I can't imagine a successful comedy movie without a successful comedy performance at the heart of it.

Once you're alienated, you're on your own. That takes you to the world of the existential, where things just kind of float.

We are all several different people. There are different aspects of our nature that are competing.

I've got to find a compromise where I don't feel compromised. I've got to find something equally good that they don't feel uncomfortable with. At a certain point, it's no longer about what I thought was right, but it's about this new discovery that happens with the actors. It's nice when the actor is also a writer.

It doesn't take any longer to improvise 10 takes than it takes to shoot 10 takes of the same thing. It turns out to be just as responsible from a business point of view as anything else.

Most comedies are calculated. They tend to pander. They're not about anything important.

I look for the meaning in what's funny, and I look for what's funny about things that are meaningful to me.