I don't find the business easy. The moment you start talking about the business, you start sounding like someone in Spinal Tap.

I consider myself a sit-down comedian really, as much as anything else. I love comedy. Life is a cosmic joke.

The cultural mix that's happened in the United States is wonderful! Funny enough, one of the most wonderful things about it is that there is no American race.

I was a latecomer to politics. Maybe I'm just very slow. I got to everything when everyone else had left.

People say, oh it's a shame, you're not nostalgic about the '60s. Well actually, it's quite good, when you think of it. Wouldn't it be sad if I was sitting here wishing it back?

I can't imagine my life without the extraordinary bebop jazz revolution in New York in late '40s and '50s.

There are a lot of composers who were fantastic, but I challenge them to write a record that you could play five times a day for two months on the radio, songs that people will want to dance to on a Saturday night.