Actor

I actually think there's a potential, a crazy potential, that network TV could become something valuable and worthwhile, just because of fear on the part of the networks.

My godfather was a Chicago policeman, and I've always looked at law enforcement as a challenging and interesting job. There are so many decisions that law enforcement officers have to make, and the incident or situation changes so much from moment to moment and day to day. I have a lot of respect for officers and what they go through.

All people are sad clowns. That's the key to comedy - and it's a buffer against reality.

I love making wisecracks.

I went to New York in '87 to write for 'Saturday Night Live.'

I always wrote risque comedy and crude comedy.

My experience - and it might be just the kind of comedy that I do, which is usually sketch comedy - is that there's a lot more texture and subplot in drama than in comedy.

I remember making 'Mr. Show,' thinking, 'Man this stuff is really funny to me.' I don't know if anyone else will love it, but I know I'm going to still watch it in 15 years if I'm still alive and laugh really hard. Even though we had very high standards, we were trying to excite and please ourselves.

Humans are ridiculous. We're all pathetic strivers who will fall short. If you can accept that, it's optimistic because you can shoot for the moon and know you're never going to get there, and that's OK.

Vince Gilligan is a wizard - and a fantastically hard-working wizard.

I think independent movies are actually very challenging right now, because it was this huge scene and it was great for a few years. Then, it was totally co-opted by the studios. Now, it's become very corporate, the independent scene.

David and I got cut out the editing process on that. We were able to affect it more than not. We sent in our notes, we were able to see cuts. We weren't allowed to see dailies and we weren't allowed to sit in the editing room and just work.

I have a lot of opinions. I express them in 'Mr. Show' very clearly, I think. I feel like both David Cross and I felt like that show reflected each of us pretty wholly.

I enjoy crude behaviour and language. I revel in it.

I can't really say how big the cult is. But I'm proud of it. I'm proud that it has a life.

It is so weird to be on this side of that, because when you're starting out, and it seems like you're starting out for so long, you look up to the people who have made their mark. And you sort of want to be that.

It's nice that the independent scene is taken seriously, and has been.

The alternative scene, for a couple years now, has been taken seriously and that's a cool thing. I don't think it's exploded or anything, but I think it's pretty cool that it still exists, it's still affecting people.

I didn't do so well at 'Saturday Night Live.' It was a very hard experience for me, for a lot of reasons that have to do with the kind of person I am and the personal issues I had at the time. I was very alone in New York, and the show has a lot of stress related to it.

I pretty much live about 10 minutes from my office. I have two kids, and I have about 8 projects that I'm working on, so I basically just get up and go to work, and go home every night and play with my kids, so I don't really know.