Growing up with Bronx Irish parents during an era of protests against the status quo, I was especially committed to doing the opposite of what I was told to do. Forty-four years later, I am left with only one means of making a living: comedy.

Driving around with a receding hairline and two kids in a Prius feels a bit boring for me.

There's so many ways to do stand up, and I think for awhile, people weren't really maximizing the freedom of it.

The compulsion to do the opposite of what you are told does not lend itself to many occupations outside the entertainment industry. Within the industry, it is unlikely that you will be very successful without it.

I have no child to inherit my properties. You, the people, are my only family, and to make you happy is the reason I do politics.

I was thinking about it: so many of my stories are about my family life, not about being related to a lot of famous people. That's my grandma, that's my mama, my daddy, my aunt, my uncle, my stepdaddy. I'd probably tell them even if they weren't well known.

My family, they are definitely not an ordinary family.

I think that education is a pathway out of poverty for many people. It was for our family.