[Kids] are just like annoying short people
You never know who's going to kill you until you meet them.
When you become deeply involved with someone, their problems become yours, and vice versa. It's family.
That's a true actor's nightmare: "Improvise in British sign language. Go."
Politics is topical - it's what's happening now, and we can either respond in the present or avoid it.
Once someone is in your family orbit, there's a mutual responsibility, and whatever happens to them happens to you.
Literally, I see my writing as transcription - a transcription of what I see, hear, think, live.
In gay culture hookups are a way of escaping your class.
I've met a lot of rock stars when they come to The Simpsons, and almost every one of them I get really freaked out.
I've always been a fan of plain writing. I hate metaphor-laden, heavily larded, lyrical writing.
I was hedging my bets by the time I got to college. I was interested in drama and journalism and psychology.
I think the reason the Golden Age of television is so golden is because a lot of folks are willing to let creators do their thing and live or die by their own muse. They certainly allow us to do that.
I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself. I felt like I shouldn't have to audition for anything and all that. And that energy did not serve me at all.
I guess I'm used to seeing actors, but rock musicians still hold a special magic for me.
I guess for me the greatest injustice is to see people robbed of that interiority and process of association.
Historically, there would always be people among the general population who had family members, friends, cousins who'd done time or who'd been in prison.
Even trying it as an actor, I never thought I'd actually make it.
Association bring you into the larger world of other people and things. Not having that is a kind of prison, a prison of such a limited consciousness, of such a limited frame of reference and association.
As an actress, you're living something through the duration of the play and its geography. I've always seen writing the same way. It's like somehow I'm moving through the terrain of the book as a performer.
A self-help book can't really address a problem unless it's individualized. It's not going to talk about a globalized problem.
You know, I was a huge fan of comedy and movies and TV growing up, and I was able to memorize and mimic a lot of things, not realizing that that meant I probably wanted to be an actor.
You have to always physicalize, when you do animation recording. Otherwise, you won't get the performance right.
You can't be funny for funny's sake. You try to get as outrageous situation as you can but it always has to be believable and based in real character motivations and what people would really do.
Women are, in general, less shallow visually. If their man gains 10, 20 pounds, they don't care as much.
When you're on a series that's been cancelled, there's a little bit of a stink on you.
When you mimic everyone, sometimes authority figures really don't appreciate it which is not an original story. And pretty much every comedian has some tale of that.
When you do well in a movie that's seen as really great, you're revitalized for six weeks.
There's no experience like on-the-job training.
The Iraq War. No one took to the streets over it. It certainly would have been appropriate. If anybody even hinted we should... you were called un-American and not supporting the troops.
The craft Emmys are kind of the kids' table at Thanksgiving. You're not really invited to the big dance. It's still really, really exciting, and the statue still counts.
The 'Family Ties' role was the first of many gay roles that I've ended up playing. I remember that I made them laugh, and it made me feel good, 'cause it really cracked them up.
Just watching Jack Lemmon made me want to get into this business.
It's not really difficult to go from one voice into the next.
It's always impressive when talented comedians are easy laughers or generous with their laughs.
I've done literally 100, 150 different characters. Some of them have only appeared for a line or three. But the point is, every sound I can make has been harvested.
I've done literally 100, 150 different characters.
I've been doing silly voices since I was a child.
I'm very happy I get to keep working - it's an insanely fortunate thing.
I would love to do Broadway again.
I wore a thong and a bra and a wig. Those things hurt. I mean, thongs? Like, they dig in. It takes a tough man to be a woman.
I was 16 and did a play at school. I was a rather good student... And then I did a play when I was 16 and completely lost all my concentration for academics.
I tend to not watch things that are current. And then if everybody swears it's amazing then I'll like watch the whole series in a weekend.
I love acting, but I want to explore other things.
I joke that my niche in Hollywood has been naked foreigners.
I have no new voices - they've all been used.
I had kind of sworn off network TV a while ago.
I don't really remember much about the '60s at all. You know, 1970 is the first year I remember pretty well.
I bartended for a catering company for two or three years.
I ask for a lot of advice from different fathers - all kinds of dads.
Guys will definitely settle for women who get the joke. But a woman who can make you laugh? It's not high on a guy's must list. Perhaps it should be.
Godzilla's a monster for the '90s. He's been working out.
Being funny with a funny voice is more my comfort zone, a broader character that I try to humanize, a kind of silly or wacky persona that I try to fill in.
A lot of times, when I record with a group, I'll stay after class for another hour or two and go, 'Let me try a bunch of things I was thinking of, as you were doing that.'
When I was young in L.A. and I couldn't get into clubs or restaurants, I would call imitating celebrities and get a table, and it would work often. I was either Stallone or Mickey Rourke: 'This is Sly. I may be late, but my buddy Hank will be there early.'
Women are, in general, less shallow visually. If their man gains 10, 20 pounds, they don't care as much. But I've been with women over the years when my weight fluctuated, and they're definitely more interested physically when I am in really great shape.
You know those award shows. The cliche is that it's an honor just to be nominated, but that happens to be true. Whoever wins it in the end, I don't know, sometimes it feels arbitrary. Sometimes it feels like it's deserving.
I just really committed to trying to never repeat myself. I'd seen actors do that on films, and I was, like, "I wanna try that once!" Ultimately, I'm much more in the school of getting one or two versions that feel right, as opposed to going all over the map. But it's fun to exercise that once in awhile.
I say with pride that I've done over a hundred voices or something, and some of them may have only had two or three lines, but I literally never ran out. I think I'm a bit of a savant that way. I kind of remember every voice I hear, famous or otherwise, and can imitate it pretty fast. I've enjoyed mimicking people famous and not famous all through my life, and they kind of remain in the memory banks, so I'm ready to trot them out.
Getting over someone is a grieving process. You mourn the loss of the relationship, and that's only expedited by 'Out of sight, out of mind.' But when you walk outside and see them on a billboard or on TV or on the cover of a magazine, it reopens the wound. It's a high-class problem, but it's real.
I did a lot of theater in college, and I knew that not many people make it, but I just figured, 'Well, I really want to try acting while I'm young, and I don't ever want to look back and say that I never gave it a try.' I fully figured I'd be back in grad school - probably for psychology.
I was a huge fan of comedy and movies and TV growing up, and I was able to memorize and mimic a lot of things, not realizing that that meant I probably wanted to be an actor. I just really, really amused myself and my friends with memorizing entire George Carlin or Steve Martin albums.
In my cranky old age, I actually prefer recording alone now, on 'The Simpsons,' for example, because I find that the director can just focus on what I'm doing and I can do a lot of variations. A lot of times, when I record with a group, I'll stay after class for another hour or two.
My ultimate is Peter Sellers - his ability to go broad and somehow humanize that and be hilarious at the same time. He was just relatable, real at the same time as insane. I find Ricky Gervais absolutely hilarious. Steve Martin is another hero of mine - he's a genius.
