“It is hard to keep a straight face during comedy scenes. It’s considered really bad form to laugh at someone else because you can ruin their best take. But sometimes it’s very hard not to.”

There are practical things which contribute to a joke’s funniness. People will find a joke funnier if they are sitting closer together, if it’s cold, if they’ve paid and if they are told it’s funny beforehand.

Steroids are] not healthy, … There’s a real health issue with steroid abuse. At any level, but particularly a young age level. There are many adverse health effects so I think it’s a concern we have to take as a college-level group.

I don’t defend what a comedian might say but I defend to the death his right to say it.

Whatever happens in life can happen on the stage, but as a comedian you should always be clear what your target is. It’s fine to be gratuitously tasteless if that’s what you are intending to do. It’s that old line:

Those who have never worked nude outdoors just can’t imagine how much better a breeze feels on their skin than an item of sweaty clothing.

My theory about comedians is that their greatest fear is other people laughing at them. So comedy is an attempt to control and manipulate the thing they find most frightening.

I don’t care about how I look; I’m dedicated to the laughs. You know, I used to be a clown, so – my name was Smoothie the Clown. All the training I had, all my training is geared toward making people laugh, and I didn’t care about being cool.

I remember laughing when we made those slogans up [about abortion]. . . .

If I can tell someone a story that makes them bend over and laugh, that’s bigger than anything else.

It’s great to work with the people who make you laugh and who are funnier than I am.

Well, it’s a lot less dangerous – working with snakes and mountaibn lions and dangerous animals – than working in Hollywood [laughs]. Hollwood will kill you.

Laughing and crying are really similar – what happens to your body. It’s a very similar process in your diaphragm. Like a musician, you have to do your scales once in a while and warm up your voice.

Lily Tomlin…I used to watch reruns of Laugh-In and she was always my favorite part. She’s this very unique talent and the way she does things has been a very big influence on me.

My theory about comedians is that their greatest fear is other people laughing at them. So comedy is an attempt to control and manipulate the thing they find most frightening.