Daily Inspiration Quote by Cloris Leachman

Leachman’s line is a quiet flex disguised as a rule of thumb: real comedy doesn’t rely on perfect conditions. Not the “you had to be there” kind of funny, not the joke that needs a forgiving crowd, a buzzy room, or a viral clip to do the heavy lifting. “Funny all the time” is her standard for material and for performance craft, the belief that a truly comic idea has its own internal engine - it keeps running whether you meet it on a set at 8 a.m., in an edit suite months later, or in a rerun you didn’t choose to watch.

The subtext is professional, even a little ruthless. Leachman came up in an era of rehearsal, repetition, and reruns; she worked across live TV, studio sitcoms, and film, in roles that demanded precision but also durability. Comedy, in that world, was built to be replayed. Her claim pushes back against the modern habit of mistaking surprise for substance. A twist can hit once; a truly funny premise can survive familiarity, because it’s structured around character truth, not just timing.

There’s also an actor’s pragmatism here: if it only works when you’re “on,” it’s not funny - you’re funny. Leachman is defending comedy as writing, as rhythm, as an attitude baked into a scene’s bones. The best laughs don’t expire after the first punchline; they deepen, because each return reveals another layer of absurdity you didn’t notice the last time.