When you've been doing comedy for forty years, you really do know most of the jokes. And even if you don't know a specific joke, you can pretty much guess what it's going to be.

Comedy always works best when it is mean-spirited.

When you do comedy in front of an audience, they are the ones who tell you whether it's funny or not and which bits are funny and which bits need to be fixed.

I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.

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

When people say 'I'm not a prude, but ...' what they mean is 'I am a prude, and ...'.

I'm struck by how laughter connects you with people. It's almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you're just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.