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My favorite comedians were Jimmy Durante, George Burns, senior citizens.

I was very interested in vaudeville. It was the only sort of discipline that was a five-minute act on stage, which is what I really enjoyed and saw myself doing. And I bought books on it.

Dance, vaudeville, drama, movies - as a child I loved everything that went on in a theater.

In terms of comedians, I loved, growing up, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Carol Burnett, all those people.

My mother was in vaudeville, but after she had her children, she quit working.

I loved George Carlin and Dean Martin. I was one of those kids who had every comedy album.

I was always a fan of the old-style comics. I loved vaudeville. I loved Milton Berle, Dick Shawn, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, Charlie Callas, all those guys. Hilarious. I love the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movies, and Abbott & Costello. My television influences were 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' 'Benny Hill,' and 'Hee Haw.'

I was in love with a lot of people, because I was a student of the game of comedy - Carol Burnett, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Don Rickles, Red Foxx, Moms Mabley - who gets no credit, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, George Kirby. I loved them all, and I used to just take a page out of all of them.

For better or worse, I have a lot of vaudeville circus skills that you just can't showcase in Aaron Sorkin's work.

My dad loved comedians, especially George Jessel, and he loved Henny Youngman and Buddy Hackett.