All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Laughter is a force for democracy.

All humour is critical, you know? You make stupid jokes. I mean, stupidity is an infirmity, isn't it?

I tend to have an odd split in my mind: I tend to look at it as a writer and when the writing thing is OK and I'm happy with it, then I put on my actor's hat.

When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries to play as well.

When you get to my age, and I'm 66 now, you realize that the world is a madhouse and that most people are operating in fantasy anyway. So once you realise that, it doesn't bother you much.

Some actors, I think, want to feel that they are as creative as the writer. And the answer is, frankly, they're not.