I think that's why you see so many Americans in Dublin look so sad: they are looking for the door through which they can begin to understand this place. I tell them, 'Go to the races.' I think it's the best place to start understanding the Irish.

Just luxuriate in a certain memory, and the details will come. It's like a magnet attracting steel filings.

We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part where my memory fails me completely.

Sure, I went through my 'J'accuse' phase. I was so angry for so long, I could hardly have a conversation without getting into an argument. And it was only when I felt I could finally distance myself from my past that I began to write about what happened - not just to me, but to lots of young people. I think my story is a cautionary tale.

If you look back, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven were mixing music and humor all the time.

I'm a professional hanger outer. I'm a super liability, too. I joke around, and I'm like a hyperactive child.

Tangerine' taught me that if you win an audience over with comedy, then hopefully have a soulful message at the same time.

I like to think my sense of humor is sort of smart and dumb at the same time. I like to work on multiple levels - smart and dumb, funny and sad, profound and mundane, cynical and hopeful.