One of the big tensions in my life is that I have known the stresses of financial hardship since I was a little kid, and it is the cancer for which I am seeking a cure.

I don't waste a lot of time on profound embarrassment. I have always been somewhat the same person. I can think of maybe particular items of clothing that I think, "Oh God, I used to wear that?" But nothing serious. It's not like for a while I became some sort of goth wannabe. I've always pretty much been me.

Some people are born with a brain that has this weird, magical mathematical thing that makes them an amazing jazz musician.

Anything that I read, I read because I'm interested in it.

If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.

I briefly considered doing Edgar Allan Poe and just swearing a lot.

No, I don't know any Emily Dickinson poems!