I realize that 'hire qualified women!' is the sort of outraged demand that's often met with a sigh. No one disagrees, and yet gender inequality in high-paying positions extends into all professions.

I was ahead of the gender curve, but I wasn't ahead of the intersectionality curve, and I get it now. It's important to me.

I fantasize about the networks making a rule that each show's writing staff needs to reflect the gender and racial makeup of its audience.

The vocabulary of my cynical world doesn't allow me to explain the success of 'Lean In.'

Arts are a luxury, proof that a civilization has risen above 'politics and war.'

When you start a memoir, you think, 'I'm going to blast all the people who were mean to me.' And then you start writing, and you go, actually, it's so much more fun to say nice things about people who were kind and generous to you.

I'm both an insider and an outsider.

I've been speaking out about harassment and gender disparity for years.

Hated 'The Imitation Game.' Totally inaccurate. A gay man with a messy room? Don't buy it.

The more successful you are as a man, the more you're liked. And the more successful you are as a woman, the more you're disliked.

Blondness is a core Trump-family value: Both Donald Jr. and Eric got the memo and married blondes.

I basically lived like a guy for, certainly, the first decade of my career, and I just wanted to blend in.

People say, 'Dress for the job you want,' and since I wanted a job that guys had, I dressed like a guy.

Trump Tower is no ordinary property: It is the jewel in Donald Trump's brass crown.

We have so many great memoirs from women in front of the camera, from Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, and Amy Schumer.

I traveled to Israel in a small party assembled by Marty Peretz, the editor-in-chief of 'The New Republic.' Other guests included Senator Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. Like every tourist group, we climbed Masada, floated in the Dead Sea, and visited a kibbutz.

For thirty years, I've been hearing that it's getting better for women. And until I see statistical proof over enough years that that's true, I won't believe it.

I was the second female writer ever hired at 'Late Night.' When I applied for the job in 1988, I had no way of knowing how much the odds were stacked against me.

An ocean of ink - real and virtual - has been spilled critiquing the appearance of female politicians.

The creative process is often wrapped up in bottomless anxiety, and when the world applauds the product of that process, it soothes the anxiety. Briefly. Then the anxiety returns and even intensifies.

In Hollywood, you kind of trick yourself into feeling like you have impact.

I'm on the board of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which is run by Dr. Stacy Smith - she conceived of the inclusion rider. What I love about the inclusion rider is it uses the fact that Hollywood is based on hierarchies, and it knows that these key players have persuasive power.

Smash together the Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys, and you get the Green Room at the Kennedy Center Honors.

If women who don't help women get a special circle in hell, I think women who do help women should get a special cloud in heaven.

An executive producer with an all-male writing staff once inadvertently revealed his deep, dark fear. While discussing a full-time position for me, he mused out loud, 'I wonder if having a woman in the room will change everything.' Of course, what he really meant was: 'I wonder if having a woman in the room will change me.'

The Pulitzer Prize was established when Joseph Pulitzer died in 1911, leaving a bequest to create the eponymous award. An immigrant from Hungary, Pulitzer struck it rich by combining the 'St. Louis Post' and the 'St. Louis Dispatch' to make the - wait for it - 'St. Louis Post-Dispatch.'

The focus on male politicians extends beyond clothes, legs, and pretty faces. It's hard to find an article about former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich that doesn't mention his mop.

The average career span for a TV writer is 11 years. The only other thing I could find that had the same career span was a police dog.

I turned 40, and things started to go south.

By June 1990, I'd racked up 'written by' credits on both 'Newhart' and 'The Simpsons.'

My first joke that ever aired on 'Late Night' was for a list of 'Top 10 Least Popular Summer Camps.' My contribution - 'Camp Tick in beautiful Lyme, Connecticut' - squeaked in at No. 10. Like a trip to Camp Tick, my time at 'Late Night' faded into memory like a short session at a dicey summer camp.

The Kennedy Center Honors reflects our humanity and higher purpose. We are a great nation, in part, because we value culture.

Together, we must all remember that one of the most effective responses to hate speech is more speech.

Garry Shandling's stand-up specials were masterpieces of tightly crafted stories that delivered both hard jokes and hard truths. He was neurotic and self-deprecating, and his observations on life cut deep.

Albert Brooks. Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Larry David. The best comedic actors play broad and real simultaneously, coming across as both larger than life and all too human.

Moms Mabley blazed a path for female stand-ups in a housecoat and floppy hat. Phyllis Diller worked equally hard to make herself unattractive to men and non-threatening to women.

It's notoriously difficult to get actors to go on record speaking about other actors. Such requests are usually met with terse replies from publicists explaining that their clients are on set and too busy to reply.

Jenny McCarthy has used her celebrity and sex appeal to attract attention to autism. And while no one questions McCarthy's determination and passion, many scientists have debunked her anti-vaccine message and her claims that a gluten-free diet can provide a cure.

Retaining a child-like sense of wonder is a boon for creative types like Steven Spielberg and J. K. Rowling.

Howard Dean is no longer the brilliant mastermind of the Fifty State Strategy that enabled the Democrats to storm the White House and Congress. He's the idiot wearing an ugly sweatshirt.

Like Lindsay Lohan and Lauren Conrad, Barack Obama is addicted to his BlackBerry.

In TV, you look to make characters consistent, but in real life, we're not consistent. Sometimes we're brave, and sometimes we're not. Sometimes we're very aggressive, and sometimes we back right down.

The first Emmys I went to was in 1990 when the five nominees for best comedy were 'Designing Women,' 'Golden Girls,' 'Murphy Brown,' 'Cheers,' 'Wonder Years.' Three and a half were created by women.

I'm a little sad that they actually came up with the metaphor of waves for feminism. By definition, a wave goes in, and it comes out. I would really like it to be a tsunami that creates a flood that forever changes the landscape.

You want a diverse writers' room, not because it's the fair thing to do or the right thing to do, but because it's the best thing to do for your show. I've seen that to be true.

I think empathy is undervalued in a lot of these comedy writers' rooms.

Unfortunately, my system for tracking down funny female writers isn't methodical. It's mainly based on word-of-mouth, which can cast a limited net.

Moral licensing comes into play when people rely on past behavior to dismiss current prejudiced behavior. This is better known as the 'Some of my best friends are...' defense.

Everyone - male and female - is biased. But no one wants to admit it, so our brains search for examples that disprove the accusation.

One of the great things about being in entertainment is you have access to the media. People pay attention to you.