As a tie-in to The List: Divine Comedy on page 16 of DRIVEN’s Comedy Issue, we present more of the silver screen’s top comic actors musing on the serious pursuit of cheap laffs.
Seth Rogen
“I don’t think that comedy can ever go too far. Comedy has to push the limits. I know there is no formula for that, but just being aware of it is part of doing my job.”
Isla Fisher 
“Believe it or not, I went to a school for comedy. I actually trained at a theater school in Paris where [...] we focus on comedy and mime. Technically, I definitely learned the skill set; but personally, I’ve always been someone who loves to tap into their inner idiot. I’ve always been the clown of my family and I’ve always just enjoyed mucking about. I’m fortunate that I get paid to do that.”
Samuel L. Jackson 
“I’m mostly known for doing dramatic films like Pulp Fiction and Sin City, so I jumped at the chance to do The Spirit, because it was a big live-action cartoon… very Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny, kind of hitting each other with big things and people don’t get hurt. You couldn’t wish for any kind of better comedy to do.”
Will Arnett
“The fact that television moves faster lends itself more to comedy than film does. With movies, you have to wait around a lot and there’s more relighting and trying to keep the jokes fresh. In TV, you have five days to shoot an episode and you just have to get it right, quickly. That urgency lends itself to comedy: It taps into that part of creativity that wants to make people laugh.”
Renée Zellweger (On the filming of New in Town)
“It’s hard to do a comedy in the cold. You laugh, but for the wrong reasons. There’s something about your teeth chattering from the cold that’s funny—to you. So, I laughed until my eyelids were frozen together from tears, even though what I was saying was supposed to be somewhat serious.”
Rachel Weisz
“The key to both drama and comedy is to be naturalistic. There really isn’t any difference: it’s about commitment. There you go, that’s it — that’s my master class. I’m finished!”
Ricky Gervais 
“It’s scary when you’re on stage, live, trying to make 5,000 people laugh. You never know how it’s going to go. With TV or films you get another go at it. What’s scary is that you don’t want it to be a flop. I’ve already had a taste of that, and I thought I wouldn’t care, but I did.”
Will Smith
“I wouldn’t do just anything for a laugh. I’d never jump out of an airplane, even if it’s funny. No way. I’m a very, very practical seat-belt wearer. I keep it real simple in real life.”
Rainn Wilson (On playing an evil alien for laughs in Monsters Vs. Aliens)
“Even if you are basically a nice guy, we all have an evil side, and it’s easy to access. I definitely have a big ego, and I’m able to tap into that. And I’m actually part alien. Like some people are one-third Cherokee, I’m one-third alien.”
Anne Hathaway 
“All good comedy is painful and horrifying to actually do.”
(Top photo, from wikimedia: Mosaic of From the Baths of Decius on the Aventine Hill, Rome, by “antmoose”.)
