When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist a woman in the audience stood up and said 'Yes but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

During the Great Depression when people laughed their worries disappeared. Audiences loved these funny men. I decided to become one.

Johnny Rotten. He's a big fan of mine. I used to see him out in the audience in England and he'd stand up and holler. He's funny. Smart too and a nice guy. Don't think he's a jerk because he isn't.

I think I would say 'The King's Speech' is surprisingly funny in fact the audiences in London Toronto LA New York commented there's more laughter in this film than in most comedies while it is also a moving tear-jerker with an uplifting ending.

The American audience has really opened up to women being A.) funny and B.) kinda crude. 'Bridesmaids' is R-rated and I think it was a major coup for women to have an R-rated comedy that did really well. Same as 'Bad Teacher.'

I tend to play characters that I can infuse with certain kinds of humour. Even the baddest guy can be funny in his own particular way. I want the audience to engage with the character on some deeper level so that they leave the cinema still thinking about him.

The audience changes every night. You're the same person. You have to speak your mind and do the stuff that you think is funny and makes you laugh.

When I first envisioned 'Funny Games' in the mid-1990s it was my intention to have an American audience watch the movie. It is a reaction to a certain American cinema its violence its naivety the way American cinema toys with human beings. In many American films violence is made consumable.

'Funny Games' was conceived as a provocation. My other films are different. If people feel my other films are or respond to them as provocation then that's quite different. 'Funny Games' is the only one of mine where my intention was to provoke the audience.