“Firewall” seems both scary and protective at the same time. And how often does that happen within one word besides “military” and “government?”

Hollywood has to appeal to the broadest audience, and when it comes to most social and economic issues, America is progressive. Because of that, the messages that are in Hollywood movies tend to be, for instance, pro-environment.

Most of what's tricky about comedy is the perception of it and the audience's expectation.

You could feel America starting to ease up a little bit on racism, against blacks in certain pockets, and then suddenly The Cosby Show bubbled up and it was the right time for it.

I think that the job of art and culture is to jump on that time and realize that it's there and to push it just a little bit faster.

I got the sense that Alabama is a place where people don't want handouts and don't much care for people talking out of the side of their mouth.

Nothing is funnier than confidently doing the wrong thing.