To me the black black woman is our essential mother the blacker she is the more us she is and to see the hatred that is turned on her is enough to make me despair almost entirely of our future as a people.

I remember interviewing someone I actually felt bad for and therefore didn't want to take an ironic stance against him. It actually turned out to be a really funny piece.

When I turned about 12 or 13 I realised that being funny wasn't about remembering jokes. It was about creating them.

I love nerds. Comic-Con junkies are the tastemakers of tomorrow. Isn't that funny? The tables have turned.

I've dated some women who have turned me on to some funny things that are strange for men to actually do but these things have become part of my process. I think the things I do for my appearance help make me look better. I even colour my hair because I like how it makes me look.

I turned down 'Some Like It Hot.' See how smart I am? I felt I couldn't bring anything funny to it. The outfit was funny. I don't need to compete with the wardrobe.

'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is a good one because it not only turned out I think to be a really funny movie but it was also a delight to shoot. We were in the South of France working with Glenne Headly and Michael Caine and Frank Oz the director - who were just fun.

I have just returned from Boston. It is the only thing to do if you find yourself up there.

I've returned to being an amateur without any ties or strings attached which gives me a freedom I never had before.

In '71 or '72 I returned to New Orleans and stayed there. I started cooking Louisiana food. Of all the things I had cooked it was the best-and it was my heritage.

Food prices are often kept artificially high. The result is that the Millennium Development Goals set out by the United Nations at the start of the new millennium are not being reached. Fine words have not yet been turned into deeds.

You know Stephen says in the movies no one ever goes to the bathroom. They shave they brush their teeth. He goes right at this sort of funny taboo we have about the bathroom and he turned it into this nightmare you know your worst fear of what's in there.

Fear is something to be moved through not something to be turned from.

I love singing - singing is what I'm famous for doing. Now it's turned into things I am famous for doing - like having rows with my mum or about my boyfriend so it does get irritating.

Berry Gordy turned his house into a studio and discovered over 30 acts in the city. And we're famous all over the world.

I've been through a lot of things in my personal and family life. That turned me into a fighter. I always strive to be the best I possibly can.

I'm a girl from a good family who was very well brought up. One day I turned my back on it all and became a bohemian.