When I graduated, I was director of my school's sketch comedy group, and I knew that I wanted to be writing and performing my own sketch comedy. It kind of made me want to do my own one-person sketch group.
I want to be host of 'SNL.' I want to work with Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, J.J. Abrams, Emma Stone and Tim Burton, Sean Penn, Cameron Crowe. I want to work with Adam Sandler - he is so funny - and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
There's such a freewheeling nature to 'Second City,' and the greatest thing about 'Second City' was having a sophisticated audience night after night who appreciated what it was. They knew it wasn't all going to be great when you improvised, so they were very forgiving that way.
When I'm stopped in the street, people want to talk about 'The Two Ronnies' and the sketches we did.
Dealing with sketch comedy and buddy teams like Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - I just loved buddy comedies.
I love Dead Ringers. A democratic set, the work was taken seriously.
Normally, 'Saturday Night Live' is about as entertaining as an ocular migraine.
I'll go in a minute to see a sketch show.
People will love something very much or hate something very much. But the great thing about a sketch show is that if something comes along that you don't like, something else will come along in a minute that hopefully you might like that.
'Portlandia' is the most fun show. When I get a breakdown of what the arc of the story is going to be, I could never in my wildest dreams anticipate the direction.
It takes a lot of time to write and put up a sketch show, but that's part of who I am. I don't think that ever goes away, that sensibility - especially coming from the Upright Citizens Brigade. That's just who I am.
There's a good family of actors in 'Portlandia.' It's a small community with people who pop up again and again. The show's a little weird show, and you want to grow with the people who are in it, like Dana who plays the chicken waitress, and Ellen who was the adult babysitter.
Even though 'Kroll' was a crazy sketch show with big characters, one of the things I'm proud of about the show is that the characters were always kind of coming from an emotionally honest place for whoever I thought that character was.
Everybody needs some good sketch comedy.
My first sketch-writing class was with Kevin Allison from 'The State.' It was so cool.
Like in 'Eastenders' they can write coronavirus into the scripts, so people can actually be socially distancing. But if you're in a sketch show where you're on top of each other, doing stupid things, you can't really make it work.
It's absolutely surprising to me how well 'The State' has held up as far as people liking it and having fond memories of it, considering it's a sketch show.
When I was younger, I had a lot of Harry Enfield and Chums stuff - audiobooks and books and videos - so it was amazing to work with him.
'Reno' was originally going to be a sketch show, with the cops as a transitional element.
The second series of 'Fonejacker' almost killed me. It was incredibly intense.
I never set out to do a sketch show.
I pray to the shrine of 'Mr. Show.' It saved sketch comedy.
They are cheaper to make and easier to do; you can just cram in loads of talent into a format that works and works. But if you look back, a lot of people we love today like French and Saunders, Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan, all started in sketch shows.
It is all down to 'The Two Ronnies.' Those years with Ronnie Barker were the spine of my career.
I did sketch comedy for years. I've always enjoyed it.
