Creeping ambition in a jester's cap is not funny. Vacuity posing as merriment, cynicism posing as savviness, a wink and smile covering for betrayal ... these things are not funny.

Never try and make a comedian laugh with one of his own jokes.

...without intelligence, there can be no humour.

People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they're not laughing now.

They all laughed when I said I'd become a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now.

The source of all humor is not laughter, but sorrow.

Sin inteligencia no puede haber humor.

Strict seriousness was far more dangerous than any joke.

Humor could not flourish in a wholly serious and rational atmosphere.