I grew up in a Southside suburb of Chicago. It was idyllic. But I was plunked into a family that was not artistic and didn't know how to deal with my emotions.

I could be pretty volatile, especially when I didn't feel understood, which was 99 percent of the time. I do think that, as a young person, I suffered over that. But as I look back, it doesn't even feel like part of me - except when I act and need those emotions. Then I can dredge it up.

There I was as a kid: a closeted homosexual who wants to be an actress. I had no choice! Wanting to act was something I was wired with when I was born. I never thought I would have success or celebrity, although I did want that. But what I wanted more than anything was to work.

When you get out of school, you just go where the wind blows: Here's an audition; there's an audition. And before you know it, you're where you're supposed to be. And that was Second City.

I've had days here and there where I would get discouraged because I wasn't a big star, but I've made a living ever since I was 27. Not a great living, but enough for me. I think actually being able to pay my rent and eat and perform is enough, and I did that for many years. Then I had some good years in there, too, where I made pretty good money.

There's nothing better than voicing a character. You don't have to worry about what you're wearing; you've got the script in front of you, and it doesn't involve your body: it's all about your voice, and it's really fast work.

That weird dark energy - when I was a kid, I didn't know what it was. I just had to 'thrash it out,' as my mother called it. I became quite intolerable, creatively and artistically, with other people. I wanted nothing more than to be part of a group, and yet I couldn't help alienating people.

There's this weird kind of coming-in-from-left-field thing going on, and I love it - I am a huge fan of Christopher Durang.

I think that network TV is going to either have to reinvent itself or it's going to have to be more competitive - there are just so many options now with streaming and everything.

It's so amazing that you can give somebody like David Fincher 'House of Cards,' and he can do whatever he wants - Netflix doesn't say, 'Oh, you can't do that,' or, 'We need a subplot here about this.' It's pretty neat that it is allowing the creatives to be creative.

When I was a young person, when I was in high school, we did a very emotional and wonderful - for us, life-changing - production of 'Godspell.' It really, really was the highlight of my high school time, and it was for everybody else in the cast, too.

I don't really sit there and think, 'What would I like my life to be?'

The funniest people are usually the best actors, I believe.

I love being the villain.

I've never been a cheerleader. It's so outside of my range of things I could ever do.

I worried too much when I was a kid.

It's really fun to come to the same place to work every day.

The world, universe, God, whatever you call it, has so much more in store if you just sit back and relax and do what's right in front of you.

Once you start classifying and trying to identify your own comedy style, you've ceased to be funny.

The more I become comfortable in my own skin, I think the funnier I become.

I've actually never done standup before.

I'm an actor more than anything else.

A lot of the songs in 'See Jane Sing!' are pulled straight from the kitchen table and my parents harmonizing together.

In Chicago, actors start up companies and get together and produce things, and there's a really rich, vibrant non-Equity theater scene out there.

I'm fascinated by Greta Garbo. My cat's named Greta, and I have a framed photograph of her from 1949.

I never thought I would work with Meryl Streep. I also love Cate Blanchett.

When you raise your voice in song to express what's going on deep inside of you, I think people just react to that because it's so truthful. It's so raw.

I love being in these ensemble comedy movies. I love working with a bunch of people and coming up with, you know, How can we make this moment funnier?

It has to come from a truthful place in order to be funny.

I looked at my mom and her life, and I thought, 'I don't want that.' I don't think my mom wanted it, either. I think my mom did want to be out there and have a career. She loved working. As soon as we were old enough to feed ourselves, she was out.

When I'm not feeling good about how I look, I figure if I just buy the right piece of clothing, I'll feel all right.

I try to dress the bottom I have. The body I have and the bottom I have. I have the intention of looking fabulous every time, and I care about it a great deal. I'm very vain.

I was filled with angst all the time, but when it came down to it, I dove into what was in front of me, and I always did my best. I invested 100 percent. And that's what saved me.

Nothing like falling in love with a dead actress to prove your sanity.

I loved working with Cybill Shepherd. We had a good time together; we enjoyed being girlfriends. It was a real comfortable fit for us. I loved putting on a suit and tie.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a boy. I really had gender issues.

I think the only way we can really get you to laugh hard is if we take it to a deep psychological place. It has to resonate with you on a really deep level in order for you to really do that good guffaw.

The comedians who I admire that are really good, they always take it to a deep psychological place.

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.

I discovered that the horse is life itself, a metaphor but also an example of life's mystery and unpredictability, of life's generosity and beauty, a worthy object of repeated and ever changing contemplation.

The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister, in-laws, and darling nephews.

There is a sociology of horses, as well as a psychology. It is most evident in the world of horse racing, where many horses are gathered together, where year after year, decade after decade, they do the same, rather simple thing - run in races and try to win.

In many ways, being honest about 'Huckleberry Finn' goes right to the heart of whether we can be honest about our heritage and our identity as Americans.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

There are several methods for introducing your children to driving, and all of them are bad. Probably the worst is to put it off.

Sinclair Lewis may be ripe for a revival; his books raise several interesting issues of art and fashion.

'The Good Soldier' is an odd and maybe even unique book. That it is a masterpiece, almost a perfect novel, comes as a repeated surprise even to readers who have read it before.

I gallop and jump and ride young horses with intense pleasure.

A theory of creativity is actually just a metaphor. A pool of ideas, a well of memories, a voice.

I readily admit it is easy to make of horses what we will. Silent, in some ways reserved, they allow us to train them, and to project our ideas upon them; to ride and drive them, and to make them symbolic, perhaps to a greater degree than any other species.