LIZZ WINSTEAD

I do a lot of reading of news so I can be smarter, and I do a lot of watching TV news so I can know why Americans aren't very smart. Then I can point out the hypocrisy of politicians or the media.

Whoever's president I'm not going to be short on material.

It just seems OK these days to throw women under the bus. Like we're a bargaining chip.

Opportunities present themselves to me. That's how my whole life has been pretty much. I've been lucky.

The political satirist usually votes against their own interests, but the bottom line is that it doesn't really matter.

We live in a nation where corporations are people.

We've got a deeply flawed political system with an insane overreaching extremist element, with a Supreme Court that is completely loony.

My curiosity is not a choice. It's always been part of me. I think of it as a vital organ.

I'm Catholic. My mother and I were unpacking and she found my diaphragm. I had to tell her it was a bathing cap for my cat.

I'm not sure I'm okay with 2 guys gettin' married, but I don't wanna be a jerk about it.

To really start talking about a narrative where there's no good abortion or bad abortion; there's only the abortion that you need, I think that message is really resonating and changing the landscape of how we talk about it. We're really moving forward.

It's really nice to see that, looking at all sides of the abortion issue - from the person who doesn't want to have kids so they're going to have an abortion and that's not traumatic for them, to somebody who loses a wanted pregnancy, to somebody who has complicated feelings because of their religion. We can talk about all of those complicated and individual stories and not feel like there's any one abortion story that's right or wrong.

It is easier to talk about issues; it is easier to say you're a feminist because it's actually awesome to be one. The panopoly of people identifying as feminists is really excellent now that we've come to a point where all these really interesting voices are rising up and saying they're feminists - women of color, trans people, gay folks, everybody. It's an exciting time to actually define as that because it means that people are really feeling like their voice is what's the most important thing in the movement, and I love that.

In an odd way, my parents were proud of me. When they saw me do stand-up, I'd see them looking around the room and watch them taking in the people laughing. On some level, that comforted them.

I did the Daily Show, and then I did Air America Radio, and I realized that I was lucky enough to have a job where I could get information to people. But those spaces weren't appropriate to then tell people what to do - they were corporate enterprises. My main job was to be funny, so I was trying to figure out, how can I combine all the things I love - comedy, feminism, calling out bullshit - into a creative space that other creative people would want to join in and help out?

I dropped out of college and I'm pretty much a self-educated person, so a lot of my core belief system comes from life.

If you want to effect change, start small.

I think that if you see that people are laughing, you know they haven't given up hope. You see that people are laughing because everyone has identified the collective hypocrisy of a law or of a politician who is crafting those laws. It's really nice to know that you can have a range of emotion on an issue. You can feel outrage, you can feel sadness, you can find humor, and all of those things are part of coping and dealing, and really, they give you an inspired way of moving forward as you fight.

I suppose the difference between baby people and me is that I do not consider smiling while farting 'holding up your end of a conversation.

Since we are made up of comedians and filmmakers and writers and improvisers, we have the unique opportunity to bring joy to people who are sometimes buried in their own lives or are subjected to the bullshit that clinic workers are subjected to every day.

The second you realize you're not alienated, that makes you empowered.

Write a smart joke and people want to talk about it and keep the dialogue going. Also, if you can make someone laugh, it's a pronouncement that they like you on some level.

North Carolina is an amazing place. It has the best food, and also has folks fighting really hard for what's right.

It's always fun when somebody who you admire and respect is the voice - is your voice, as a viewer.

You don't have to be famous. You just have to find your own coven of bad-asses that you trust and want to empower.