When I found out I had cancer, I just said one thing: 'I want to hold on to life' and that changed everything for me.

Canadian comedians are generally more well-rounded... They have to do a lot more. In order to have a career in this country, you have to do everything. And in the States you can narrow-cast, you can be just a sitcom performer or a stand-up comedian or a sketch performer.

When I was younger I wanted to be a big movie star who'd get to be funny on talk shows and then I wanted to retire and write science fiction.

Activism isn't about holding your faults up to the light. That's what comedy is about, it's about saying, 'Look at this person who is so flawed and frail and damaged. And we're all this frail and damaged so let's laugh at it.

My theory is that comedy comes from little people.

Art is about the edges and the sharp corners and those places are not conducive to activism, which is about putting on a gloss.

When I found out I had cancer, I just said one thing: 'I want to hold on to life' and that changed everything for me.