"When you are not treated seriously, you develop comically. Its sense of oneself is so fractured and fragile that it's like the picked-on kid who has to become funny."

"When I was younger I wanted to be a big movie star who'd get to be funny on talk shows and then I wanted to retire and write science fiction."

"I think the Canadian sense of humor is dryer than America's and juicier than Britain's. I think it's a cross between the two of them, really."

"In France, everyone speaks French 'cause they think it's cool. Gives 'em, gives 'em an excuse to smoke."

"Total absence of humor renders life impossible."

"The hoary joke in the literary world, based on 'Dreams From My Father,' was that if things had worked out differently for Barack Obama, he could have made it as a writer."

"I mean, sometimes... a comedian becomes an actor, and they just don't deliver, because the bottom line of comedy is to be funny, and the bottom line of acting is to be truthful, and they get that mixed up sometimes, or don't even notice that that's the thing."

"I think one of the basic tasks in life - one of the nice things we can do for each other - is to take things that are horrible and scary and make them acceptable and less frightening and, if possible, funny. It feels great to succeed at that."