I can't lie - I love talking to the people at my shows. I'm so grateful to all my fans. I couldn't do it for this long without them. So if they want to come past to say hi and whatnot, then it's part of my job to talk to them - and you know, it might be the best part of my job, too.
Even before I was working off-Broadway, there were lots of different TV shows that I would actually say 'no' to, and my agents would be like, 'Are you crazy?' but they stuck with me because they know the kind of things that excite me.
I do shows, stage shows all the time, and I'm so afraid that people are going to recognize themselves, and they never do. They never do. They're always like, 'Oh, that woman was ridiculous,' and yeah, they're talking about themselves.
I still get lots of folks who remember my days on ATWT and AMC. As a matter of fact, they're the proudest fans of all because they feel like, 'We were here first,' before I had other fans from all my other shows and movies. They feel a deeper sense of pride and connection to me and have followed my career ever since 2002.
People ask how I can be a conservative and still want higher taxes. It makes my head spin, and I guess it shows how old I am. But I thought that conservatives were supposed to like balanced budgets. I thought it was the conservative position to not leave heavy indebtedness to our grandchildren.
When I'm not filming anything or on the road doing stand-up, I'm usually doing stand-up shows every night - usually a few shows a night at different clubs in the city.
I was doing shows and flying economy, and nobody ever fed me. Or I'd be staying in hotels so cheap that by the time I'd get in, there wasn't any room service. I didn't eat for a long time. Not on purpose. You'd be on shoots with bad food or get on a plane, and the food would be so disgusting you couldn't eat it.
Kazan was an old friend, I met him in 1938. He picked up radio jobs for eating money, so I met him on a couple of radio shows. Later on I was in a play he directed.
I can't watch shows like 'The X Factor,' for instance. I just squirm for the people involved, for the way they're being used. It's the cruellest, most ridiculous show on television. It's ruined music, ruined everything.
I'm in love with low-rated shows. That's true of 'Men of a Certain Age,' 'Thief,' 'Gideon's Crossing.' I fall in love with projects that are almost freighted with prestige.
It's a really nice way to cut your teeth, doing live shows. It's like going to the gym because you do have to think fast. You are constantly under the threat of people not laughing. Instead of getting hit, people could just not laugh, so you really are trying to mine quickly for the funniest thing you could say in that moment.
With film, there's a consistency to it, but what I like about the TV shows that I've been fortunate to do, like 'Friday Night Lights' and 'True Blood,' is that it feels like you're doing a film.
It's one of the things that 'Everwood' - what makes a great 'Everwood' episode is when it makes you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. From the first season, we've always had the chance to deal with death in a very real way, in a way that a lot of other shows can't or don't.
Experience shows that the reliance on illegal, immoral, and inhumane interrogation techniques is universally a very poor choice.
I used to really want to go on the stage and then the last couple of years I've done some presenting at some award shows. I was so nervous I thought I was going to be sick, so I don't think me on stage for any length of time would work too well.
You know, if you're lucky enough to have two smash hit shows, the traffic of the world goes through your dressing room.
A lot of cop shows, because they have the restraints of having a new case every episode, the victims often become these kind of nameless, faceless plot points, and as an audience we don't feel anything for those people.
So I do have to work, you know, and I find as many movies and TV shows that I can, because otherwise I wouldn't have an income.
Maybe I don't see enough television, but it seems there aren't many shows that are romantic comedies that are an hour long where you're not solving a crime or being a doctor.
I have been offered obscene amounts to do commercials and stage shows abroad, but as a matter of principle, I am against them.
A lot of shows fly under the radar for the first couple seasons and then become successful. It doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the success of the show or how much the network is behind it.
I didn't like the 'Survivor' shows because of the mean-spirited aspect, and women certainly were part of whatever conflict they would create.
Now we live in this DVD, iTunes, Hulu age, and show creators and networks are realizing that and letting shows develop on those terms rather than 'We gotta just punch it week to week, man.' Now they're like, 'What will happen if someone watches the entire show?'
To me, talk shows are those things during the middle of the afternoon where the underbelly of society is made to look like Middle America.
I have a really supportive, great group of friends, and we all push each other. They come to my shows, I go to their premieres; it's wonderful.
To be dogmatic about a cause you believe in at the age of 20 or 30 is not unusual. But to be dogmatic at age 55 or 60 shows a lack of any learning capacity.
I look up to Jimmy Fallon. He hosts talk shows as a fan himself, and that's how I do it. When the celebrities come in, I'm excited that they're there. It's not just like a formal, 'Hey, how are ya?' It's like, 'Dude, what the hell! So happy to see you!' That's what Jimmy Fallon does every time.
I've always liked shows that have a strong cast of secondary characters. One of the greatest examples ever I would say is 'The Simpsons.' If you think about it, you could name 100 characters recognizable from that show. I think 'Scrubs' has done a good job of having a strong team coming off the bench.
Recent economic data shows that our economy is robust, growing and headed in the right direction. The numbers don't lie. Americans are currently enjoying falling gas prices, low unemployment, increased job creation, and a stock market that has reached an all-time high.
Compared to EDM, I feel like there are a lot of girls at my shows.
I used to play shows in D.C. and then drive back to New York to work at 6 A.M. So there are those moments, and you just really need to power through them. Eventually, it builds on itself.
No matter how many times you've seen the movies and the TV shows that have a protagonist leaping in the path of a bullet, physics forbids such sacrifice. Because of a bullet's radical speed, you can't jump in front of it, but you could get in its way. It's not as dramatic, but it does save lives.
I like game shows.
Having someone from Washington, California, or Chicago come in as a verifier, it shows the Hispanic community that Hispanic leaders support me.
Cable television is such a part of our society now. Oftentimes, the shows are really good, and you're just like, 'Well, it's worth sitting through the sex and violence because the narrative is so great.'
I'm quite private. And I never wanted to be the biggest star in the world, really. So in that sense I've got a good balance of doing great shows, of making an appearance every now and then and writing music, and I don't really have to do much else.
