And regardless of the fact that in this country certainly in the arts we treat comedy as a second-class citizen I've never thought of it that way. I've always thought it to be important. The last time I looked the Greeks were holding up two masks. I've always thought of it not only as having equal value but as the craft of it being funny.

It's funny growing up there was never anybody around me with any kind of artistic bent.

So often I read scripts and am like 'This would never happen in real life. It's not trying to be funny. It's trying to be serious.'

I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be scary.

When it comes to war we focus more on the mainstream coverage of the event rather than the event itself. People dying is never funny. Protest puppets are always funny.

Even as a kid I was never the generator of humor but I always knew who was funny who to hang out with.

I actually was class clown but I don't know how that happened because I've never been considered an outwardly funny person.

I actually was class clown but I don't know how that happened because I've never been considered an outwardly funny person-as the people in this room will attest.

I really don't know what makes a comedian. I think it's a family background and environment. Yet if you put the same ingredients in another person he may never utter a funny line.

I had seen movies before that that had made me laugh but I had never seen anything even remotely close to as funny as Richard Pryor was just standing there talking.

It's interesting that whenever I meet some of the other Bond girls I always have something in common and it is an interesting sorority. We all share about our Bonds. 'Did your Bond do that?' 'Yes mine did!' So it is quite funny conversations. We may as well be in high school.

I've never really understood that. It's a funny thing people sometimes accuse us of condescending to our characters somehow-that to me is kind of inexplicable.

People never ask people doing serious music 'Do you ever think about doing funny music?'

You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great.

It's funny because I never think of myself as Little Miss All-Together.

It's funny because I think a lot of it is simply... We've never considered ourselves satirists but because we're on Comedy Central and because we're South Park on Comedy Central we can do any topic we want.

This may sound funny but as much as the 'Today' show matured me it also was something of a cocoon. I'd been happy there. I never went into the boss's office and pounded my fist on the desk saying 'Give me more money! Give me a prime-time show!'