You don't want to be slavishly doing the same thing over and over again that everybody else has done, but at the same time, you're conscious of, "This is important. I owe something to my ten year old self right now. I need to respect that." I need for that kid who is obsessively reading comic books, I need there to be something rewarding for him where he's like, I didn't waste my time. I know what this is.

The funny thing for me is, I have never lived in a network world.

I am very conscious on a daily basis of how extraordinarily blessed I am to get to do what I do and work with the people that I work with, so I make a practice of being grateful.

I think it's satisfying for people to feel that that relationship is reciprocal in some way. The truth is, you do have a relationship with your fans, and there is a feedback loop there. And while you have to be careful not to write a show just for the superfans, that kind of feedback is really valuable.

I really gravitate to the comedy of tonal contrasts. I hope that doesn't sound insufferably pretentious. What I mean is people having reactions to things that seem inappropriate, or being happy in an apparently unhappy situation.

Everybody should have a television show. Let's all get television shows!

I have to say, as a showrunner, being niche-y is kind of a great thing.