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I became a clown when these docs came to the house in Berkeley and asked me to come cheer up kids. I'd just had my third spinal fusion and I was looking for something to take my mind off the pain I was in.

The role of a clown and a physician are the same - it's to elevate the possible and to relieve suffering.

I was trying to be a clinical psychologist for years. But I kept getting stuck in comedy.

I used to love being the class clown. I loved to make jokes and make people laugh. There was a set of students who would find it funny. But the cool students were like, 'Eeew!'

I had been laughed at my whole life through school, and I never really thought of it as a vocation. I mean, I started off as a soldier, and then I went into the university thinking I was going to be a journalist, but comedy kind of fell on my head and demanded I pursue it.

I was the class podiatrist. I never made it to class clown. I wasn't funny enough. I would examine feet and prescribe and ointment. It was a sad childhood.

I became a specialist at comedic one-liners.

During the Great Depression, when people laughed their worries disappeared. Audiences loved these funny men. I decided to become one.

I've had a very laughable career and what has seen me through is my sense of humor.