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By laughing at me, the audience really laughs at themselves, and realizing they have done this gives them sort of a spiritual second wind for going back into the battles of life.

There is nothing more joyful to me than hearing a live audience laugh. Especially when I planned it that way!

And I definitely gravitate toward people who use laughter to pull themselves out of the abyss.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

When the kids are laughing in the audience, I tear up, I'm so happy I did a nice thing.

I try to bring the audience's own drama - tears and laughter they know about - to them.

If I get a hard audience they are not going to get away until they laugh. Those seven laughs a minute - I've got to have them.

I think there should be laughs in everything. Sometimes, it's a slammed door, a pie in the face or just a recognition of our frailties.

I love when people laugh. I love when they cry, I like a story to say something, and I hope the audience feels happier leaving the theatre than when it came in.

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it's OK to fail - a kind of home, I suppose.