I tend to show everything I do to my family, to check they won't be offended.

Performance is really an important part of how I edit. I sometimes take something out because I realize I put in a joke just to be funny and the audience laughed, but I should be ashamed of myself. I sometimes take out sentences, which are perfectly fine on paper, just because they don't flow when I say them out loud. I always read my work out loud now.

If you aren't cute, you may as well be clever.

I've always been very upfront about the way I write, and I've always used the tools humorists use, such as exaggeration.

I like books on tape, and will listen to just about anything.

The humor section is the last place an author wants to be. They put your stuff next to collections of Cathy cartoons.

Every gathering has its moment. As an adult, I distract myself by trying to identify it, dreading the inevitable downswing that is sure to follow. The guests will repeat themselves one too many times, or you'll run out of dope or liquor and realize that it was all you ever had in common.