Ian Frazier

"Russian humor is to adapt or make some sense or nonsense out of the insanity of their lives."

"I think what is important for things to be funny is if you the listener, or the reader, get a chance to supply the humor of it yourself."

"I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces."

"People in Russia adapt to misery by a deep, deep humor."

"Writing humor for me is more like a watchful-ness. You have to watch. When you say something funny, or someone else does, it's more like you wait for the piece."

"With reporting, if you work hard, you can usually pull something out. But writing humor doesn't respond to working hard, necessarily. I mean, you could just sit there and look at the page all day and maybe something will come."