You have to understand how bad I wanted to be a comedian, how much I loved doing it. I still can't believe I get to do this for a living and have people come up and want to see me.

The whole city [Manchester] just a real rock music vibe. It reminded me a lot of where I'm from.

If you're away from your house for a month, by the time you come back there's someone else living in it.

I heard a quote once in a documentary about a band that said you're better off owning everything 100 percent and selling 20,000 copies of an album than signing with a record company and selling a million copies. There has never been a truer statement about show business than that.

Deny your emotions and act like you have answers

I was scared to death because for the comics of my generation, HBO specials are like the pinnacle. I'm thinking of all these unbelievable comedians I've seen on HBO: Chris Rock, George Carlin, Damon Wayans, Richard Pryor and Billy Crystal. I started having a panic attack seeing my name in that list of people. It was pretty overwhelming.

I have to make small adjustments, but I can't change too much. If I'm worrying about that stuff too much then the show isn't as funny.