“My brother is the youngest member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. And I wouldn’t let him cut my nails.”

I was a high school throw-out.

My favorite way to spend Saturday is in and out of bed, watching sports on TV and eating.

I just never saw my mother in any other room but the kitchen. There were always pots going.

My son says I never tell stories about anyone who’s living.

My mother’s sister was killed in a trolley car accident, so I was raised as one of eight with my sister and six male cousins.

And humor has always been a weapon. You want to get even on somebody?

There’s nobody to believe in anymore, nobody to trust.

If you stop and think about it, nearly all great humor is at the expense of someone or something.

I’m only… I’m only unhappy when the reviews are bad, but give me a good review and I’m a… I’m just screaming all over the place with joy.

The world is full of little dictators trying to run your life.

If you keep yourself alive and current, funny is funny.

I think one of the big things about comedy is the ability for the audience to identify.

When I was in the hospital they gave me apple juice every morning, even after I told them I didn’t like it. I had to get even.

An old socialist-unionist who always considered himself a failure. His big line was: ‘Don’t end up like me.

When I first saw Richard Pryor perform, I told him, ‘You’re doing a Jewish act.’

Eating takes a special talent. Some people are much better at it than others. In that way, it is like sex, and as with sex.

My brother thinks it is very, very bad that I left Islam. My half-sister wants to convert me back; I want to convert her to Western values. My mum is terrified that when I die, and we all go to God, I will be burned.

In 1985 as a teenager in Kenya, I was an adamant member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them.

My brothers and sisters hated me because I was an only child.

The one who admonishes his brother secretly, he has advised sincerely and has honored him.

To admonish your brother in private is to advise him and improve him.

I kind of knew something was going on, and my older brothers and sisters were singing be-boppish kinds of stuff in the living room.

I love music; my dad and brother were very musical, and music just happens to be one of my hobbies that became my vocation.