Georgia was a great place to live, but I wanted to get out because I knew the opportunities for what I was doing - stand-up comedy and eventually acting - were in Los Angeles.
And I always laugh at that, because I think I've always been doing what I want to do since Day 1.
For me, I'm OK doing embarrassing things, when it's with somebody else. I'm not the only person to look at.
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.
I find myself getting associated with a lot of younger people in the game. I still enjoy playing with them, and I think they still enjoy playing with me. As long as I can stay competitive and have fun doing what I'm doing, I guess I'll keep doing it.
I live for my work, apart from my family who come first. And I live to tell stories and pretend to be other people, it's something I've been doing since I was 3 years old. Maybe it's because I'm intrinsically bored with myself, and I find other people more interesting. The more different they are, the bigger the challenge.
Right after the draft, when I came out to Oakland, there was a press conference and a dinner with the owner, GM, and Coach Nelson. We did some sightseeing and some house searching the next day, but to be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I tried to find a spot close to our gym, because I figured that's where I'd spend most of my time.
The desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
I don't think I always look in people's faces, like, as - I think especially when I'm doing my more intimate songs that are quite personal, I always feel it's a bit accusing if I stare in someone's face when I singing quite a personal lyric.
People don't see very often their death coming... Look at the French Revolution: The king of France was thinking in the 1780s, 'We're doing rather better than my father in the 1770s.'
I guess after you've been doing something for 20 plus years, you have to work to stay interested.
Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.
I have done things politically, and I've been running a business at the same time, but I sort of joke that to some extent I do more than most legislators have done in their whole careers, and I've been doing it as a part-time job.
No, I worked a lot for European television, doing documentaries in Brazil.
I remember I made $22 a week doing dinner theater in Norfolk, Virginia. Back then, in the '70s, that was pretty good for a teenager, for a part-time job.
I like making things. I have a wood shop at home. I am a terrible carpenter but I love doing it.
I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I was doing was wrong but thought only about myself and thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to.
You need to invent things and you need to get them to people. You need to commercialize those inventions. Obviously, the best way we've come up with doing that is through companies.
I'd rather hang out with five people that I love than with 400 strangers at a club who are all doing the up-and-down inspection thing. They appraise everybody from head to toe - the outfit, the handbag, the shoes, how much they weigh... I can't stand it!
When I was a screenwriter, I was doing it for mercenary reasons.
I enjoy doing things that involve research because it's part of what I enjoy about acting.
Growing up, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I felt with The Beatles legacy that there was pressure on me to do music, and while I always loved music and it was always around me at home, I thought about doing other things.
Your private life should be private. I reckon that's a good thing that you talk about your work and you talk about what you're doing, but without having to go into how your brother's been and how your mum's been because none of that's really relevant.
It's always been very important for me to be surrounded by people. It's never been enough for me to be successful alone. I want to be around people my own age who are also doing things I can learn from.
You can't live in your own secluded world. If you're not on the Tube, on the bus doing normal things, how can you relate to people?
It's a unique situation to have, but again they say sometimes talent doesn't win. It has to be brought together right. That's the coaching's job. That's what we're doing.
You know, and it really doesn't have a lot to do with the movie. That's the trick to doing a good musical is that, if you take that music number out, there's less to the movie there. You would miss it.
At the moment I'm doing this space movie, so I'm obsessed with physics and space travel. I know three months down the line it's gone. Then I'll be able to superficially say stuff about space.
The fact of the matter is, when I'm on tour, I'm juggling so hard to keep all the balls in the air that I don't often get to really enjoy what I'm out there doing.
I never got hurt when I was in Morocco doing all the horse riding and my own stunts. But on the last day on the last shot I slid off my horse and landed on my bottom. I did not get hurt but it was very embarrassing.
In Philly, there are a lot of social programs. If you have a degree, you can go and apply. I was basically a social worker, but I became sort of a sub teacher in a special program, helping kids with reading or math. But we would also do plays, learn about music... We were doing lots of fun stuff, but that was such hard work.
I don't care what you play, where you're from, who you produce. It depends on what you're doing when you're with me. That's what counts. I don't pre-judge anything or anybody.
You've gotta play the Hollywood game, and you know you're doing good the more notoriety you're getting, and that's gold. That's what every actor wants because then you know you're at another level.
I want to continue doing as big a variety of things as I can do, and if that means I have the honor of getting to do more feature work, I would love that. I know that if I make any other long-term TV commitments, it's not going to be on a drama.
I always knew I'd be in music in some sort of capacity. I didn't know if I'd be successful at it, but I knew I'd be doing something in it. Maybe get a job in a record store. Maybe even play in a band. I never got into this to be a star.
Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting. That's not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement. That's not leadership. That's abandoning our middle class.
