“In the end, the thing that really stays with you is not that you were clever enough to connect a sketch to another sketch, but what really sticks with you is when you just have an incredible moment happen, or execute a really funny idea.”

Being comedic is a skill, because there is a fine line where the context is important. And being dramatic is just being honest and real in that moment.

You get to use everything you learned in movie business. You talk to actors, if you do it right – and I haven’t always done it right – you should be shaping the material all the time.

I’m always an entrepreneur, but I’d probably be a teacher. I like teaching kids, whether that’s tennis on the courts or history in the classroom.

Emotions weren’t created to just lie around. You should experience things to the full. I’ve got a sense of the clock ticking.

When you’re 20 you can put a ton of old-age prosthetics on and be an old guy, but when you’re 70 you can’t play a 20-year-old.

I was at the vice president’s Christmas party. I thought that his speech was spectacular, and I knew that it was a very emotional and difficult thing for him to do, but I admonished him for not waiting just one more stinking day.

When they’re doing a stupid role in a bad production, it’s kind of a dumb thing to do when you’re an adult. When you’re doing a great role that’s well-written, it’s an enviable job.

I’m about to go to Sundance for my 3rd year, and Sundance has never felt like a real independent festival at all. On the other hand, it might to start feel that way.

If you surround me with darkness, suddenly, I am “somewhat fun.”

I think independent movies are actually very challenging right now, because it was this huge scene and it was great for a few years. Then, it was totally co-opted by the studios. Now, it’s become very corporate, the independent scene.

Comedy is tragedy plus timing.

We don’t feel constrained by what we did in the past.

When you envy actors, only envy them for their good roles. Keep in mind they have to do a lot of roles to make a living, and not all of them are good.

I pretty much read reviews and comments only looking for the negative. Literally, when I read positive comments, it’s like a zero. I think the issue is if you agree with it or not.

Comedy can be destructive, and still very, very funny. But if I can do something that is fun to watch and critical of the world but not wantonly destructive.

It’s fun to discover things. I wouldn’t want everything laid out, simply and too obviously.

It’s amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course.

We tell ourselves we’re here to be flexible and to be nimble, and not necessarily to stick to a master plan.

Sometimes it’s hard to know why networks will stick with something. Sometimes the ratings won’t happen, but there’s excitement at the network, so they’ll stay with the show.

I don’t worry about losing all my fans. Whatever true fans you’ve got will stick by you, so that’s nothing to worry about

By the time I got to Harvard, I feel like I knew who I was, and my job there was to throw as much against the wall as possible, to see what would stick.

Find out what you love. Do it because you love it. Stick with it. Start now.

When Mama starts to move across a room, people pay attention. You can never be sure she’s not going to grab you by the top of the head to steady herself. And she’s pretty free with that walking stick, too.

Nothing is more stimulating and more salutary to (or for) the inner (or inward) development than the exemple of men devoted to the good.