Mel Brooks is one of the few authentic geniuses working in comedy in America today.
All comedy does that. Every comedian I can think of - Larry David, Seinfeld, Mel Brooks, Chris Rock - that's where the best comedy comes from, from stereotypes.
At first I moved from Sydney to Melbourne, because most of the comedy was shot in Melbourne, and then from Melbourne to Los Angeles - and you have to sacrifice stuff.
I have always felt a comedy's story is undercut if you have a villain who is not really menacing.
I wasn't the guy running out to the Viper Room or comedy clubs until three in the morning. I was the guy running back to watch the Mets win the World Series in 1986.
One day I woke up, had an early mid-life crisis, and decided it all had to change. I went and did Logan Murray's comedy course for 11 weeks and then started sneakily doing open-spot gigs, and that was it.
The funny thing is, Dennis Miller got me back into comedy.
It's tough to do comedy. After 'Mister', my inhibitions with respect to comedy have come down.
I don't mind going from sadness to comedy in a split-second or mixing the two up.
You can still have comedy which is sensitive to the topic, where you’re laughing at the right part of it, you’re not mocking the things that shouldn’t be mocked.
A TV touchstone for me is 'The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.' That series was whimsical and smart and had the mix of comedy and drama that I now trade in - but with a dash of magical realism. I wanted to be Molly Dodd, but more than that, I wanted to be Jay Tarses, who created the show.
As long as there's Big Momma, we're going to bring you comedy.
I went to NYU drama school, so I was a very serious actress. I used to do monologues with a Southern accent, and I was really into drama and drama school. And then, in my last year of drama school, I did a comedy show, and the show became a big hit on campus.
I was greatly influenced by 'The Goons' and 'Monty Python' reconstituting what comedy was - it could come from a funny word, not just a set up and a pay-off. I liked the zaniness; they were satirical, slightly saucy and very literary in their references.
I'm in the mood for another Moonstruck experience, for another romantic comedy.
Comedy is the most difficult thing to do. Easily the most difficult.
Doug Motel makes 'conscious comedy'. He makes me laugh, and he makes me think.
I love the basic comedy of growing a moustache.
I've done a lot of work other than sci-fi, and between half-hour comedy, stage, and various movie roles, I've really tried to avoid being typecast.
Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.
