Citations

[on playing "Vicky" in Intramural (2014)] She's extraordinarily high- maintenance and spirited in all the wrong ways, but still genuinely confident in what she believes she deserves. I wanted to inject as much sweetness or likability as possible into this insane person. You see some characters like that on reality TV and just hate them. I wanted to see if I could play someone like that and make her not hate-able - to try to understand the humanity inside that behavior.

For an impression, I just find that I can do a lot of the people I love without much research, because I've already watched hours and hours of them on video and it seeped into my brain while I wasn't thinking about it.

I started watching 'SNL' when I was thirteen or so; those were the Molly Shannon/Ana Gasteyer/Cheri Oteri years.

I was very serene, and I still am, until I start talking in another voice, then suddenly I have a lot of volume and I'm frantic. But I didn't want to be one of those people who's always talking in accents in real life, so I started doing sketch comedy.

If you asked me to seriously kiss someone on a screen, I would be very uncomfortable. But I will lick any part of your face.

I only come up with things when I am talking to myself, which I do constantly. The sidewalk and the subway are the best places for this. I speak at full volume and then laugh at myself if I like what I just said.

Getting recognized on the street is fine, but I never really wanted to be famous.

I worked as a telemarketer for an SAT-prep company. That was the worst of it, because I had to call people in post-Katrina New Orleans and offer them this very, very expensive SAT class. And I'm not even a good salesman.

On Hillary Clinton: I admire her so much, I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life.

I never want to offend anybody. I always want to do comedy with love, and to make fun of someone as a celebration - really to make fun - but not to deride in the process. To celebrate what's unique and bizarre, but also just great about that person. That's my first thought: What will this person think of this?

I've been doing funny voices since I was 5. It's always been the way I communicated most comfortably with the rest of the world

When I'm performing, I'm quite loud, and then in real life, you can't hear a word that I'm saying, I speak in dulcet tones only. I think people are sort of confused when they meet me by how shy I am and sometimes serious.

I'd like to think that by playing mostly women in business suits or dumpy clothes or lab coats or weird outfits, I'm subconsciously promoting the idea that women have value beyond being objects of beauty and delight.

A lot of male-protagonist journeys involve trying to start a business, heal a friendship, find one's place in the world. A woman typically ends in some sort of romantic partnership. I like to play women who are trying to succeed, trying to become the fullest version of themselves.

I pride myself on being tragically uncool.