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Who really said it

Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time

Not Carol Burnett — earliest known: Steve Allen Steve Allen 1921–2000 · TV host, comedian & writer
Disputed In copyright

The earliest version Quote Investigator found is Steve Allen’s “Tragedy plus time equals comedy,” printed in his Cosmopolitan column in February 1957. Carol Burnett did popularize the line, and from 1972 on she credited it to her mother (TV Guide, 1972; her 1986 memoir One More Time). QI notes the saying may have been going around before Allen printed it.

Last verified 1 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed wording — copy with the correction

“Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time” Steve Allen, Cosmopolitan, February 1957 (earliest known version, per Quote Investigator). Often credited to Carol Burnett, who attributed "comedy is tragedy plus time" to her mother. · Verbatim: “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.”

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of Steve Allen; Hearst (Cosmopolitan)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Steve Allen — Television host, comedian, songwriter & author. Theme: "Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The earliest documented version

Work
Steve Allen’s Almanac (column)
Published in
Cosmopolitan, February 1957
Wording
“Tragedy plus time equals comedy.”
Found by
Quote Investigator (2013)

Man jokes about the things that depress him, but he usually waits till a certain amount of time has passed. It must have been a tragedy when Judge Crater disappeared, but everybody jokes about it now. I guess you can make a mathematical formula out of it. Tragedy plus time equals comedy. Cosmopolitan · Feb 1957

This is Steve Allen’s wording as Quote Investigator transcribes it from scans of the column. Judge Joseph Crater disappeared in New York in 1930. The phrasing “comedy is tragedy plus time” is a later reshuffle of the same formula.

Quote Investigator: Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time

How the formula traveled

  • February 1957: Steve Allen writes in Cosmopolitan that “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” This is the earliest evidence Quote Investigator ↗ found.
  • 1958: Allen repeats it on television and in a UPI interview (QI ↗), now adding “plus the will to be amused.” Barry Popik’s entry ↗ also records the July 1958 Bakersfield Californian printing.
  • November 1962: Bob Newhart says “They say that comedy is tragedy plus time,” signaling that it was already a saying (Popik ↗).
  • 1963–1986: Carol Burnett offers “Comedy is tragedy mellowed by time” (1963). In TV Guide (1972) she credits “comedy is tragedy plus time” to her mother, and in her memoir One More Time (1986) she gives her mother’s saying as “Most comedy is tragedy plus time” (QI ↗).
In copyright

The earliest known wording appears in Steve Allen’s February 1957 Cosmopolitan column. That is a post-1931 work by a named author, so it is treated here as in copyright. Burnett’s variant in her 1986 memoir One More Time is also in copyright. The short adage itself circulates freely as a common saying.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Who gets the credit, and why

Few comedy maxims have more claimed parents. Every name below really used the formula, but none of them is its documented originator.

Carol Burnett Popularizer

She used the line for decades, but she credited it to someone else. Her 1963 version was “Comedy is tragedy mellowed by time.” In 1972 she told TV Guide that her mother “said comedy is tragedy plus time,” and her 1986 memoir repeats that credit (Quote Investigator ↗). Fred Shapiro of Yale noted that the saying is “usually attributed to Carol Burnett or Woody Allen” and called both attributions “probably apocryphal” (ADS-L, 2011 ↗).

Woody Allen Fictional character

In Allen’s 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors, the line belongs to Lester, a character played by Alan Alda. Allen does not say it in his own voice. The film came more than three decades after Steve Allen’s 1957 column (QI ↗).

Lenny Bruce Satire version

The Essential Lenny Bruce (1967), published after his death, has him say “satire is tragedy plus time.” That is a later adaptation with “satire” in place of “comedy” (QI ↗).

Tig Notaro

In 2012, soon after a cancer diagnosis, she used the equation in a celebrated stand-up set: “I am just at tragedy right now.” She was quoting a well-known formula, not coining one (QI ↗).

Steve Allen’s February 1957 Cosmopolitan column is the earliest documented version: “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” Quote Investigator adds that because Burnett credited her mother, who died in 1958, the saying may have circulated earlier, or her mother may have picked it up from Allen’s column (QI ↗).

Context

Why the formula stuck

Allen’s original point was practical. Most comic material is tragic at root (drunkenness, money trouble, accidents), and audiences laugh at disasters once enough time has passed. His example was the 1930 disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater, a mystery that had become a standing joke by the 1950s.

The equation’s neatness made it travel. Comedians kept rephrasing it: Allen added “the will to be amused,” Burnett said “mellowed by time,” and Lenny Bruce swapped in “satire.” Along the way it attached itself to whichever famous comic was saying it most recently.

Tragedy plus time equals comedy.

A related, older idea

In an 1889 letter, Thomas Hardy wrote that “All comedy, is tragedy, if you only look deep enough into it.” QI lists this as a related thought, not as the source of the time formula (QI ↗).

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Time Creativity Resilience

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Timequoteinvestigator.com

The authoritative chronology, from Steve Allen in 1957 to Tig Notaro in 2012, including Burnett's 1963, 1972 and 1986 versions.
Barry Popik: Comedy is tragedy plus timebarrypopik.com

Entry in progress with Allen's 1958 formula as printed in the Bakersfield Californian, and Bob Newhart's 1962 "They say" usage.
ADS-L: Fred Shapiro on the attributionlistserv.linguistlist.org

The Yale Book of Quotations editor calls the Burnett and Woody Allen attributions probably apocryphal (2011).
Steve Allenen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the first host of The Tonight Show (1921–2000).
Carol Burnetten.wikipedia.org

Biography of the star of The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978) and author of the memoir One More Time.

Earliest documented

About the earliest known source

Steve Allen

1921–2000 · Television host, comedian, songwriter & author

Steve Allen co-created The Tonight Show and was its first host. He also hosted The Steve Allen Show and the PBS series Meeting of Minds, and wrote songs and many books. His February 1957 Cosmopolitan column has the earliest documented form of the formula, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy,” which he kept repeating for decades.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in

Steve Allen, “Steve Allen’s Almanac,” Cosmopolitan 142 (February 1957), as transcribed in Quote Investigator, “Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time,” June 25, 2013, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/25/comedy-plus/.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time’?” Last verified 1 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/comedy-is-tragedy-plus-time/

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