The death of anti-gay hate speech is no doubt being hastened by the head-spinning speed with which gays as a group - to say nothing of gay marriage - are becoming an unremarkable and even quite traditional parts of American life.

You know Americans are obsessed with life and death and rebirth that's the American Cycle. You know awakening tragic horrible death and then Phoenix rising from the ashes. That's the American story again and again.

I mean in the South African case many of those who were part of death squads would have been respectable members of their white community people who went to church on Sunday every Sunday.

Right now I'm as single as a slice of American cheese.

Dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. Mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. We lived a simple American life.

My mum's parents were from Ireland my dad's mum was American-Irish.

I'm probably going to get in trouble for this but 'American Dad' is one of my favourite shows. It gets very dark in places but the jokes are there.

Dad was a chemistry professor at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota then Oxford College in Minnesota and a very active member of the American Chemical Society education committee where he sat on the committee with Linus Pauling who had authored a very phenomenally important textbook of chemistry.

If you met my dad I think a lot of things would be put to rest. Because my pops is a pretty silly guy. But Coldcut they're based in the U.K. I'm a big fan of jazz music so American music has had a big influence on what I listen to.

My parents moved to American Samoa when I was three or four years old. My dad was principal of a high school there. It was idyllic for a kid. I had a whole island for a backyard. I lived there until I was eight years old and we moved to Santa Barbara.