Talent is always more interesting - ambition is not interesting. If you have talent, you have to find ways of expressing it, but you may not be a success in the world's terms.

I never think in terms of target audience. I try to write what makes me laugh, so I'm the target audience. I guess I just hope there's another person in America like me.

I listen to the audience and try and bounce with them. All audiences are different. But they are all homo sapiens.

John Cleese once told me he'd do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he took it.

People come up to me on the street and make some little joke - like they'll say, 'Excuse me, sir, what time is it?' And I'll say, you know, '5:15,' and they'll say, 'Hey! Made you talk!' And that's merely a way of saying, 'I know your work and I like you.'

As a stand up, and often in acting, there is no place for the most intense feelings. Rage, genuine sorrow, naked hope... These things don't fit on a comedy stage and if you act you'll get to express them once in a while. Music is a place for the intensely personal.

Trek' is probably more cerebral and philosophical. 'Stargate' does seat-of-the-pants adventure and humor better.

Most comedy comes out of misery.