I don't want to speak for my movies; you could say my movies are just completely silly and dumb, but in the case of 'Idiocracy' and 'Borat,' without a doubt there is a really subversive and sophisticated assault on American culture. It's one thing to mess stuff up and break stuff, but [Borat] is really pointing out the ideology of America. It's one thing to break stuff and damage people's possessions, but when you start aiming at the ideology of America, that's dangerous comedy.

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.

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

In general, the final filter of Hollywood is for-profit. Nothing goes through unless it can make money.

Animals talking are very rarely funny. But animals behaving as animals - always funny.

If all else fails, you can always be a pro.

I grew up with a single mom who was a waitress. We were on food stamps. My mom then got Pell Grants, put herself through college to get a degree to get a better job. Because we were broke, I then had to go to a state school. I went to Temple University, and had to get loans. So I grew up in a world where I saw the government helping individuals pull themselves up, and saw it work very successfully.