Quotes

Producers say, "Hey, all he does is throw pies". It kept me off a lot of shows.

I've never done a pretentious show; it's always had a live feeling, the kind of thing that comes across when you don't know what's going to happen next. I've never done anything simply because I thought I could get away with it. I've just wanted to do the funniest show.

I'll probably be remembered for the pies, and that's all right.

One of my younger fans made the mistake of heaving a frozen pie at me before it defrosted. It caught me in the neck and I dropped like a pile of bricks.

I remember one time we were working with Pookie at the window. He was doing a bit where he was breaking eggs and one of the eggs turned out to be rotten. My God, the smell was terrible! And I'm sure, watching us at home, everyone knew there was something wrong from the look on our faces.

Once I found out that adults were watching, too, I never consciously changed anything to play to them.

Our shows were not actually written, but they were precisely thought out. But the greatest thing about the show and I think the reason for its success, was that it seemed undisciplined. The more you can make a performance seem spontaneous, the better the entertainer you are.

[on his family owning a store in North Carolina] We were the only Jewish family in the area. We sold sheets to the Ku Klux Klan.