You lose your energy, you lose that excitement and it gets the audience up.

I was sitting in the toilet and I was by myself. I was tired of playing with the roller, so I said I'd better write a book.

Whatever you do to gain success, you have to hang in there and hope good things happen. Always think positive.

That I walk around calling people 'dummy' and 'hockey puck'. I do have a different life apart from being sarcastic on stage. I might kibitz around with my friends, but I'm nothing like the person who does stand up. Nothing like that.

Alan King, a comedian I adored, was considered society, and I was considered the Jewish kid from the neighborhood.

Al Capone's my uncle. The old days were a lot different. The Latin Casino was the big time. When I got there I figured that I was doing pretty good, because remember, I started in nothing but after hours joints. I can't even name them now, but that's how I got noticed.

In the old days, that was my ad-lib for hecklers in the joints I worked. It stuck with me. I hardly say it now, say, to fans, even though people do send me hockey pucks.