Being in the studio, for me, can be a miserable experience - I can really psych myself out.

I'm always like the guy who wants to date the pretty girl so bad, and when he finally gets the chance, he blows it because he spends too much time worrying about it.

In order for life to be more than a frustrating game of one-upsmanship, one has to remain emotionally open and vulnerable.

I have friends who write all the time, and I envy them terribly.

I love to write songs, but they don't come easy to me - I spend a lot of time writing really dumb stuff that I have to look at the next day and think, 'God, what was I thinking?' That's my process, is just to go through a lot of dumb stuff and hope that, after a lot of hard work, I'll find a good idea.

Probably some of the most miserable years of my life were grappling with some definition of what success was.

Beck is obviously a consummate musician. He plays instruments, many instruments. He can make his own record without having a fleet of computer operators onboard.

I suppose I hit my lowest point in the early to mid-80s, which is when things really spun out of control for me.

When I first heard Thundercat's stuff, I thought, 'Man, this is so original.' A lot of his ballads, to me, had such a beautiful harmonic, almost classically Hispanic, feel or, like, Brazilian kind of feeling. I don't think he does that intentionally or anything. It's just I think those are his influences on some level.

I love Coldplay.

I've been set up with a Twitter account, and I just never use it.

I hope to capture the public's imagination, but I can't live in the anxiety of that.

I truly cherish the time and experience with friends that I have been making music with for so many years, even decades now.

I've always been an artist that has had a problem with genres, staying in the box, and being told what I had to be.

Whether artists know it or not, I think we're all a little influenced by what came before.

The 'Motown' detour for me was almost like it wasn't work. It was more fun than work, and that's all it takes for me to not be very responsible to other things I should have been paying attention to.

Honestly, I've never thought of myself as a mover and shaker of songwriting.

Like everyone else, I have a lot of things I'd like to do that I'll probably never get around to. But for the most part, I live day to day.

I think, as musicians, that's really all we want is to keep working. We want to have a reason to be, and we want to play for as many people in this span of life that we're allowed as we possibly can, and in as many places as we possibly can.

I think when you're not prepared for something, success can be as crippling a thing as failure to people. I think it touches whatever insecurities you have, that you may not be as in touch with you as you should be or whatever.

What I particularly liked about Nineties hip hop was it had a certain reverence for the groove that I hadn't been hearing in a while.

I tell my son, when your music becomes less relevant, your pathetic comic value might be of some use. So you've got to go with it, you know.

I played so many clubs growing up, and back in that period, in the '60s, we'd play, like, four, five sets a night.

I grew up in the era where everybody wanted to sing like Mitch Ryder and James Brown. And I did, too. But I learned real quick that it hurts after a while.

Everything's challenging for me, singing-wise. I'm like an old truck with one gear left on it.

My wife is, by and large, the best thing that ever happened to me.

Laziness can be virtuous in the right setting, I guess.

Warner Bros. was a great label to be affiliated with. It's the best label out there, and the fact that I was with them for 20 years was just an honor.

I know that things change and markets change. Those are the realities of the business.

Most of my life is taken up with family. It takes me awhile to get a record together that I feel is worthy of putting out.

It's funny how, as we get older, what become our fondest memories are not necessarily the happiest times of our lives but the times of our lives that shaped us the most.

I'm a very slow songwriter; it takes me sometimes years to write one song, if I ever finish.

I've always had a dream that I might write a Christmas song that might resonate with people during the holidays.

undefined

I bought my wife a beautiful diamond ring and I even had it engraved - with the price.

One of the positives of getting older is that you forget your age. Then you find out that you're younger than you thought you were.

If you can help it, don't be rude to people. When you're rude about someone and the audience laugh you can't deny that it's a bullying laugh.

Our family home, a large house in Hampstead, was sold to Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. I remember being told that 'someone who eats bats' was buying it.

Hard audiences tend to be when it's all men. It's when businesses have dos where they're at conferences all day then book a comedian for the evening. They're men of a certain age - basically middle-aged, balding, 50 to 60 years old and I just know I can't make these people laugh hysterically.

Now I almost overly embrace how weird I am, how I look and how oddly camp I am. It's almost too honest for me because I harboured ambitions to be quite a cool, good-looking guy.

A responsive crowd is great - they help you see new things in your comedy.

There's nothing better than having a bright, blinding light in your face and being guided by big, rolling laughter. There's nothing more encouraging than hearing that huge sound. I've waited my whole life to hear that. You come away with the biggest high of your life.

I had some terrible times - comparatively speaking. I saddled myself with a load of debt, I wasn't liked by a lot of my fellow comics and I used to blame other people for me not getting a break. But now I realise I just wasn't very good. And as soon as I became good, things took off pretty quickly.

Ruthlessness is not something that comes easily.

Men need to be with women otherwise I don't think they really know how to behave. They'll just stare at me and it's awkward, so I scramble around in my mind to say the rudest things I can think of just to get something out of them.

I've got some Jewish ancestry and I don't like waste.

I would never be rude about somebody else in my profession because we all do this same thing. We're just trying to make people laugh.

Sometimes it's difficult to laugh at certain things but comedy can help.

The last thing you want is for people not to care about what you have to say.

I'm thrilled at the continued success of the 'Big Show.'