Source: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006), Ch. 9, p. 163
“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
"Creator — A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh." — H.L. Mencken, A Book of Burlesques (1920), p. 203. and A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949), Ch. 30
Misattributed
“[referring to a suggestive comment aimed at the audience] You too, ladies.”
Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…
citation needed
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005–2014), Commonly repeated
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …
Source: 1960s, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), p. 96
“American audiences are just the same as anybody else. Except a bit more boring.”
Sid Vicious (1957–1979) English bassist and vocalist
Reported in Julien Temple, The Filth and the Fury: The Sex Pistols (2000), p. 207.
Robert Pinsky (1940) American poet, editor, literary critic, academic.
The Art of Poetry - interview 1995 with Downing & Kunitz
“If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?”
George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath
74 <br class="br"> The Gardener http://www.spiritualbee.com/love-poems-by-tagore/ (1915)
V.S. Pritchett (1900–1997) British writer and critic
As quoted in "V.S. Pritchett Himself" http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/06/18/specials/theroux-pritchett.html?_r=1&oref=slogin by Paul Theroux in The New York Times (22 May 1977)
“Audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in.”
Tom Stoppard book Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Source: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
