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Don't kid yourself; the guy who's onstage in ripped-up jeans is wearing as much a costume as I am.

I was like a Borscht Belt comedian trapped in the body of a 6-year-old. I was channeling Jackie Mason at 7.

After the comedy boom of the '80s, there was a certain formula that comedians had to do and could do in order to be successful touring comedians, and those were mainly observational comedians who had a very strict structure of what made an act, and I think it was very performance oriented.

I was a show-off as a kid. I was wearing bow ties and matching coloured trousers.

My favorite comedians are basically themselves onstage.

I was an actor before becoming a comedian.

I never went to concerts when I was a kid, so I never knew if what I was doing onstage was right.

I was a stage-struck kid.

In my day, in my era, Ralph McDaniels, just being five and being at his block party, you could just got onstage.

I don't know any comedian who tailors his act to his audience. Maybe people say they do, but I can't even imagine them.