Alan King Quotes
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My mother's sister was killed in a trolley car accident, so I was raised as one of eight with my sister and six male cousins.
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There's a charm, there's a rhythm, there's a soul to Jewish humor. When I first saw Richard Pryor perform, I told him, 'You're doing a Jewish act.'
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Modesty is not one of my virtues.
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I can't stay friends with anyone who doesn't have a passion for something; and, generally speaking, artistic people, creative people carry it right into the kitchen, too. They have a zest for life; the excitement of living. All of the great eaters I've known are also men of great wit.
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Comedy is an amazing calling. Once you get that first laugh, it's hard to turn away. Then, of course, you're hooked and you have to learn how to survive in the business.
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Comedy is a reflection. We create nothing. We set no styles, no standards. We're reflections. It's a distorted mirror in the fun house. We watch society. As society behaves, then we have the ability to make fun of it.
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One thing I've never said in my whole life is, 'Let's have dinner at a Japanese restaurant.'
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My brother is the youngest member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. And I wouldn't let him cut my nails.
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I had a sympathetic role in 'thirtysomething,' and in two weeks I'm going to do the role again. But in the movies, I just love the heavies. It's much more fun. Villains are a ball. People have been laughing at me for 50 years, so I love to sit in the back of the theater and listen to them hate me.
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You only live once, except for Shirley MacLaine.
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We get the worrywart, the hypochondriac, the money-grubbing miser, the intractable negotiator... Some would say certain of these refer to the stereotypical, or 'stage' Jew. But objectively speaking, the only crime in humor is an unfunny joke.
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Banks have a new image. Now you have 'a friend,' your friendly banker. If the banks are so friendly, how come they chain down the pens?
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My father was a dreamer - my hero. He was a smart, tough guy from Poland, a cutter of lady's handbags, an old socialist-unionist who always considered himself a failure. His big line was: 'Don't end up like me.'
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And humor has always been a weapon. You want to get even on somebody? You want to attack somebody? Make fun of them.
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Did you hear the one about the elderly Jew on his deathbed who sent for a priest, after declaring to his astonished relatives that 'I want to convert.' Asked why he would become a Catholic, after living all his life as a Jew, he answered: 'Better one of them should die than one of us.'
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I think one of the big things about comedy is the ability for the audience to identify.
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When I get up in the morning, I have to decide what I'm going to have for dinner or I can't get through the day.
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It's not easy being a father, but I've been allowed a comeback.
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Let's face it: It's difficult enough to be funny without worrying about what is going to offend whom.
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Smoked salmon is for dinner. Belly lox is for breakfast. Don't get that mixed up.
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That's the great thing about New Year's, you get to be a year older. For me, that wasn't such a joke, because my birthday was always around this time. When I was a kid, my father used to tell me that everybody was celebrating my birthday. That's what the trees are all about.
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A summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat!
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When I read Dickens for the first time, I thought he was Jewish, because he wrote about oppression and bigotry, all the things that my father talked about.
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Museums are good things, places to look and absorb and learn.