Skip to main content

Parenting & Family Quote by Anna Faris

"One of the things that comedy has given me over the years is a really good ability to laugh at myself and to not take things that don't matter too much too seriously. I feel that very little offends me anymore and I'm really grateful for that because I think I was a pretty uptight little kid"

About this Quote

Comedy, in Anna Faris's telling, isn’t a genre so much as a coping technology: a way to metabolize embarrassment before it hardens into identity. The line’s quiet flex is that it frames humor as training, not temperament. “Ability to laugh at myself” isn’t self-deprecation for applause; it’s a practiced skill that turns the spotlight inward without turning it cruel. For a performer whose career has often leaned on big, game-on physical comedy, the subtext is strikingly controlled: she’s describing how to keep your ego porous in an industry built to inflate it, puncture it, then sell the shrapnel back to you as a narrative.

The phrase “things that don’t matter” does heavy lifting. It’s less about becoming unbothered than becoming selective. Faris draws a boundary between real harm and the constant ambient noise of judgment, critique, and social friction. “Very little offends me anymore” reads as a survival adaptation to visibility: when your job involves being watched, misread, memed, and reviewed, outrage becomes an expensive habit.

Then she pivots to childhood: “a pretty uptight little kid.” That’s the reveal that makes the whole statement work. It reframes the breezy gratitude as earned, not innate. She’s not claiming invulnerability; she’s describing a conversion from anxiety to resilience, with comedy as the bridge. In a culture addicted to taking sides, her point is almost radical: loosen your grip, keep your dignity, save your seriousness for what actually deserves it.

Quote Details

TopicSelf-Improvement
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Faris, Anna. (2026, January 16). One of the things that comedy has given me over the years is a really good ability to laugh at myself and to not take things that don't matter too much too seriously. I feel that very little offends me anymore and I'm really grateful for that because I think I was a pretty uptight little kid. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-things-that-comedy-has-given-me-over-138304/

Chicago Style
Faris, Anna. "One of the things that comedy has given me over the years is a really good ability to laugh at myself and to not take things that don't matter too much too seriously. I feel that very little offends me anymore and I'm really grateful for that because I think I was a pretty uptight little kid." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-things-that-comedy-has-given-me-over-138304/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"One of the things that comedy has given me over the years is a really good ability to laugh at myself and to not take things that don't matter too much too seriously. I feel that very little offends me anymore and I'm really grateful for that because I think I was a pretty uptight little kid." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-of-the-things-that-comedy-has-given-me-over-138304/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Anna Add to List
Anna Faris on Comedy, Humility, and Self-Laughter
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Anna Faris (born November 29, 1976) is a Actress from USA.

17 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes