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"I think I'm always trying to walk that tightrope between comedy and drama. I think you can't have one without the other. I try to keep my writing as grounded in reality as possible, try to keep one foot in the dramatic world and one foot in the comedy world, because I think they really enhance each other. It's tough to do. It requires perfect pitch sometimes, and I don't always have it, obviously, but that's what I try to do, and I think it has made my work a little different from other people's."

"The longer that you're around, you've got to just anticipate what do you want the audience to see, what should they feel... Sometimes it takes a while to learn when not to cut. That sounds like old school but I think it's always true."

"The character Barnabas was a combination of everything I'd ever done. Well, not everything, but there were enough of that kind of role that I'd played in. Most people think it was because of my Shakespeare. I didn't play that much Shakespeare, but enough to get enough to get some qualities that these plays need."

"There's a scene in 'Roots' where Kunta Kinte is trapped.  And I thought it had to be bigger than a shot… I had to find some way to make it a big moment.  And it just kind of popped into my head.  Superimpose him over himself."