The hard thing is getting people to come to the theater to see something, no matter if it’s good or not.

Wearing a tuxedo isn’t as simple as it sounds. I’ve been to a lot of award shows in Hollywood over the years and have seen some pretty sad tuxes. It’s surprisingly easy to go off...

‘Nuclear’ is nothing but trouble. Do you say ‘new-clear’ or do you say ‘nuke-you-ler’? Whoever invented that word had obviously never studied the human mouth. We don’t have enough muscles in our face to make...

I’m glad I took the leap away from acting into going behind the camera because it’s much more satisfying – I love acting and I still do, but it’s much more satisfying to be able...

I’m from Mt. Clemens, Michigan. It’s right outside Detroit. The suburbs. I was always very heavily involved in theater back then. I was always in drama club or forensics. Anything that you could do that...

As tempting as it seems to wear tennis shoes with your tux, don’t do it. I think it looks ridiculous. If you’re 14 years old, maybe give it a shot. In general, don’t portray anything...

Yeah, you know, I like to throw myself on the sword so that others may feel better about themselves. I tell the stories that you all want to forget, but when you remember it, it...

What’s so great about working with really funny women is that vanity comes second. Whatever makes it real and funny, they’re going to go for, and it’s just great.

There’s nothing worse than the sequel that’s a letdown from the first movie.

With a suit, even if you’re having a nervous breakdown, you still look like you’re in charge.

What I do as a director is really create a safe environment that everyone can feel very comfortable in and experiment within so that they don’t hold back anything. You never ever want someone to...

I’m just always a bit thrown when, in the immediate aftermath of some event which makes us feel like either God’s out to get us or He’s not doing His job as well as He...

Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional W.W.F. wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they’re invincible and that they’re going to destroy their opponent. Then they get hit...

If you’re not connected emotionally to a story, then you’re dead. You’re really just opening the door for people to lose interest and their minds to wander, for them to start picking it apart.

You want a happy ending, but not such a ridiculous happy ending that it doesn’t mean anything to anybody.

We didn’t used to be so precious about women in comedy back in the old days.

Women comedy is different than men comedy. Guy comedy is very aggressive, it’s about insulting each other, name-calling, and kind of busting each other’s chops, and that’s not what women’s comedy is.

Whatever makes you laugh is fine, and all we can do as comedy professionals is try to steer you towards something that we think is a little better – but not put you down or...

I’ve always enjoyed people studying themselves in the mirror, and I also enjoy those ‘walk and feel bad’ shots. I like anything that isolates people and focuses them on themselves, or makes us focus on...

The dueling maturity levels in high school is such a source of comedy to me. I was always such a late developer. I was last to walk. I was last to ride a bike. I...

A lot of comedies fall apart because they just go from joke to joke, and the characters are all sort of being crazy off on their own.

In my years of acting, the one thing I was never able to do convincingly was to laugh on camera. Fake-laugh.

I’m kind of a failure. I mean, I’ll be honest. I’m successful in that I’m getting to work on great stuff, but I think I’m a failure in all the personal stuff that is most...

My style of comedy is very real and bittersweet, and sort of always on the verge of kind of being tragic.

You need to have one element about your outfit that is imperfect, that says you live in it and you’re not letting it control you. I think men and women both need a softness about...

I’ve never been comfortable around groups of guys when it gets into the putting-down. My past being a kind of geek – it kind of turns into an attack on the weakest of the group.

What I don’t like is when I see stuff that I know has had a lot of improv done or is playing around where there’s no purpose to the scene other than to just be...

As a director, I really wanted to learn and I needed to get away from my own stuff to figure out how to just do things and work with good people.

One of the biggest things you have is your reputation and your reputation with knowing what’s good and what’s not good.

At the end of the day, I just want a movie that’s great, that people are going to love and laugh at and be affected by, and also have an emotional journey.