They seem much rarer now those auteur films that come out of a director's imagination and are elliptical and hermetic. All those films that got me into independent cinema when I was watching it seem thin on the ground.

I do a lot of curiosity buying I buy it if I like the album cover I buy it if I like the name of the band anything that sparks my imagination. I still like to go to record stores I like to just wander around and I'll buy whatever catches my attention.

However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

Every time I've done comedy in like traditional comedy clubs there's always these comedians that do really well with audiences but that the other comedians hate because they're just you know doing kind of cheap stuff like dancing around or doing like very kind of base sex humor a lot and stuff like that.

I'm going to do a lot of weird stuff that's not going to be like me prancing around like an insane 12-year-old. I showed everybody that side of me and I think it's time to do different stuff even when it comes down to the type of humor. I want to do some drier weirder stuff.

Back in 2004 Kellie Overbey handed me her play 'Girl Talk' to read. I fell in love with her brutally delicious humor and the fearlessly deft way in which she drew her characters. They jumped off the page and begged me to give them a space in which to stomp around.

I think I'm too cynical for L.A. My sense of humor doesn't go down well here which probably affects my love life. I need to have a laugh track following me around so people know I'm trying to be funny.

But if you don't watch me I will try and sneak in some humor. I see humor everywhere in life around me.

Anyone in the humor business isn't thinking clearly if he doesn't surround himself with idea people. Otherwise you settle for mediocrity - or you burn yourself out.

When you meet someone new who instantly gets you your sense of humor and your attitudes and your worldview even if theirs are different - and you get them in return. You both talk and talk and agree and laugh and nod and yes yes of course you should get another round of drinks.

Bathroom humor fart and poo poo humor in movies gets a laugh. It's a pretty easy audience and that's been around for ages.

I remember when humor was gentle pokes. I used to call it 'arm around the shoulder' humor. Now they go for the jugular and they take no prisoners. It's mean mean stuff.

Humor does not diminish the pain - it makes the space around it get bigger.

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything even poverty you can survive it.

I think as a rifle platoon and company commander your view is about 1 000 meters in front of you and you hope you can cover that ground and not have to back up and give it up again.

Being an artist is a very long game. It is not a 10-year game. I hope I'll be around making art when I'm 80.

Pope John Paul II brought hope to all corners of the world to people of all faiths and backgrounds with his powerful belief in the human spirit.