To me, a mark of maturity is realizing that nobody runs the world. Fat cat politicians and secret conspiracies don't control our lives. In reality, the world is much more complex than that.
I find that the creative side of my brain and the archival side of my brain don't work well together. When I've done my best work, I've been in a trance-like state.
There's absolutely no way that something I do on my own is going to be seen in Malaysia.
I don't remember a lot of what I write. I try to release it after it's out there so that I can be fresh again.
Launching a new TV show is probably one of the most difficult things that a writer can do.
As a John Kerry supporter, I wanted to send him a check. But then it occurred to me that most of that money would end up in the hands of advertising agencies and television networks. And the money would be used to create deceptive commercials that flatter our point of view and shade the facts our way. And I wasn't comfortable with that. But on the other hand, that's how the game is played. You're always grappling.
I had a bumper sticker on my car for a long time that said, "Kill your television." People helpfully pointed out that I was a total fraud because I was a television writer.
I love that Voltaire was so willing to shock his readers with arbitrary cruelty. And I can completely relate to it.
I don't like that The Simpsons are spokespeople for Burger King and MasterCard and Butterfinger. In the first Gulf War, I was really upset that the Simpsons characters were being drawn on tanks and bombs. But those are things that I don't control.
I'm a pessimist, but I have many painstakingly applied coats of optimism.
Every joke can't be dazzling. And if you think you spotted an inconsistency, you did!
It was peculiar to be standing so close to him. He's just a man, but still, what a thing to be Neil Armstrong!
For me, marriage is a grotesque, unforgiving, clunky contrivance. Yet society pushes it as a shimmering ideal.
I prefer to linger on the periphery before making a commitment.
When people have no interest in a subject, it's very hard to get them to laugh about it.
I guess I'm drawn to religion because I can be provocative without harming something people really care about, like their cars.
Instead of three networks you have three hundred or three thousand. Audiences are inundated with programming, and that sometimes gives them a sense of petulant entitlement.
The most oblivious people are often the happiest.
