The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- True comedy relies on the shared experience of laughter among an audience, not just the performance.
- In plain terms
- You need to be part of the audience to understand why something is funny.
- What can you take from it?
- Shared laughter creates comedy success.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes laughter contagious?
- Can you judge comedy alone?
Another view
Some comedy works even when experienced alone.
More from James Thurber
Some American writers who have known each other for years have never met in the daytime or when both were sober.
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