When I was younger I wanted to be a big movie star who'd get to be funny on talk shows and then I wanted to retire and write science fiction.

When I was in college I was in the theater department which for anyone who has been involved in any kind of theater program you know that it's really wacky and tight-knit a real family. Me and my good friends from college would do random shows and plays that were sometimes serious but most of the time really goofy and funny.

I would love to play 'Funny Girl' or 'Evita ' but I idolize the women who have played those parts. I don't know if there needs to be another version of those shows.

When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own I was shocked.

People don't want to listen to a celebrity tweeting about their charities and shows. That's why comedy writers do well - we put out little funny ideas.

It is great to add some glamour to the food industry like television shows have done for the food world and inspiring people to work in the industry. The flip side of that is unfortunately people think that after they get their qualifications they get their invitation to compete on 'Top Chef.'

I love 'Top Chef.' I think it rewrote the book on how food shows are presented on TV.

I think a lot of food shows especially when we started 'Good Eats' back in the late '90s they were still really about food. 'Good Eats' isn't about food it's about entertainment. If however we can virally infect you with knowledge or interest then all the better.

I think people are smart enough to sort it out. They know when they're watching one of these food fight shows where journalists sit around and yell and scream at each other versus serious issue reporting.

A lot of food shows need only to tempt. Some food shows only need to inspire to empower. And there are a lot of shows that do that.

My Food Network shows 'Emeril Live' and 'Essence of Emeril ' are not in production right now but I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily leaving Food Network. I have a lot of television still in me. I enjoy teaching people so it's just a matter of time before I do something new.

Those other 10 o'clock shows that come on all you get from them is headaches and nightmares when you go to bed! At least we give you food know what I mean?

Instead of going out to dinner buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy it's more important to make yourself feel good.

You go to a show and there's no food at all so if you're doing shows back to back you can forget eating. I remember standing up in the bath one day and there was a mirror in front of me and I was so thin! I hated it. I never liked being that skinny.

I think there are a lot more writers who are actors than you know they just don't have roles on famous TV shows that you recognize.

The actual truth about Gad is it's one of the original 13 tribes of Israel so you can actually trace my lineage back to like those guys who had like a hand in the Bible and have since become very famous from that. So I come from very famous lineage. Granted they didn't have cameras back then so none of them had TV shows.

These days with 'American Idol' and all the other reality shows young people become famous overnight and that can be very difficult to handle the way photographers follow you around and study your every move.