Some favorite quotes
Conan O’Brien talking about his family’s advice to him
“It’s all well and good to be funny but if you have no character it’s not worth a damn.” YouTube
Mike Reiss on finding the joke via Springfield Confidential
I’m not a spiritual man. I don’t believe in ghosts or astrology or reincarnation. And if the Dalai Lama is so godlike, why does he need glasses? Although I’m Jewish, I’d happily eat a ham sandwich. With mayo. In a synagogue. On Yom Kippur. I have only one supernatural belief: No matter what the setup, there’s always a perfect joke for it. It may not be a great joke, but it’s always the right joke for the moment: it’s there in the universe, waiting to be discovered.
On Phil Hartman via Conan
As Conan O’Brien pointed out, “There’s no difference between Phil Hartman and a Phil Hartman robot.”
Mike Meyers:
I think silliness is the natural state. Serious is a bridge between silliness.
Hayao Miyazaki:
“Do everything by hand, even when using the computer.”
Playboy interview with Kubrick:
Playboy: If life is so purposeless, do you feel it’s worth living?
Kubrick: The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism — and their assumption of immortality. As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But, if he’s reasonably strong — and lucky — he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s elan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.