Paul Provenza Quotes

#1. Social media allows comics to bypass the gatekeepers and connect directly with people who will want to come see them.

Paul Provenza

#2. Children in a third world country. That's how we spread democracy.

Paul Provenza

#3. I actually had to leave the country for infractions to fall off my record.

Paul Provenza

#4. There is no democrats or republicans, right or left, red state or blue state. We are all one. And we are all unified against Mexicans.

Paul Provenza

#5. As a comedian, I'm like one of those on-the-scene reporters. I will actually go and try to find disasters so I can write jokes as the disasters unfold.

Paul Provenza

#6. If I had the flag that Betsy Ross worked so hard on, I wouldn't destroy it. I'd put it up on EBay because it's gotta be worth some serious coin. And that is the American way.

Paul Provenza

#7. I actually go to church. I know it's hard for you to believe. It's only because you know that Jesus on the cross? I love his smooth hairless body.

Paul Provenza

#8. How many impressionist painters painted the same damned thing? How many actors have played the same part in renditions of a play or dancers do the same dances,

Paul Provenza

#9. We look at the ancient Greeks with their gods on a mountain top throwing lightning bolts and say, 'Those ancient Greeks. They were so silly. So primitive and naive. Not like our religions. We have burning bushes talking to people and guys walking on water. We're ... sophisticated.'

Paul Provenza

#10. We didn't choose the joke because it's filthy! We chose it because of the structure!

Paul Provenza

#11. Career is a mindset. The wrong mindset. Career is linear. Especially when you are trapped in the TV or film world. The next thing you do has always got to be bigger, or it is perceived as a failure.

Paul Provenza

#12. Comedy is inherently subversive because it turns the normal reality on its head. The art form is all about these questions and contradictions. In comedy, we're dealing with language that we all understand, but words can have a dozen other things around them that alter or affect meaning.

Paul Provenza

#13. When I was a young comic just starting out, I was very cautious, as I didn't want to alienate people. George Carlin's bravery became a benchmark. I became perfectly fine with alienating some people in the audience. That just comes with the territory.

Paul Provenza

#14. George Carlin maintained that anything and everything is funny given the right context. This context also includes your own history with a given group. What I can get away with and where I can go is not a problem with my audience because they know me.

Paul Provenza

#15. Some performers are brilliant comedians, some are genius musicians, and some just make you happy to be alive. THE BOBS are all of that - and then some.

Paul Provenza

#16. I know jazz is completely un-American. But the reason why America doesn't like it is because it's not funny. We [americans] have made jazz funny.

Paul Provenza