I'm glad I was born when I was. My time was the golden age of variety. If I were starting out again now, maybe things would happen for me, but it certainly would not be on a variety show with 28 musicians, 12 dancers, two major guest stars, 50 costumes a week by Bob Mackie. The networks just wouldn't spend the money today.
Steve Martin in 'All of Me,' when he did that whole thing where he was possessed by the spirit in his body? It was brilliant.
Kristin Wiig I think is brilliant.
I wanted to be on Broadway, but in musical comedy.
I struggled for a while, but when I was cast in an Off Broadway show called 'Once Upon a Mattress,' that kind of put me on the map.
I was in California, and I was going to UCLA, and I knew I certainly didn't have movie star looks. I remember seeing pictures and photos of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, who were kind of average looking. I said, 'Well, that's for me, then, to go back to New York and try to be in musical comedy on Broadway.'
I was once asked to do my Tarzan yell at Bergdorf Goodman, and a guard burst in with a gun! Now I only do it under controlled circumstances.
On the good days, my mother would haul out the ukulele and we'd sit around the kitchen table - it was a cardboard table with a linoleum top - and sing.
Celebrity was a long time in coming; it will go away. Everything goes away.
I had it in my contract with CBS, a very weird clause that was never written before and certainly not since, that if I wanted to do a variety show within the first five years of the contract, CBS would have to put it on for 30 shows.
Because of YouTube, I'm getting fan mail from 10-year-olds and teenagers and college kids.
My favourite comedian, of course, is Tim Conway. He has a way about him - being that belly-laugh kind of funny, and he has the improvisational skills, too. I've never seen anybody better.
I'm not a person who likes to confront.
I really enjoy connecting with the audience.
When I left 'The Garry Moore Show,' I signed a 10-year contract with CBS.
Funny is funny. I dare anyone to look at Tim Conway and Harvey Korman doing the dentist sketch, which is more than 40 years old, and not scream with laughter.
I'm not always optimistic. You wouldn't have all cylinders cooking if you were always like Mary Poppins.
I do the 'New York Times' crossword puzzle every morning to keep the old grey matter ticking.
I never felt cynical, and I never felt that I couldn't do what I wanted to do.
I think the reason I was successful is that I was never cynical.
