When you're coming up with your philosophy and approach to performing comedy, you take special note of the things you disagree with as much as the things you agree with.

I have a troubled relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, not just because he kicked me out of a bar but also because it's become clear to me that he was not a good person.

There were times that I would be drunk and just leave a place by myself because I had an impulse and wasn't thinking through the repercussions on others.

When you're in front of an audience, you know if it didn't work. I get very nervous and have a fear of failure that is much more profound than in the podcast world.

There's a way of doing comedy that feels true to the person doing it, that doesn't feel like clown-work or silly faces and antics, but that feels real - like you're playing a real person who has real thoughts and feelings, and it's very grounded. I started to watch all comedy through that prism.

I am, like anybody else, full of contradictions and personality traits, and I don't know which ones to speak from as a stand-up or what aspects of myself to ask an audience to identify with.

I probably have the most fun on projects where there's some room to improvise.