--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Chekhov, when it's done well and you're…" description: "\"Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can actually be quite funny.\" — Vera Farmiga" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg" --- # Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can… ![“Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can actually be quite funny.” quote by Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg) > “Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can actually be quite funny.” [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When handled skillfully, drama can produce genuine humor. **In simple terms:** Seriousness can be funny. Key Takeaway Embrace humor in serious work. Themes drama humor artistic balance Mood thoughtful lighthearted Type quote inspirational When to use this quote - theatre - film - creative writing - performance art Key Concepts tone shifting audience perception Questions to Reflect On - How to balance humor and gravity? - What risks does humor bring? A Different Perspective Humor may undercut serious messages if misused. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comedy/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) ## Related quotes > [A lot of my early pictures are, I think, quite funny. And these days I tend to look for comedy more and more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-levitt/a-lot-of-my-early-pictures-are-i-think-quite-funny-and-these-days-i/) [Helen Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-levitt/) > [Of course, the wind sort of swept up and the music was flying around in mid air and they were trying to play off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-wood/of-course-the-wind-sort-of-swept-up-and-the-music-was-flying-around/) [Roy Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-wood/) > [My dad has no idea about football to be honest. It's quite funny, but it's nice too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-white/my-dad-has-no-idea-about-football-to-be-honest-it-s-quite-funny-but/) [Ben White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-white/) > [People get starstruck when they meet me, it's quite funny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-lloyd-pack/people-get-starstruck-when-they-meet-me-it-s-quite-funny/) [Roger Lloyd-Pack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-lloyd-pack/) > [The 'Celeb Juice' job was never mine - people just guessed - but it was quite funny to watch the rumours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-atack/the-celeb-juice-job-was-never-mine-people-just-guessed-but-it-was/) [Emily Atack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-atack/) > [It's not surprising that you wouldn't see that side of me on television, but in real life I find the world to be quite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-ifill/it-s-not-surprising-that-you-wouldn-t-see-that-side-of-me-on/) [Gwen Ifill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-ifill/) > [“There's nothing quite as funny as someone else's misery - Cassel Sharpe”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-black/there-s-nothing-quite-as-funny-as-someone-else-s-misery-cassel-sharpe/) [Holly Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-black/) > [I've known for quite a while that I was a funny girl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niecy-nash/i-ve-known-for-quite-a-while-that-i-was-a-funny-girl/) [Niecy Nash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niecy-nash/) > [I'm actually quite conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peta-wilson/i-m-actually-quite-conservative/) [Peta Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peta-wilson/) > [I am actually quite boring!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tessa-virtue/i-am-actually-quite-boring/) [Tessa Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tessa-virtue/) > [I'm actually quite a scaredy cat, myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takashi-miike/i-m-actually-quite-a-scaredy-cat-myself/) [Takashi Miike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takashi-miike/) > [I don't show it but I'm actually quite a softie deep down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maura-higgins/i-don-t-show-it-but-i-m-actually-quite-a-softie-deep-down/) [Maura Higgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maura-higgins/) > [Believe it or not, I'm actually quite a private person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-edmonds/believe-it-or-not-i-m-actually-quite-a-private-person/) [Noel Edmonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noel-edmonds/) > [Believe it or not I'm actually quite the introvert.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/believe-it-or-not-i-m-actually-quite-the-introvert/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [And in real life, I'm actually quite authoritative and strict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-horne/and-in-real-life-i-m-actually-quite-authoritative-and-strict/) [Alex Horne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-horne/) ## More by Vera Farmiga > [I had lots of jobs. For instance I sold lingerie. Doing that I realized how faking an eastern European or French accent can boost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-had-lots-of-jobs-for-instance-i-sold-lingerie-doing-that-i-realized/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I'm not in this for the achievement. I'm in it for the illumination. That's how I choose my roles, that's how I attract roles,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-m-not-in-this-for-the-achievement-i-m-in-it-for-the-illumination/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I just wanted to make sure that yes, that those horror - they worked as a genre. To me, I just wanted to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-just-wanted-to-make-sure-that-yes-that-those-horror-they-worked-as/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I come from a massive family, and the youngest is twentysomething years younger than I am, so I grew up with children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-come-from-a-massive-family-and-the-youngest-is-twentysomething/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I think all religions can agree on certain definitions of God and concepts of God, like God being the god of love, the great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-think-all-religions-can-agree-on-certain-definitions-of-god-and/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [As a kid I wanted attention, so I started praying for glasses because everyone had ace vision in my family. Then one day my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/as-a-kid-i-wanted-attention-so-i-started-praying-for-glasses-because/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [Someone once told me that religion is like a knife: You can stab someone with it, or you can slice bread with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/someone-once-told-me-that-religion-is-like-a-knife-you-can-stab/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [My husband is my best friend; he knows my sensibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/my-husband-is-my-best-friend-he-knows-my-sensibilities/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I've always believed that if you are precise in your thoughts, it's not the lines you say that are important - it's what exists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-ve-always-believed-that-if-you-are-precise-in-your-thoughts-it-s/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [Faith is important to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/faith-is-important-to-me/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [My only real advice to Oscar nominees is, 'If you haven't actually seen a competitor's film, don't fib and say you have and blow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/my-only-real-advice-to-oscar-nominees-is-if-you-haven-t-actually-seen/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I don't necessarily need Hollywood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-don-t-necessarily-need-hollywood/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I've never graced the cover of a fashion magazine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-ve-never-graced-the-cover-of-a-fashion-magazine/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [I feel my fuller-bodied characters are all in the independent films I do, and in the studio productions, I have to work harder to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/i-feel-my-fuller-bodied-characters-are-all-in-the-independent-films-i/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) > [Your soul either feels lifted by something that you read, or it feels squashed by it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/your-soul-either-feels-lifted-by-something-that-you-read-or-it-feels/) [Vera Farmiga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) [Explore all 140 Vera Farmiga quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/) ## More Chekhov quotes > [“Art, science, love, inspiration, ideals—choose out all the words with which humanity is wont, or has been in the past, to be consoled or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-shestov/art-science-love-inspiration-ideals-choose-out-all-the-words-with/) [Lev Shestov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-shestov/) > [There are no whys in a person's life, and very few hows. In the end, in search of useful wisdom, you could only come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chad-harbach/there-are-no-whys-in-a-person-s-life-and-very-few-hows-in-the-end-in/) [Chad Harbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chad-harbach/) > [“He did not want to be original; he made superhuman efforts to be like everybody else: but there is no escaping one's destiny.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-shestov/he-did-not-want-to-be-original-he-made-superhuman-efforts-to-be-like/) [Lev Shestov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-shestov/) > [Chekhov is this poet of melancholy and isolation and of wishing you were somewhere else than where you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/chekhov-is-this-poet-of-melancholy-and-isolation-and-of-wishing-you/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“He keeps going, going, going on; his people groan and fall one after the other, but he keeps on going, going and in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/he-keeps-going-going-going-on-his-people-groan-and-fall-one-after-the/) [Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/) > [I don't think my looks are modern. I always imagined I'd end up doing Chekhov, Ibsen and Shakespeare all my life and never play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-kingston/i-don-t-think-my-looks-are-modern-i-always-imagined-i-d-end-up-doing/) [Alex Kingston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-kingston/) > [“Any idiot can face a crisis, it is day to day living that wears you out. —Anton Chekhov”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/any-idiot-can-face-a-crisis-it-is-day-to-day-living-that-wears-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Chekhov will seek out the key situation in the life of a cabman or a charwoman, and make them glow for a brief moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wilson-lynd/chekhov-will-seek-out-the-key-situation-in-the-life-of-a-cabman-or-a/) [Robert Wilson Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wilson-lynd/) > [As Michael (Chekhov)'s pupil, I learned more about acting. I learned psychology, history, and the good manners of art - taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-monroe/as-michael-chekhov-s-pupil-i-learned-more-about-acting-i-learned/) [Marilyn Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-monroe/) > [If we're lucky, writer and reader alike, we'll finish the last line or two of a short story and then just sit for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-carver/if-we-re-lucky-writer-and-reader-alike-we-ll-finish-the-last-line-or/) [Raymond Carver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-carver/) > [Chekhov said: let's put God - and all these grand progressive ideas - to one side. Let's begin with man; let's be kind and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vasily-grossman/chekhov-said-let-s-put-god-and-all-these-grand-progressive-ideas-to/) [Vasily Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vasily-grossman/) > [Reading Chekhov was just like the angels singing to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/reading-chekhov-was-just-like-the-angels-singing-to-me/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [When we remove the snowdrift piled up over Chekhov in recent years, we uncover a man profoundly agitated by social problems; a writer whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/when-we-remove-the-snowdrift-piled-up-over-chekhov-in-recent-years-we/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [Read the great stuff, but read the stuff that isn't so great, too. Great stuff is very discouraging. If you read only Beckett and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-albee/read-the-great-stuff-but-read-the-stuff-that-isn-t-so-great-too-great/) [Edward Albee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-albee/) > [I'll never forget reading Chekhov's "A Doctor's Visit" on a train to Hawthorne, New York, and I got to the end - the scene…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ross/i-ll-never-forget-reading-chekhov-s-a-doctor-s-visit-on-a-train-to/) [Adam Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-ross/) Browse all 132 Chekhov quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can actually be quite funny.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vera Farmiga" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-ready-for-it-can-actually-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chekhov" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-ready-for-it-can-actually-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da7/vera-farmiga-3068_chekhov_chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-r_992572.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Chekhov, when it's done well and you're ready for it, can actually be quite funny.” — Vera Farmiga", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Vera Farmiga", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-farmiga/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Chekhov, when it's done well and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-ready-for-it-can-actually-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-farmiga/chekhov-when-it-s-done-well-and-you-re-ready-for-it-can-actually-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```