You start at 'SNL' when you're young and hungry, but I don't want my pro years to be my 'SNL' years.

You start at 'SNL' when you're young and hungry, but I don't want my pro years to be my 'SNL' years.

It was my second show as a writer, and Justin Timberlake was just coming off boy-band stardom. People were rolling their eyes, but I used to watch the Mickey Mouse Club, and I knew all those kids were talented as hell. Justin was as comfortable on camera in that first episode as any of our cast members.

Now Ben Folds is my photography older brother. He was kind enough to give me a photo of his for my 40th birthday.

I didn't really want to be an actor when I was growing up - I wanted to be whatever I was reading about or seeing at the time. When I read The Firm I wanted to be a lawyer; when I saw Top Gun, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. So that's why acting probably turned out to be a good thing for me because I get to be people for five minutes or 90 minutes. I'd be curious to see if I had the attention span to be like those guys on 30 Rock and play the same character season after season.

A lot of improvisation ends up being about just thinking outside of the box in the scene. It's not improvisation as much as it is quickness or making it real.

I'd love to do a drama.