“There is no more terrible fate for a comedian than to be taken seriously.”

To live in Australia permanently is rather like going to a party and dancing all night with one’s mother.

The truth is deafening, no matter how softly it is spoken.

If you have to explain satire to someone, you might as well give up.

I’ve decided the secret of parenting is benevolent neglect.I put my family last. Because if you don’t, if you put them first, they never thank you. You’ll never get a word of thanks from them.

It’s an old Aboriginal word meaning ‘Let’s get together and have fun’. They gave us the word because they had no further need for it.

Sex is the most beautiful thing that can take place between a happily married man and his secretary.

He’s very, very well-known. I’d say he’s world-famous in Melbourne.

If you can’t laugh at yourself, you may be missing the colossal joke of the century.

Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.

New Zealand is a country of thirty thousand million sheep, three million of whom think they are human.

I think a lot of people think that we [comedians] are nerveless people in the theatre, that we don’t feel that kind of terror which traditionally anyone who has to do any public speaking feels. It’s worse for actors, because our livelihood depends on it.

I like people who are slightly unhygienic. A little grubbiness isn’t so bad. BO chic it should be called.

I’m an immensely shy and vulnerable woman. My husband has never seen me naked. Nor has he expressed the least desire to do so.

Everyone had a Japanese maple, although after Pearl Harbor most of these were patriotically poisoned, ringbarked and extirpated.

Most of my contemporaries at school entered the World of Business, the logical destiny of bores.

My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet. She’s now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia

When you’re a young comedian the first thing you want to do is get a laugh.

You do not have to sleep with a comedian to learn what you’re doing. Male comedians will not like that advice, but it is the truth.

Ever since I was a kid, I just loved those comedians on TV who would just have fun with the language.

All of my comedian friends are some of the best joke writers in the world.

I was considered by my peers to be a good comedian. So that’s all I ever strived to do was get some recognition from my peers.

I begged the universe to make me a famous comedian, and it did. So I tend not to ask for any more.

My biggest pet peeve, I guess, is other comedians criticizing Larry the Cable Guy.

I really understood a lot more about comedy after listening to Bill Hicks, who died at 32 years old. He’s probably the best comedian who ever lived. Although you can’t say that because of Carlin, Cosby and Pryor.