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"The audience's laughter does not mean that the comedy is a success"
One hundred years ago, on October 13, 1924, The Navigator hit theaters — the most successful film in the career of Buster Keaton, one of the greatest comedians of silent cinema. We studied Keaton's memoirs and interviews to find out what a good comedian does and doesn't need.
1
I grew up being thrown around. My dad thought it was comedy when I was thrown on stage. And the funny thing is, I love the fact that I had that upbringing.
2
When I got my first leading role (in the comedy Henrietta), to be honest, I was bored. My characters never fall, and for me, a film without a fall is like Niagara without water.
3
I was such a successful child actor that no one ever asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I would say, urban planning engineer. And I think I can do it. But even 50 years ago, you couldn't get a degree after one day of school.
4
One day my father looked at me and said, "Son, you should go into the entertainment industry. With that face, you'll never get a job anywhere else."
5
My face has been called "the loud face," "the frozen face," "the giant rock face," and, believe it or not, "the tragic mask." But one kind critic commented, "It almost resembles the face of Lincoln, the prototype of early America." Fascinating, important, almost beautiful. Of course, I was happy.
6
It was hard to take the war seriously. I couldn't understand why the English and French were fighting the Germans and Austrians. Vaudeville made me an internationalist. I knew German artists, Japanese jugglers, Chinese magicians, Italian tenors, Swiss yodelers, Irish, Jewish, Dutch comedians, English dancers, Indian dervishes. I thought people were the same all over the world.
7
I think I have never been arrogant in front of the public because I have always believed that the job of an artist is to make his work easy to understand. In fact, the audience has only one duty: to pay the entrance fee.
8
Wealth can change the way people treat you and distract you. It's like inheriting a harem or a zoo. Millionaires are dignified. Maybe it's because other people look at you thoughtfully. But wealth certainly takes away the incentive to clown around.
9
I don't believe in tears, but people have a lot more fun when they don't have a stupid smile on their face. Anyway, I get kicked and pushed so much that I don't even have time to laugh.
10
We all have an outrageous side. Geniuses often don't notice it. Gravediggers, populist politicians, and tailors notice it, but Einstein can't.
11
I am not a genius. Wearing clown shoes and a flat hat does not make you a genius.
12
If you want to make people laugh, you have to cry. Or at least you have to be suffering enough to cry.
13
I think I've lived the happiest and most successful life I've ever lived. I guess I think that because I never expected to get so much out of it.
14
Just because the audience laughs doesn't mean the comedy is a success.
15
For a story to have value, it has to resonate. But I never asked for that.
16
The best way to get laughs is to create tension and then release it with comedy. Laughter always requires an element of surprise, and that is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. The audience has seen a lot. But tension that has crossed over into absurdity always works.
17
If you want to make people laugh in a human way, it has to be based on real life. Especially if you want to evoke some emotion in them.
18
I realized that as a comedian, if you want the audience to laugh on stage, you can't laugh yourself. So I think the more serious I take things, the more I laugh.
19
A friend asked me what I enjoyed most about being an actor in my entire life. There were so many great things to do that I had to think about them. But in the end I answered. Like everyone else, I like being surrounded by happy faces.