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I think, for me, humour needs to be used like a strong spice - sparingly.

It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control.

When humor works, it works because it's clarifying what people already feel. It has to come from someplace real.

Mixing humor and politics is something that works.

I think at its best the American sense of humor is the same as the British sense of humor at its best, which is to be wry and ironic and self deprecating.

I've often said the most difficult things I have to say to people through humour. I can very quickly put someone in their place with it. But we all walk away unscathed because there's been some funnies around it, and I'll usually make sure that it comes back at me.

Sometimes Americans don't quite get my sense of humor. My good ol' British sarcasm seems to go over their heads.

It seems to me that humour is everybody's way of keeping sane and standing off from the situations so that they can see it intellectually, as well as emotionally, and I don't know whether you've noticed, but if somebody tells a joke, it's nearly always a mini fantasy.

Now the point of comedy is not just looking funny, it's use of language. We have at our disposal a great language... and the imaginative, creative use of that language can be at the service of humour.