I looked at enough of American Idol in the first weeks, and they're all about humiliation. I listen to Rush Limbaugh because I find it so repulsive. There are people with a little less sophistication who watch a lot of it, because we allow things to appeal to our baser instincts. But at the same moment, give me a little choice, and I'll make a better decision, because I have that ability too. And so does everybody else.

We just may be the most well-informed, yet least self-aware, people in history.

If there is a reason to believe in God, it would be the Havana Leaf.

I like getting up in the morning, and I like better having something to do when I get up in the morning.

America is a country of excess.

We are a country of excess. So it's not the violence, per se, but the exacerbation and constant repetition.

I guess the story that best defines us [with Bud Yorkin] and our relationship goes back to the [Dean] Martin and [Jerry] Lewis show. The four stage managers on that show became major TV creators and directors - John Rich, Jack Smight, Arthur Penn and Bud Yorkin.