MICHAEL PATRICK KING

I try not to repeat a story. I try not to repeat an emotion. I want it to be all sort of new for the viewers and to challenge myself as a writer, so there's always pressure. What else can you come up with?

People pull away from something if it's not of good taste. People lean into something if it's okay.

Who's to say where funny stops and 'too far' starts?

I love writing for women. The willingness to go from laughter to tears in a moment is the greatest palette you can paint with as a writer.

The first-time director thing is just another label somebody puts on you.

The thing you can't let go of is gravity. The reality of gravity in writing. If someone says something really mean in a sitcom, and the next wave isn't a reaction to the reality of that, you start losing relatability. In a lot of romantic comedies, they throw out the rules of life.

There's no reason to do 'ex and the City' if it's not going to be everything 'Sex and the City' is, which is vibrant emotions, comedy, drama... and also, style.

I really enjoy women and I totally understand and applaud the diversity that they have in terms of their emotions and intellects and vulnerability and strengths.

The jokes I used to do on 'Sex and the City' were always comic character things, and they were rarely hard jokes. As soon as you go up in front of people, it demands laughter.

If I talk to a woman for more than five minutes I can tell you exactly whether she's an Aidan girl or a Mr. Big girl. Aidan girls are more interested in nurturing relationships and building a nest while Mr. Big girls are more about show and having fun.

With a live audience, it's very clear when you've pushed it too far to the edge - because you fall off that edge and hit bottom with a thud. Nothing abstract about that. You know you went too far when you hear that groan or worse - that silence instead of the big laugh you were expecting following your hilariously edgy joke.

Every character when born is a stereotype.

I'm happiest in an empty church. I love the smell of a church.

I love funny women. I love writing funny women characters.

'Sex and the City' is about outsiders. Single girls as lepers, should have been married by now. It's the reason the whole thing took off.

My mom would be leaving the house and she'd say, 'Don't you pull out all of the old dresses in the attic and put on a show again!' And the door would close, and that's exactly what I'd do. The show was calling me!

Being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people.

I think I would love a shot at remaking 'The Philadelphia Story,' as daunting as it is. I still think it's fantastic. I love the '30s comedies because they're allowed to be both comic and elegant, and the women are so complicated in them.

Here's what happens - you create something in the moment that you feel will be good, and then... people's reactions to it or people referencing it years later, it's a compliment.

Only two things change when you get older: the energy in your voice and the time of night you feel it's appropriate to call someone. In your 20s, people call at 2 a.m. and yell, 'Are you up?' into the answering machine. Now, someone calls after 8 p.m., and my boyfriend is like, 'Who is that? Who could be calling at this hour?'

The second episode of any new show can be tough. You have about a week to top the well-crafted and polished pilot episode that was written over six months.

'Sex and The City' was made to correct the myth that if you were single at a certain age, you were a leper. Its four characters are heroes to a lot of women; they run around New York, or Gotham - but they have fancy shoes instead of capes.

It seems a lot of straight men need a word coach or a lawyer when it comes to discussing 'Sex and the City.'

My female writers have always been my backbone. I had a writing room of six women for five years so I know what women do. Cultivated by me, by the way!

People wince when something is in bad taste. They laugh when it's funny. If it's too dirty or wrong, they won't laugh. But if it's a big, dirty, smart, funny laugh, they love it.