You don't go to Berkeley to become an actor. In fact, I don't think you go to any school to become an actor. You've just sort of got to go out there and act.
I was in college, I thought I was going to be a lawyer, I met this girl named Laura who was the most beautiful girl I had ever known, and she was taking an acting class, so I decided to take the same acting class. And I was a terrible actor in college.
In general, I did what a lot of character actors do: I did it to get girls.
Do less than you ever thought it was possible to do.
I was probably 34 when I got my first on-camera acting job, and it was through a friend of mine, who was working as a writer on the show, and I've never been more frightened in my life.
Why focus on what somebody might think? Nobody talks [on TV] like people really talk most of the time.
Without being good enough, I started figuring out how to make my way through the minefield of a script, which is what it was to me at the time, and the rest is semi-history.
I had no idea that, when you audition for television or movies, you go to a big building - like, an office building - and you walk in the room, and everybody, I assumed, was smarter than me and better than me, and there's actors you recognize. I once fainted at an audition.
Paul Michael Glaser was very nice to me, and I was again told, "Do less and less and less and less." And I still was bad! I can't believe I kept getting hired after some of these things I did! It's baffling to me. I'll go back and look at it, and I can't even watch it [Running man film].
I started out old, but I have to say that I've been very lucky to work consistently since I started. I've really never been out of work.
I had great affection for Dana Carvey, and I think we all thought, "Dana's the guy. There's the comic genius."
I started just naturally turning into a nicer person, and it actually helped broaden and lengthen my career.
I always had to rely on humor and sarcasm. And when I started having kids, that doesn't work with kids. Kids don't understand sarcasm, and they certainly don't understand my humor.
I was so thin, I had to run around in the shower to get wet. That kind of thin.
I grew up as a very sarcastic person. I was always the class clown, and to date girls I had to be really funny. I was really skinny growing up.
I can't emphasize the immediate panic that would set in when I had to audition. I can't believe I did it.
I just don't feel like - I've never felt like - part of the entertainment industry. I still just feel like I'm trying to work my way in. And that's weird.
I didn't watch the Emmys because - well, for one, I have been to awards shows, and I understand how it works. For another, sour grapes. Actually, that's probably number one.
I also remember that Snoop Dogg visited the set in New York, with a joint in his mouth that looked like a cigar. There's your anger management. I thought, "Isn't he going to get arrested?" It was like he lived on another planet. God bless him, he was very nice. Who wouldn't be nice when you're that stoned?
Show business is a great place to fail upward... and I guess that's what I've done.
Harold Ramis really got my career going and was a friend for a long time. I was doing a play in L.A., and he came to see it a few times and recommended me to Ivan Reitman for Ghostbusters 2. Six months later, I quit real estate and was acting for good, and it was really because Harold took an interest in me and made a phone call and did stuff that people don't usually do, even if they like somebody.
