I needed to step away from music because the truth was I couldn't be the dad I wanted to be to my kids. My truth was that I could not reconcile the two worlds - the entertainment world and being the dad I wanted to be in the present. You can't substitute time you just can't.

I wasn't aware of my dad being an actor when I was young. I remember there was an Australian children's entertainer on television called Ralph Harris and when I'd say my father was an actor kids would say you know 'oh is he Ralph Harris?' And I had to say no and then they would lose interest.

The best thing I ever learned from my dad was he knew he wasn't the best of singers but he always knew he was a great entertainer and I always thought that was a good concept to bring along that ultimately acting is an entertainment art and you have to be aware of the fact that you want people to be excited to be watching you.

My dad was a carpenter and I would work with him during the summer and umpire on the nights I wasn't playing.

I come from an ordinary family - my dad is a carpenter a roof-maker - and we've always loved racing together.

Because at bottom I'm interested in fear and in courage and cowardice and these are easier to get at through fiction where you can enter people's heads.

Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself.

Life is to be entered upon with courage.

The cool wind blew in my face and all at once I felt as if I had shed dullness from myself. Before me lay a long gray line with a black mark down the center. The birds were singing. It was spring.

Look at Neil Diamond. Was he the cool guy? No he was the housewives' guy. He didn't try to be what he wasn't. He just did what he did - made great music was a good entertainer nice-enough guy.

In Fargo they say well that's a job. How well do you get paid? For example for this book I was written about in Entertainment Weekly and it was kind of cool because my mom asked me if Entertainment Weekly was a magazine or a newspaper.

The cool part of being an entertainer is getting the opportunity to get your feet wet in all areas.

When I entered high school I was an A-student but not for long. I wanted the fancy clothes. I wanted to hang out with the guys. I went from being an A-student to a B-student to a C-student but I didn't care. I was getting the high fives and the low fives and the pats on the back. I was cool.

Originally I was in both software and in online computing. The first innovation really was sort of at that time that we're marrying the telephone and the computer so that people wouldn't have to drive to the computer center. We didn't have $1 000 computers.

We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.

Today most young women are exposed to technology at a very young age with mobile phones tablets the Web or social media. They are much more proficient with technology than prior generations since they use it for all their school work communication and entertainment.

As somebody who in my second marriage insisted on a prenuptial agreement I can also testify that sometimes it is an act of love to chart the exit strategy before you enter the union in order to make sure that not only you but your partner as well knows that there will be no World War III should hearts and minds for any sad reason change.

As a standup I try to change the world. As an entertainer I try to entertain. And as a lesbian I try to pick up the prettiest girl in the room.

If we are to change our world view images have to change. The artist now has a very important job to do. He's not a little peripheral figure entertaining rich people he's really needed.

Man needs for his happiness not only the enjoyment of this or that but hope and enterprise and change.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

All changes even the most longed for have their melancholy for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves we must die to one life before we can enter another.

On one level nothing's really changed in my life. I still drive my daughter in the car pool on Monday. But it's impossible not to be aware of this rush of attention it's impossible not to be seduced by it once you've entered into it seduced by being unhappy when the attention wanes.

These songs are old friends I have entertained myself with when I'm washing the dishes driving to the store and walking down the aisles. The ones that you sing when you're driving in the car and as a singer you always go back to them.