"If you work at comedy too laboriously, you can kill what’s funny in the joke." ― Richard Russo Topic(s): Funny More From Richard Russo "If my career continues along its current arc, people will probably look at me and see a writer who is obsessed with the relationship between rich and poor and with how the rich somehow or other always manage to betray the poor, even when they don’t mean to." "At the risk of appearing disingenuous, I don’t really think of myself as ‘writing humor.’ I’m simply reporting on the world I observe, which is frequently hilarious." "My dad had this rock hard body and would work 12- to 13-hour days. The guys he worked with were scrap-iron guys. Nobody on that road crew had read a book in 10 years, but there was something about the way they lived I really admired." More In Funny "I’m one of those hovering mothers and I know it’s really important to have an independent child, so I’m trying to back off, but it’s hard. I love him so much, and he’s so funny and cute to me."― Selma Blair "We’ve got a bunch of new writers now who tell me they grew up watching The Simpsons. It’s bizarre, and they’re writing some very funny stuff."― Matt Groening "Someone told me that when they go to Vermont, they feel like they’re home. I’m that way at Saks."― Caroline Rhea