As a post-Holocaust kid, growing up in a neighborhood with a lot of Jewish refugees, I had got the idea there were no Jews left in Europe. But I found in my European wanderings that many of them had gone back and rebuilt their lives.

Food is interesting to me because it's a way of understanding culture and societies and history. I would never write about food just as food. Just like I would never write about baseball just as baseball.

One of the things I am most proud of is refusing to serve in the military when drafted during the Vietnam War.

I wanted college to be a real American adventure for me.

One of the things that comedy has given me over the years is a really good ability to laugh at myself and to not take things that don't matter too much too seriously. I feel that very little offends me anymore and I'm really grateful for that because I think I was a pretty uptight little kid.

Our everyday lives exist with comedy and tragedy next to each other.

I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre, and that's really where my training is.

I crack jokes all the time. Even when I have a fight, I will make a joke, and people will laugh.