I think my mom recognized that I liked people to be happy. I like people to get along. And I like to be a peacemaker. And I liked the church. So she was like, 'You should be a youth pastor.'

I wanted to be a pastor. I was going to be a youth pastor. I mean, I play guitar; I like to make people laugh.

My mom wanted me to be a youth pastor, and when I became a comedian, she said it was close enough.

I am a comedian. My brain is critical - it's overthinking - but you can find ways to turn it down and realize that's not who you really are.

I love practical jokes and humor. That there's frankly no joke that I don't think is funny. I love practical jokes, but I don't like being scared.

I think up until the point when we started in the business, which was in the early '70s, most of the humor was political. The smart humor was political satire.

Comedy can be quite all consuming at times, and if you're not careful you end up doing a tour, then a DVD, then another tour then a DVD. Suddenly the years have just flown by.

To me, thoughts are fun and art is fun. The strength of our society should not be idle entertainments but the joy of pursuing ideas.