Happiness Quote by David Hyde Pierce

Hyde Pierce is confessing to a very actorly sin: weaponizing cleverness against the play. Laertes is often treated as Hamlet-lite, a hot-blooded foil who rushes in where Hamlet spirals. It’s tempting to mine him for “business” laughs - a raised eyebrow here, a self-aware snap there - because audiences reward the release valve. Hyde Pierce admits he did exactly that, squeezing every chuckle available, then realizing the joke was on him.

The line hinges on a brutal reversal: “found every single laugh” sounds like craft, even virtuosity, until the kicker lands - “you really shouldn’t find any at all.” That “shouldn’t” isn’t moralism; it’s an artistic diagnosis. Laertes isn’t comic relief. He’s grief accelerated into violence, a man whose sincerity is supposed to feel dangerous, not adorable. If the audience is laughing, they’re protected. The scene’s stakes leak out.

There’s also a sly self-portrait in the phrasing. Hyde Pierce, famous for precision timing and urbane comedy, is acknowledging how a performer’s brand can colonize classical roles. The subtext: charisma is not the same as truth. Shakespeare can survive a wink, but Laertes can’t; he has to read as real enough to make Hamlet’s hesitation look like a luxury.

It’s a compact lesson in restraint: the actor’s job isn’t to win the room moment-to-moment. It’s to serve the play’s temperature, even when your instincts - and the crowd - beg for air.