Quotes

"There's kind of a weird, intense energy that flows through the place. I tend to get in there about 3 or 4 in the afternoon and get out around 8 a.m. Wednesday. You end up drinking a massive amount of coffee and downing a lot of Funions." (On the Tuesday-night "SNL" writing regime)

[discussing his liberal upbringing and love of playing dress-up as a child] If I had become a cross-dresser it would have taken her just a second because my mom is very supportive and she would have loved me anyway.

I have been in a lot of things, but maybe I've cursed them all.

I'll check my stove all the time, but I haven't used the stove in 8 years. An old girlfriend of mine, we went through this test you could take on-line to see if you are OCD or not and at the end, it said get help immediately.

I don't know if I was a funny kid. I would say I was a loud and weird kid.

[on why he often seems restrained during interviews] I just didn't want to be the kind of person who always seemed like they were ON. That would annoy me when there seemed to be people who always seem to be on.

[on why he wears fake mustaches in comedies] There is something about a person who wears a mustache that is...they just don't quite get it. It takes a unique person in our society to wear a mustache.

[on why he left SNL] I left because I had just turned 40, I'd been there for 8 years, my family was all in California, its a grueling schedule. It was such a delight to be on the show and a real family atmosphere, but it was just time to move on.

[asked by Larry King if there were any personal ticks he wish he didn't have] I feel like all my faults go into making the person that I am. I like myself as a person. And I think taking any fault away would change who I am as a person. These OCD really probably helped me as a comedian.

[on working with Bruce Dern] It's like watching him pull a rabbit out of a hat in every scene. I don't know what he's doing. It's magic. And I love it.

[on traveling to the American heartland to film Nebraska (2013)] I went in intimidated by the process. But [director] Alexander Payne and Bruce Dern put me at ease from the start. They made me feel like I was part of the club and that I belonged there. I have a habit of over-thinking everything but they found a way to get me out of my head. And that was really just talking to me, and nurturing me. I'm a weird combination of self-doubt and extreme confidence. [Dern] would always talk about the truth and finding the truth in what you are going for. It was more teaching without teaching. It was just know what's going.

[re making Nebraska (2013)] It's certainly a lot of corn, Nebraska, but I found it really beautiful. I thought it was going to be this real monotonous visual experience, and it wasn't. There was a lot of texture to it. It kept reminding me of a van Gogh painting - these big beautiful circular corn husk bales, the way the light would hit them and the shadows they'd cast. Brilliant hues of yellow - it was really striking.

[re Nebraska (2013)] I am a pretty realistic person, and I was just as shocked to get this part as people were shocked to hear that I got the part...You talk to your agents and managers, you try to develop this plan. Nowhere in any of these plans of 'here's what the strategy should be' was there, like 'and then you'll try to get into an 'Alexander Payne' movie.' That wasn't even something that we would have ever entertained in a million years...If I get to do something else like this, it would be awesome, but just to get to do something like this once is enough for me.

That period in between getting the part and starting work on the movie (Nebraska (2013)) was an anxiety-riddled period...I really had no formal acting training, but I didn't know what it was like to go to a natural drama class or an acting class. So in my head, I would think, 'Oh, at a class like that they have these pearls of wisdom that everybody who is part of "Nebraska" has, except me'...Basically, when you watch this movie you're watching somebody who's in the process of being taught by a legendary actor and an amazing director. I learned so much from this experience.

I hold on to everything a little too tight. I'm a little OCD and control-freakish. Also trying to figure out the balance of work and life. This is my dream, but is it worth it to not ever see your family? I drive myself crazy and just try to get out there something that I'm proud of. Which is crazy to say, because it's 50% fart jokes.