People have very specific opinions of comedy. Slapstick was an art form in the '20s and the lowest form of show business in the '50s. Who's right, who's wrong? Who's an idiot, who's not?

When you start a new project and they say, "Your director is going to be Joe Blo," you're hoping that Joe Blo will be the next Martin Scorsese, but it doesn't always work out that way.

A musical is only as good as its director. The same can also be said for the CIA.

There was an era when people would turn on their radio and hear a radio drama. Now, you could be as scared by that as seeing it filmed. In those days, people used to sit by the fire and imagine what they were hearing. Everything is its own art form.

One of my great influences was Don Knotts as Barney Fife.

The thing you can always rely on, your core person, comes from your family's attention and love.

People do think I'm Jewish. But we're Irish Catholic. My father had a brogue.