Quotes

I'm 49-years-old and I'm cautious of the fact that very few people in comedy have careers after age 50. I think there's a notion in our society, and it maybe valid, that people aren't as funny when they get older. It's a stigma still attached to the rebelliousness of youth. I do believe that sooner or later I'll get those great roles like Gary Sinise's part in Forrest Gump (1994) or Tommy Lee Jones' as Two-Face in Batman Forever (1995).

I started doing Clinton and then I was on the cover of TV Guide. I became... a household name... I didn't have to look for work any more. Work came to me.

I benefit from the Mr. Potato Head syndrome. Put a wig and a nose and glasses on me, and I disappear.

(On the 1991 arrest of Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) for indecent exposure): The loss he took for what allegedly happened is the equivalent of somebody's getting 20 years for having a joint in their wallet.

I still don't speak to Paul Reubens. We just had a falling out and never put it back together.

I'm a really big fan of Bill Murray. He's been a great influence on me - when he did that smarmy thing in Ghostbusters (1984), then the same sort of thing in Groundhog Day (1993). I tried to imitate it. I couldn't. I wasn't good enough. But I discovered an element of something else, so in a sick kind of way I made myself a career by doing a bad imitation of another comic. I know who I am as a person, but as a comic actor I'm still trying to figure it out.

It's fun coming in as the second or third lead. If the movie or TV show bombs, you aren't to blame.

[on appearing on The Dating Game (1965)] I won... What did it? She asked me, if I was a street sign, what would I be? I said, "Slippery when wet." Yes, and as you might have expected, she stood me up.

I've served the same role that Dan Aykroyd did. The average guy who you could put wigs and glasses and noses on and make into a lot of different things. I've been sympathetic dads, scary attorneys, insane killers and Frank Sinatra, who is sort of an amalgam of all those things.

[on leaving Saturday Night Live (1975)] The shows are getting less sophisticated. There's less political satire. The younger audience loves Adam Sandler. He appeals less to the intellect and more to that stand-up sensibility of "Let's go out there and be insane." I like Adam Sandler, but that's not my kind of comedy, so, yeah, in a way it makes me feel like, "Well, it's time for me to go.".

I'm from a large family, I'm the middle child. I suppose I didn't get what I wanted out of my family life, so I started seeking love and attention elsewhere.