REAL COMEDY

I would like to know who wrote this wonderful quote... “Never, never try to be funny! The actors must be serious. Only the situation must be absurd. Funny is in the writing, not in the performing. The more serious the situation, the funnier the comedy can be. The greatest comedy plays against the greatest tragedy...if you throw it against a soft, funny wall, it will not come back. But if you throw it against the hard wall of ultimate reality, it will bounce back and be very lively. Very, very few people understand this” [M.T.P] For an unknown reason I have "MTP" as the author, but it seems more Mel Brooks to me. Anyone know? Clifford Ellen [cliffie]