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I grew up in a funny way.

I grew up as a very sarcastic person. I was always the class clown, and to date girls, I had to be really funny. I was really skinny growing up. I was so thin, I had to run around in the shower to get wet. That kind of thin. So I always had to rely on humor and sarcasm.

Humor writing is something that comes naturally to me.

I write in reverse: Rather than come up with a narrative and write jokes for that narrative, I write jokes independently of the narrative, then I try to fit them in.

Words played an important part in my growing up. Not only the written word... but words that flew through the air: jokes, riddles, puns.

I've always been very upfront about the way I write, and I've always used the tools humorists use, such as exaggeration.

I try to write as serious as possible, and then a joke slips in.

And, you know, I liked writing humor. Well, I should say, I wanted to write seriously, but it kept turning funny.

My whole family is very sarcastic and constantly making jokes.

When I first started writing, I was living in England and I had that uniquely English sense of sarcasm, which has definitely seemed to have left me. I am a naturalized American and my sensibility has become far more American.