I watched a rerun on television of a 1960s comedy programme called 'Mr Ed', which was about a talking horse. Judging by the quality of the jokes, I would guess that Mr Ed wrote his own material.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker observes that a talking horse show had such poor jokes that the animal must have written them.
- In plain terms
- The jokes in the show were so bad the horse probably wrote them.
- What can you take from it?
- Poor quality work often invites jokes about who or what created it.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who is responsible for bad art?
- When does critique become a joke?
Another view
It dismisses the human effort behind the production.
More from Bill Bryson
I assume he was descended from apes like all the rest of us, but clearly in his case it had been a fairly gentle slope.
Permalink to quote #5 Just down the road stood a little town, which I shall call Dullard lest the people recognize themselves and take me to court or come to my house and batter me …
Permalink to quote #7 I had to calm down because a state trooper pulled up alongside me at a traffic light and began looking at me with that sort of casual disdain you often get whe…
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
This is The Tonight Show. I can't tell you too much about it, other than the fact that this program is going to go on forever.
Steve AllenSteve Allen quote #1 When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite y…
Newton N. MinowNewton N. Minow quote #1 Nobody and nothing beats The Simpsons. Even after all this time, it's still the best satire since Monty Python.
Alice CooperAlice Cooper quote #2