Time & Perspective Quote by David Zucker

Purity is the joke, and Zucker knows it. By framing casting as an almost monastic commitment to seriousness, he exposes the sly engine of his brand of comedy: the more earnestly the world is played, the harder the gags detonate. The line lands because it treats “no comedians” like an artistic principle rather than a production choice, then instantly undercuts itself with the one exception - Jimmy Walker - justified not by talent or fame but by the smallness of the role: “the gas station attendant.” It’s a demotion disguised as logic, and that casual bluntness is its own punchline.

The subtext is a manifesto from the Airplane!/Naked Gun school: don’t wink. In an era when comedians often carried material through personality, Zucker’s “purists” wanted the opposite - performers who wouldn’t telegraph the joke. A comedian’s face comes preloaded with expectation; the audience anticipates a punchline before the script earns it. Casting straight actors keeps the frame rigid, so absurdity reads as reality, and reality is what makes the absurdity funny.

Walker slipping through isn’t just trivia; it signals the tightrope. One recognizable comic is acceptable if he’s quarantined in a throwaway beat, a controlled dose of “comedy” that won’t contaminate the movie’s deadpan ecosystem. Zucker’s shrugging “there’s nothing wrong with it” is the politely savage part: it’s not moral judgment, it’s tonal discipline. The joke isn’t about comedians failing; it’s about comedy being so fragile it must be protected from the people who are supposedly best at it.