When you have kids you instantly feel that you do not want to do them wrong. Those dads that go off to Florida and start a new life I couldn't imagine that: seeing my kid once every Christmas every three years. If I'm gone for six days it feels like too much.

If you start to disrespect the character you're playing or play it too much for laughs that can work for a sketch it will sell some gags but it's all technique. It's like watching a juggler - you can be impressed by it but it's not going to touch you in any way.

At 35 I'm definitely starting to feel more like a grown-up than I ever have. There's nothing in my life that is childish or whimsical. Having fun is fantastic and I never want to lose a sense of that - and also I think you have to have that to put into your work or else it's going to feel stiff.

If you start by promising what you don't even have yet you'll lose your desire to work towards getting it.

Before you start some work always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions go ahead.

For me every day is a new thing. I approach each project with a new insecurity almost like the first project I ever did. And I get the sweats. I go in and start working I'm not sure where I'm going. If I knew where I was going I wouldn't do it.

When did women whose looks are not their living start conducting themselves like the simpering inmates of an Ottoman empire seraglio?

You know when you don't go on TV and talk about how many women you sleep with some people in Hollywood that are supposedly 'in the know ' start whispering that you're gay. If I were gay I wouldn't be ashamed to admit it but I'm not.

When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman's part is more interesting I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.

Companies like I.B.M. have offered women scholarships to study engineering for years and women engineers routinely get higher starting salaries than men.