"If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs"
About this Quote
Then Fey yanks the padding out. “Comedy writers” laugh at the version that’s morally radioactive: an actual old lady. The line isn’t advocating cruelty; it’s diagnosing the profession’s dark reflex. Writers spend their lives turning pain into structure, scanning for surprise, transgression, and the cleanest possible break from the expected setup. The “actual” is the needle twist: it punctures the respectable myth that comedians are just professional joy merchants. Under the hood is a ruthless appetite for escalation and a willingness to stare at the ugliest version of the gag because it exposes how jokes are built.
The subtext is also a jab at comedic elitism. There’s a tiny tribe that prides itself on laughing at what’s too far, not because they’re braver, but because they’re over-trained in the logic of bits: heighten, heighten, detonate. Coming from Fey - a writer-performer who navigated network standards, writers’ rooms, and public scrutiny - the line reads as self-indictment and industry portrait. It’s funny because it’s true-ish, and uncomfortable because it’s true-ish on purpose.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fey, Tina. (2026, January 17). If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-make-an-audience-laugh-you-dress-a-76687/
Chicago Style
Fey, Tina. "If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-make-an-audience-laugh-you-dress-a-76687/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-want-to-make-an-audience-laugh-you-dress-a-76687/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
