For Me, Most Comedy Scripts Fail In

I Did A Comedy With Al Franken About His Character Stuart Smalley, Which Was Really About Alcoholism And Addiction And Codependency. It Had Some Painful Stuff In It. When We Showed It To Focus Groups, Some Of Them Actually Said, "if I Want To See A Dysfunctional Family, I'll Stay Home."

I'm Sure That The Liability For Doing A Tracheotomy Would Be Tremendous. You Make One Mistake, And It's Over. Most Doctors Won't Even Do It.

I've Tried To Stay Away From Mild Satire. I Want An Audience To Feel Something More Powerful For Their Ten Bucks. If They're Going To Spend Two Hours With Me, And Trust Me To Lead Them Around, I'd Like To Take Them Someplace Special.

My First Few Films Were Institutional Comedies, And You're On Pretty Safe Ground When You're Dealing With An Institution That Vast Numbers Of People Have Experienced: College, Summer Camp, The Military, The Country Club.

You Can't Love Somebody Into A State Of Mental Health.