I always jest to people, the Oval Office is the kind of place where people stand outside, they're getting ready to come in and tell me what for, and they walk in and get overwhelmed in the atmosphere, and they say, man, you're looking pretty.
Humor has the tendency to be funny once. If I tell you a joke, we're going to have a big laugh. But the second time I tell the joke, it's going to be a bit strange, and the third time you're going to ask if there's something wrong with me. So I am very cautious with jokes, but there is a lightness in my work.
You just got to be really logical when you're a comedian - to a fault. Like a lawyer's got to believe in the law.
It's such a smart decision for comedy to not try to be relevant or contemporary.
I love doing meta-humor, as long as it doesn't become too distracting and it's subtle.
Half the battle is that people have to like you before you say one joke, one bit of humor.
Humor needs to come in under cover of darkness, in disguise, and surprise people.
Personally I don't spend much time thinking about being funny. For me it's always been just a way to get by, a way to be likable yet to remain removed. When I speak up, it's not because I have any particular answers; rather, I have a desire to puncture the pretentiousness of those who seem so certain they do.
You have a laugh line; don't accentuate it. You get a bigger laugh.
I seem to be able to get away with pun strips if I add a panel at the end where I somehow indicate that I know it's a bad pun.
I've learned to start from a really sound argument, boil down the essence of what you're trying to say, then build your humor around that, rather than starting with, 'This sounds funny,' and going from there.
Our solution on 'The Simpsons' is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!'
If you're going to take a risk as a comic, make sure it's surrounded by other things that you're certain are funny.
We're never going to please everyone, but all the great Jewish comics have succeeded through irreverence and self deprecation.
In general, even when I'm not doing political comedy, I want to be clever and find the least confrontational way to say the most offensive things.
It's never a matter ever, ever - are - we're never trying to gross anybody out, or ever are we trying to shock people. We're just trying to make it funny in a way that makes the audience go, 'You know, that was the first joke they thought of, and they weren't afraid to do it.'
If you try to go for a laugh, it's death to the comedy. Personally, that's how I approach comedy. But I'm no expert.
The key to doing 'Harold and Kumar' movies is you make it earnest. Primarily what we do is make Harold and Kumar's relationship and friendship believable, and we don't actually work on being that funny.
The funniest women I've known are Southern. It is such a vital way to get what you want. Charm and grace and a sense of humor will take you a long way.
I call it predicament humor. You don't do anything that cuts the star off at the knees or worse. You make him intelligent; you give him great ideas and great things to do.
