It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.

Framed as a deadpan reversal, the line satirizes the common reassurance that happiness doesn’t depend on wealth or celebrity. By conceding that fame is unnecessary while insisting that riches are, the speaker exposes how deeply material assumptions can undercut moral platitudes. The humor works by exaggeration: it’s not a sincere philosophy so much as a comic jab at consumer culture and at the way people rationalize inequality (“money can’t buy happiness” said by those who have it). Read this way, the quote functions as social commentary—highlighting the tension between idealistic talk about contentment and the practical security money provides.