My heroes, growing up, were people like Andy Kaufman and Groucho Marx and people that very rarely drop the persona.
Which is worse - being a has-been or being the guy interviewing a has-been?
When Will.I.Am punched Perez Hilton, I immediately purchased a bunch of their music.
I do live a very Hugh Beaumont existence. I'm up every morning, taking my kids to school and all that, which obviously does interest me. But then it's taking meetings with goofballs and auditioning for crap, and then I spend a lot of time on the road.
All I do is I have this insulated life with my wife and my daughter and a couple of friends who I try to see, but it doesn't even happen.
I started doing comedy when I was a teenager with Tom Kenny, who is the voice of SpongeBob. I don't want to name drop, but, I've known him since I was 6.
Whenever people hear that Kurt Cobain was a fan of my standup, it's like hearing Jimi Hendrix loved Buddy Hackett or something.
I was in Ann Arbor, and I was told that this singer-songwriter guy wanted to meet me. It was Kurt Cobain. Nirvana had just made 'Bleach.' Kurt interviewed me on a college radio station. It was very strange. He was a fan of mine, and he gave me his album.
It's really hard to watch Leno. I set his chair on fire.
I don't read or watch anything that has to do with Lindsay Lohan.
I continue to do standup because there's a connection with a live audience - there are skills that you do learn as a standup comedian that help you on a set.
I think, like, in real life, I'm actually quiet, and I mumble a lot. But that's not very lucrative.
When I first started directing, I could have chosen a more lucrative path, with sitcoms and things like that. But I knew enough after the experiences I had in front of the camera that I was not going to do that, because I was just going to work on my own things or work with people I respected.
I was in this hamster wheel of being famous for being famous, much like a reality star. You would put me on a talkshow, I would say outrageous things. I was just perpetuating myself as a celebrity, and I found that really empty.
I'm making movies about people as flawed as myself and the viewers. So if you just have a reptilian brain and live your life simply by reacting to things, my movies aren't going to work for you.
I'm a redneck.
The environment on the sets of the movies I make, it's usually all friends and people that know each other, because no one's getting rich or making money, so it's always about, hopefully, that everyone's on the same page.
My approach to making movies is different than other people, because I just write a lot of screenplays. I'm constantly writing screenplays.
I've always been battling this perception people have of me, this character. It follows me around. 'Bubba the Bear' shows up when I'm checking into a hotel, when I'm on a plane. I can't get upset with people if they're only aware of a small part of my body of work. But inside I do.
Although it sounds very trite, I wish people were nice.
