I loved 'Beakman's World' growing up. As much as I loved 'Bill Nye,' I always preferred 'Beakman's World' because I thought it was funnier.

Growing up as a comedian the most influential person on me was Jon Stewart. He showed that comedy could have a real tangible effect on the world. He showed that comedy could move the needle of society and that a comic can do real things and make a real contribution.

Generational thinking has always been reductive and condescending.

I wanted to go to grad school for philosophy, but I couldn't hack it in college, at least I couldn't at that level.

I mean, all alternative comedy is are comedians that have being doing it for so long, for so long, that they were relaxed enough to start becoming personal on stage.

There are a hell of a lot of jobs that are scarier than live comedy. Like standing in the operating room when a guy's heart stops, and you're the one who has to fix it!

I'm hypersensitive to negativity and duplicity, and I want to push it away by writing comedy. Maybe that hypersensitivity comes across and allows me to play dastardly, multi-layered people.

And then you have the orangutans. There's a softness, and kindness, and there's almost this glint of humor that lies behind everything that they do. There's this old-soul sort of wisdom. And with that comes this cool, unhurried, decisive, linear way of moving through space.