The only thing of value I have in this life is my ability to tell a story, whether in print, orating, writing it down or having people acting it out. That’s why I’m always hoping society never collapses because the first ones to go will be entertainers.

Smith frames his self-worth in terms of narrative craft—storytelling across media (print, speech, writing, performance)—rather than in material assets or conventional status. The second sentence turns that personal admission into a darkly comic social observation: entertainment is a “luxury” profession dependent on stable institutions, surplus resources, and an audience with time and safety. If society collapses, practical skills and immediate survival needs eclipse cultural production, making entertainers among the first to become expendable. The quote thus mixes humility and anxiety with a defense of storytelling’s importance, implying that art thrives only when a community is secure enough to value it.