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Now the fact that people are saying, 'Oh my God, he's finally come out' - I was never in.

I'm not even sure I want to use the term 'coming out.'

Coming out is a means of redefining oneself, of claiming membership in a lifestyle and a social order with distinct values. Chief among these values is honesty.

Back in the day, coming out was something very personal. You began by acknowledging the truth, first to yourself, then to close family and friends. Those of us more in the public spotlight, though, also had to 'come out' to the press.

When you start out, it sometimes feels like you're fighting audiences every night just to prove that you're funny.

I watched a million coming-out videos, and that was kind of how I accepted it myself.

If you look at my life before I went into television, the struggle I went through coming out would be surprising to most people, given how comfortable and how out I am being the only late-night gay talk-show host.

I didn't have a coming out moment.

The whole principle of coming out is that everyone knows someone who's gay. The minute someone comes out, no one can be a bigot, because someone they love is gay.