I have found that — just as in real life — imagination sometimes has to stand in for experience. - Steve Martin

With a cheery delicacy she divided my obsessions into three categories: acceptable, unacceptable, and hilarious.

I’m not sure what I meant, but I wanted to use the lingo, and it was seductive to make these pronouncements. Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.

Enjoyment while performing was rare — enjoyment would have been an indulgent loss of focus that comedy cannot afford. After the shows, however, I experienced long hours of elation or misery depending on how the show went, because doing comedy alone onstage is the ego’s last stand.