I think when you dissect a joke too much, you have ruined whatever there is in comedy.

Saget is arguing that comedy depends on timing, surprise, and an intuitive “feel” that can be destroyed by over-analysis. To “dissect” a joke—explaining why it’s funny, parsing its mechanics, or litigating its logic—often removes the very tension and misdirection that produce laughter. The remark also reflects a performer’s perspective: comedians refine material through audience reaction more than through theoretical explanation. Implicitly, Saget is defending comedy as an experiential art form, where excessive intellectualization can flatten emotional impact and turn a living performance into a dead specimen.