That's a very hard thing to help the establishment know. We're still an establishment that thinks the average mentality is something like 13 years of age, that never forgot H.L. Mencken's notion that nobody lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people. That's the horseshit the establishment has always lived with.

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

That's the heart of it: My shows were not that controversial with the American people. They were controversial with the people who think for the American people.

If there was a sense of - a bigger sense of responsibility in the various leadership positions in America, things would be not as grotesquely overly done as they are now.

Ed Simmons and I became stars in the emerging medium of television. We were new and fresh, just like TV at the time, so we automatically became 'THE' comedy writers for television.

When we went on the air, I didn't want to be interrupted for an act-one curtain.

Ratings translate into corporations, corporations that need a profit statement this quarter that's larger than the last.