A lot of stand-up comedy guys when they get a little famous just give up their stand-up career and it cancels out the thing that set them apart.

Because I think in order to get famous you have to be known for something. Like 'You're the romantic comedy girl' or 'You're the Oscar-winning whatever girl.'

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.

More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy tragedy and intrigue.

I've always been part of comedy. One of the things about our family was that if we were reasonably funny with each other particularly my two brothers and myself when my father was upset with something you'd want to make sure in some way you made him laugh. Because when he didn't laugh you were in trouble!

Comedy is an escape not from truth but from despair a narrow escape into faith.

As soon as I did my first five minutes of stand-up I knew that I would rather be a failure at comedy than a success in marketing.

I don't have a fear factor. Well not much of one. And I'm willing to risk quite a lot - as a comedian you're always risking a lot. You're risking failure especially if you're improvising and going on TV shows trying to make comedy out of thin air. That is quite a risky business.

I think a lot comes from having the experience of doing stand-up comedy. It allows you to figure out the psychology of an audience what things are funny and not.

The greatest way for people to experience a comedy is to go in not knowing anything about it. But because of marketing it's impossible. Marketing meaning that in order to get people to come you can't just go 'Hey there's a great movie - we're not going to show you anything from it but trust us!'

I went to drama school for four years at Carnegie Mellon conservatory training before television comedy. I was doing Shakespeare and Chekov plays. It's about delivering on the promise of a $100 000 education and taking the shackles off and trying the hand at my craft. I'm thrilled with what I've seen so far.

'Friends' was an education in intelligent comedic banter in intelligent vernacular. It was an education in scene study. It was an education in group dynamic. I came out of there with a master's degree in comedy.

I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.

You can think of Hollywood as high school. TV actors are freshmen comedy actors are maybe juniors and dramatic actors - they're the cool seniors.

Comedy is so hard to do so it was very cool to do dead pan humor.

Period costume films are fun to discover but they're not relatable. It's more 'Wow that's cool - did it really look like that back then?' Whereas with a comedy you're like 'Yeah that's me that's my friends.' No matter what I want people to relate.

I'm addicted to laughing. I go to see a lot of comedy shows. I'm addicted to playing really loud and obnoxious rock music in my car. I'm addicted to beautiful clothes and shoes. I just love gorgeous stuff and work hard to acquire pretty things shiny things. I'm addicted to shiny things!

Comedy may be big business but it isn't pretty.

If you play it straight it's funny - the best comedy is always played straight down the middle. The adjustment is understanding from the screenplay that a moment is hilarious.

You can't study comedy it's within you. It's a personality. My humor is an attitude.

I did this Super-8 film at art school called 'Tissues ' this black comedy about a family whose father has been arrested for child molestation. I was absolutely thrilled by every inch of it and would throw my projector in the back of my car and show it to anybody who would watch it.

The only honest art form is laughter comedy. You can't fake it... try to fake three laughs in an hour - ha ha ha ha ha - they'll take you away man. You can't.

What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.

All improv turns into anger. All comedy improv basically turns into anger because that's all people know how to do when they're improvising. If you notice shows that are improvising are generally people yelling at each other.