Who made me laugh when I was growing was Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, and then moving on, there were so many that I was a writer for for many years: I was a writer for the Smothers Brothers, Lily Tomlin, then I started on 'Saturday Night Live' as the head writer the first year we started it.

I have been asked to direct many times and usually said no.

Parodies came about because Mr. Ford was actually one of the better athletes of our presidents... but he continually had physical accidents... he was an easy target for me. The main idea was to get people laughing.

All those car battles with my brother Ned were excellent training. Even now, on the set, if we're getting into a vehicle, I'll yell 'shotgun' first. Thus forcing Steve Martin into the back of the car.

I'm a huge comedy nerd. I have been forever.

Not by any means do I think that I'm The Rock or Mark Wahlberg. I understand that I'm not like them, being a leading guy, but I'm a great comedy sidekick, and, who knows, I can be in the X-Men or something.

The fact is that most crime novels contain a good many punchlines. They are just rather darker than the ones you might hear in a comedy club.

At the end of the day, I do think I'm happiest doing comedy. I love it. I know that I can do other things. I love drama as well.