In '57, I got a job at the Blue Angel nightclub, and a gentleman named Ken Welch wrote all my material for me. I lived at a place called the Rehearsal Club that was actually the basis for a play called Stage Door.

I always preferred working with somebody so I could look into their eyeballs and play tennis.

What I do when I write is I just write the way I would tell it, so it comes out just exactly the way I would talk to you.

My grandmother and I followed my mother here, to a house a block north of Hollywood Boulevard but a million miles away from Hollywood, if you know what I mean. We would hang out behind the ropes and look at the movie stars arriving at the premieres.

I can't tell a joke to save my soul. It's just not my thing, though I love to listen to jokes.

there were times when I was more at home in front of millions of people than I was at home.

I was once asked to do my Tarzan yell at Bergdorf Goodman, and a guard burst in with a gun! Now I only do it under controlled circumstances.