My grandfather was a vicar, and there was quite a lot of churchgoing when I was growing up. It's a world that I spent a lot of time around.

My dad was a civil servant, and my mum was a secretary.

I'm sure all parents think their kids are funny, and I'm sure a lot of kids are, whether their parents are comics or not.

If I can laugh with people, it makes me feel safe with them. If I feel someone has no sense of humour, I find it really scary. I do it with the kids as well: put on stupid voices to lighten up the spirit or gee them along to do something.

Is it not hard that even those who are with us should be against us - that a man's enemies, in some degree, should be those of the same household of faith? Yet so it is.

I'm on the list that I thought I'd never be on. I'm not sitting here thinking, 'God, I might get this part' or 'is it too late for me to play Hamlet?' It's really about: who do I get to work with? There's so many people on that list.

What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.

I didn't raise my kids with the fear of God.