I had developed a survival skill of using my wit to score for myself. If a scene was dying, I'd lob in these little bombshell lines that would get me some attention and a laugh without really helping the scene.

The comic impulse is sometimes a reaction to sadness. You feel like you can make one choice or the other.

My characters aren't losers. They're rebels. They win by their refusal to play by everyone else's rules.

Where's the great pay? Where's the travel? Where's the Winnebago, Goddamnit!

I loved writing and performing, but the idea of doing it for a living seemed so remote. But I eventually let it devolve to the point where it was the only thing I could do.

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 tell our kids that policemen are good and God protects us and our country is noble, and at a certain point - and for some it comes quite early, five or six years old - we start to realize that it's all a facade.