Actor

You try to figure out things to keep yourself interested. It's very easy to get lulled.

I think Canadians are great satirists because we sit in the middle of these two giants: Great Britain and the U.S.

I was a huge fan of Steve Martin, as everyone I knew in comedy was.

Everything alters and changes with time. Some things that are considered triumphs, and 10 years later, they're considered minor.

People do think I'm Jewish. But we're Irish Catholic. My father had a brogue.

When you get to a point where you're successful enough that you can say, 'I don't have to take any job anymore,' and you're still good at what you do, how do you decide what work to take on? I think the answer is that you pursue what you enjoy. In my case, it's variety.

No one is any one thing.

No one doesn't have loss. No one doesn't have pain.

I know if I were to drop dead now, people would probably write nice things in the obit.

I remember, as a kid, nothing struck me funnier than seeing Richard Nixon look into the camera and sincerely tell everyone he didn't know where the 18 minutes had gone from his tapes. But there was all this sweat on his upper lip. We knew he was lying. He knew we knew he was lying. But he was determined to tell the lie.

All you're trying to do in an improvisation is get as much material as possible for the editing room.

Some people you work on a film with, and then they disappear.

My mother was the concert master of the symphony. Absurdity and eccentricity were not criticized.

Any time you're honoured by your home, it's a bigger deal than most.

What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows.

You go through publicists because it's easy for a publicist to say to another publicist, 'No'.

Eugene Levy is my closest friend.

I know if I were to drop dead now, people would probably write nice things in the obit.

I have sometimes imagined my own death and brought myself to tears.

I have sometimes imagined my own death and brought myself to tears.