Dark comedy is very difficult. You have to bring the audience in and push them away at the same time.
I love 'Overboard!' That's such a great movie, and it's one of the first movies where it co-stars a man and a woman, and they are both equally funny. That's a very rare thing.
All of us black comedians are trying to be mainstream, but you don't want to lose the edge.
I think sometimes in comedy the characters are often sacrificed for the joke, and it's more important for it to be funny than for there to be love.
Especially in comedies, I think a lot of time the female characters are there to provide a balance for guys.
Often it's seen as empowering if you're cleverer than the men, or more aware - then you're giving the woman a great strong role. And that's true to an extent. But when it's a comedy, you want to be as mad and silly and funny as the men.
I really enjoy playing that everyman part because that part is us, the audience. And you need somebody inside a comedy to tether the absurdity to reality.
I am convinced that tough villains help make a comedy sparkle because they provide a contrast to the funny guys.
I like shows where the female characters are as funny as the male characters, not just commenting on how funny the male characters are.
When I watch a comedy that's just hitting you over the head with jokes constantly, some really hit, but if they miss, you're like, 'Eh.'
If you can have heart as well as the comedy, it takes you a lot further. I think that that's what we were trying to do with 'Gigi.'
I think you make better jokes when you don't break logic for the joke, unless you make a movie just about jokes.
There's a fear when you're a comedian of just being hectoring, so you do try to fight against that.
I don't want to have so much humor [in films] that it undermines the jeopardy, but enough to sometime relieve tension.
