"Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic, and so am I"

Oscar Levant’s witty line, “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I,” blends humor and mental health in a way that's by turns revealing, poignant, and disarming. The phrase begins with the traditional rhyme, a familiar poetic structure that evokes innocence and predictability. The shift to “I’m schizophrenic, and so am I” shatters this pattern with an unexpected twist, creating a moment of surprise and reflection.

Levant uses self-deprecating humor, a hallmark of his public persona, to comment on his own struggles with mental health. He refers to schizophrenia, a condition characterized by disordered thinking, altered perceptions, and sometimes a feeling of split identity. By suggesting he is both himself and another, Levant points to the internal fragmentation and duality that can accompany mental illness. The repetition in “so am I” plays on the cultural (though not clinical) misunderstanding of schizophrenia as “split personality,” using it for comic effect while also revealing the alienation and self-division sufferers may feel.

Levant’s quip acts simultaneously as a shield and an invitation. By joking about his own instability, he invites the audience into his personal experience while also managing the discomfort that often surrounds mental illness. There is courage in making oneself the subject of the joke, and Levant’s humor becomes a way to assert control over his narrative, defying stigma by calling attention to his challenges with honesty and wit.

Yet there’s a bittersweet undercurrent. The laughter the quote invites is not merely at the randomness of the joke, but at the uncomfortable truth behind it, how the mind can be both united and divided, how identity can oscillate, and how suffering and humor can coexist. Levant’s line encapsulates the complexity of living with mental health challenges and the power of humor as a coping mechanism.