I put headlights in Ford vans. I still drive a Ford.

Sometimes it seemed like the truth was a bandy-legged soul who dashed from one side of the world to the other and I could never find him.

I think comedy allows people to accept the more difficult parts of history. And history, if it's presented wrong, is just very depressing, particularly the history of slavery. If slavery is presented properly, it's a great story. But I think that within the commercial world of storytelling in which I live, there haven't been many strong works that discuss slavery in ways that are palatable and funny and interesting to the reader.

First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.

I'd like to do something involving jazz. But books are how I earn my living, and I'd like to stay with the horse I rode in on.

People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home.

It is hard to find romance in the present because there's nothing left to the imagination.