A clown's makeup and character, that's all he has to sell. He loves and believes in that character.

By laughing at me, the audience really laughs at themselves, and realizing they have done this gives them sort of a spiritual second wind for going back into the battles of life.

Incongruity, they say, is one of the main ingredients of humor. Maybe it's because everybody can feel superior to me. I honestly don't know.

We Anglophones have reasons for adopting strange diets. Increasingly, we live alone. We have an unprecedented choice of foods, and we're not sure what's in them or whether they're good for us. And we expect to customize practically everything: parenting, news, medicines, even our own faces.

I always saw my mother just making decisions that helped our family. It was much later when I realized how courageous she really was, and I came to understand what a risk-taker she was. That's very much a part of how I am.

There are women for whom family is a priority, and they do it. It just wasn't as much a priority for me.

I'm lucky to attribute my success to the foundation my family gave me. I've always felt grounded in them.