My heroes, growing up, were people like Andy Kaufman and Groucho Marx and people that very rarely drop the persona.

Being shocking and cruel is a commerce. It's an actual valued skill now. The thing that really annoys me, the perception of it is that it takes intelligence, and it doesn't.

I had fame and wealth and things that are supposed to make you happy, but I wasn't happy, because there's no importance on having a fulfilling life. So in my mid-40s, that was my pursuit - making films that interested me, films that I would like to go see.

The movies I make don't take place in reality.

Any man who has had the job I've had and didn't have a sense of humor wouldn't still be here.

The human comedy is always tragic, but since its ingredients are always the same - dupe, fox, straight, like burlesque skits - the repetition through the ages is comedy.

Through the years, I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have shared how much they relate to my 'Sordid Lives' family, and how many gay men and women used it to come out to their conservative families through the humor of the film.

My favorite work is The Full Monty because I got an Oscar for it. But it was really hard work at the time. Sometimes comedy is not a bundle of laughs to actually do.