In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better
Not Woody Allen — tentatively Joe Doyle of The Second CityJoe DoylePerformer with a touring company of The Second City, 1978
Quote Investigator’s earliest strong match is a 1978 Lansing State Journal report of Second City performer Joe Doyle telling the joke in the voice of an Irish priest. QI gives him credit only tentatively, because the gag is told in many wordings. The “whole lot better” wording later became part of Ellen DeGeneres’s act. QI calls the link to Woody Allen weak.
“In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better” Not Woody Allen. Quote Investigator tentatively credits Joe Doyle of The Second City, reported in the Lansing State Journal, October 19, 1978; the popular wording was later used by Ellen DeGeneres. Via Quotle.info.
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In context
Evoking the world of Joe Doyle — Comedy performer, touring company of The Second City. Theme: "In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better". 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 strong match
Newspaper
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan)
Article
“Second City troupe: patient wait for stardom” by Mike Hughes, 19 October 1978, p. C3
Performer
Joe Doyle, touring company of The Second City
Found by
Quote Investigator, 8 August 2019 (updated 4 April 2025)
Now Joe Doyle was an Irish priest, using rich brogue to read from First Chrysanthemums: “In the beginning, there was nothing. The Lord said, ‘Let there be light.’ Then there was still nothing. But you could see it.”
1978 version
This is the 1978 newspaper text as Quote Investigator transcribes it. The popular ending, “but you could see it a whole lot better,” comes from later versions. It appears in QI’s excerpt from Kathleen Tracy’s 1999 biography of Ellen DeGeneres and in the 2000 collection Joke Stew, which credits DeGeneres.
1964: An Arizona Republic columnist objected to a comic book that parodied the creation story. In it, “God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And there still was nothing,” and then God rubbed two sticks together. This is a precursor, not the joke itself (Quote Investigator ↗).
1978: The Lansing State Journal reported Joe Doyle of The Second City delivering the joke, which ended “But you could see it.” QI calls this the earliest strong match it located (Quote Investigator ↗).
Circa 1983 to 2000: Ellen DeGeneres used the joke in her stand-up act. In 1984 The Flying Karamazov Brothers used a variant ending “But at least we could see.” In 2000, Joke Stew printed the “whole lot better” wording and credited DeGeneres (Quote Investigator ↗; catalog record ↗).
1998 onward: A 1998 alt.atheism Usenet post credited the joke to Woody Allen, and a 2008 book did the same. A 2011 letter to a California newspaper credited George Burns. QI judges both links weak (Quote Investigator ↗).
This is a circulating gag whose originator is uncertain; QI credits Joe Doyle only tentatively. The 1978 newspaper report and the books that print the popular wording (1999 and 2000) are all from after 1931, so Quotle.info claims no public-domain status and asserts no particular rights holder for the joke itself.
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
This creation-story gag is told in many wordings and has been credited to several comedians. Quote Investigator’s research shows it was circulating before the best-known names were attached to it.
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Popular creditWoody Allen Weak link
In QI’s citations, the Allen credit appears first in a 1998 alt.atheism Usenet post and then in a 2008 book, Blind Faith. QI calls the link to Allen weak, and the joke is absent from the sourced quotations on Allen’s Wikiquote page ↗ (Quote Investigator ↗).
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Performer of the popular wordingEllen DeGeneres Used it, didn’t originate it
DeGeneres included the joke in her stand-up act circa 1983, and the 2000 collection Joke Stew credits her with the “whole lot better” wording. QI notes the joke was circulating before she used it. The Quotations Page ↗ lists it under her name as “attributed” (Quote Investigator ↗).
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Later creditGeorge Burns Weak link
A 2011 letter to the editor of The Signal in Santa Clarita, California, credited the joke to “the late George Burns.” QI found no earlier support and calls the link weak (Quote Investigator ↗).
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1984 variantThe Flying Karamazov Brothers Used it later
A 1984 Berkshire Eagle review quotes a member of the juggling troupe telling a variant: “Then I created light. There was still nothing. But at least we could see.” QI notes the joke was already circulating by then (Quote Investigator ↗).
✓Quote Investigator’s earliest strong match is Joe Doyle of The Second City, reported in the Lansing State Journal in 1978. QI gives Doyle credit only tentatively and says earlier instances may yet turn up (Quote Investigator ↗).
Context
Why the joke travels
The gag parodies Genesis 1:3, “Let there be light: and there was light.” The punch line turns creation into an anticlimax: light only reveals that there is still nothing. As Quote Investigator points out, the biblical account differs from the setup. In Genesis, God creates the heaven and the earth before saying “Let there be light,” so the “nothing” is the comedian’s invention.
A short, wry, unattributed line like this tends to attach itself to a famous wit. Allen, Burns and DeGeneres all carry it in quote collections, but only DeGeneres is documented performing it, and she was not the first.
There was still nothing. But you could see it.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Fl. 1978 · Comedy performer, touring company of The Second City
Joe Doyle was a member of a touring company of The Second City, the Chicago improv troupe. In 1978 the company performed and gave a workshop at Michigan State University in East Lansing. According to the Lansing State Journal report Quote Investigator transcribes, Doyle played an Irish priest with a “rich brogue” and told the creation joke. Little else about him is documented in the sources consulted here.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Earliest strong match (via Quote Investigator)
Mike Hughes, “Second City Troupe: Patient Wait for Stardom,” Lansing State Journal (Lansing, MI), October 19, 1978, C3; cited in Quote Investigator, “In the Beginning, There Was Nothing,” August 8, 2019 (updated April 4, 2025), https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/08/08/be-light/.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-the-beginning-there-was-nothing-god-said-let-there-be/