JASON GANN

There are no real guidelines or maps in Australia as to how to write a show, whereas in Hollywood it's where the TV industry is created and there's a lot of work that goes into development.

I had a good theater career for years. I played Hamlet when I was 22, and I've played some really great roles.

My dad was in the army so we moved around a lot and I changed schools every year and had to make new friends, and I found that if I was the funny guy I could do that easier.

You can maybe be artistic and really original and creative, but as long as it's got that funniness at the root of it, then certain people are going to love it just because they need a laugh.

Back in Australia, I did foster care for sick cats for years, and I was always most successful with the animals when I was given two - a brother and sister.

I'm sort lucky in that for me, I'm a writer now. I started as an actor but I'm a writer and so things like 'Wilfred' and shows like that are where I escape to.

I've always been fairly confident in my acting.

To open the majority of peoples' minds to something new is difficult. I always think that, as long as it's funny underneath, then you can argue that a teaspoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

I do have a couple of pets, but I am determined to keep them out of the media spotlight.

I see something that seems like standard fare, that I can imagine any number of actors playing, and I'm generally not interested.

The writer's room is a really interesting place to be.

British comedy - which has been a big inspiration to me for many years - is very different to Australian comedy and different again to American comedy.

So many young pets burn out in Hollywood, it's crazy.

Dogs are more of a responsibility than kids - you can send a kid off to their grandparents or a nanny, but with a dog you can't do that.

I don't get that many scripts. Back in Australia, I've pretty much done my own shows and really no work outside of that. It's only now that I'm starting to read some Hollywood film scripts, and I've read some really great ones.

The last few years I've had to force myself to go out and be more involved the world because I can get a bit more cerebral and escape into characters and the world of characters. But now I guess I escape into stories about 'Wilfred.'

Eventually, I want to be a creative producer that isn't in things. The acting is more of a secondary thing for me now.

The acting is more of a secondary thing for me now. I will be in it, if I'm the best man for the job, but it really is about creating characters and shows.

I want to do different projects and be versatile. I don't want to get fixed into narrative comedy.

I really think that you can extract a lot of comedy out of really dramatic, intense situations.

Sometimes girls would come in and audition and they'd talk down, and it was like, "No, no, talk to the human eye level."

It's always difficult when you want to do something really new, and you also want it to reach the masses, because the majority of people want to see what they've already seen before, or that they're already familiar with. To open the majority of peoples' minds to something new is difficult.

I came to America so that I could work with the best and be the best.

It's great to write for actors when you know who they are. I think I prefer it.

I always found it really funny when actors would come offstage, smoking cigarettes and swearing at each other.