What I fell in love with as a child was 'My Fair Lady ' 'Funny Face ' 'American in Paris ' and 'Singin' in the Rain.' Just perfect movies to me and I was dancing. I started ballet when I was three. And I fell in love with those movies and fell in love with Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron.

I would love to play 'Funny Girl' or 'Evita ' but I idolize the women who have played those parts. I don't know if there needs to be another version of those shows.

Comedy clubs can be brutal. Those people are for real and if you aren't funny they aren't laughing. They don't care who you are.

Back in the '70s like one of my favorite movies ever was 'The Bad News Bears' and that was a kids' movie but I don't think of it that way. I think of it as just a great movie because Walter Matthau was so funny and so harsh with those kids.

I'm one of those hovering mothers and I know it's really important to have an independent child so I'm trying to back off but it's hard. I love him so much and he's so funny and cute to me.

I would call it a comedy variety show. We have some people just doing straight standup. We usually try to have one musical act of sort. So its just people being funny in different ways not just sketch not just standup not just characters all of those things.

I think 'Saturday Night Live' starting in the 1970s really gave women an outlet to be funny. A lot of those women went on to have film careers from Kristen Wiig now to Tina Fey and Gilda Radner.

What was really funny is that as I got older all those guys who called me a sissy in junior high school wanted me to be their best friend because they wanted to meet all the girls that I knew in figure skating.

Here is my prescription to heal all wounds. Watch the film 'Funny Girl' at least five times eat at least 45 chocolate bars and hang out with all those friends you blew off to hang out with your ex. I truly believe that through a combination of Nutella old pals and Barbra Streisand we can achieve happiness and very probably world peace.

It's funny. People often compare me to other humor essayists. They're usually quite nice comparisons I will accept those gladly. But I am always sort of appalled at the idea of being lumped with other more chick-y female writers. And the truth is probably that neither comparison is accurate.

It was always a fantasy of mine growing up - my favorite program was always 'Little House on the Prairie' - so I always wanted to wear those looks. When I was a child I wouldn't let my mom put me in anything but calico dresses and now... whaddaya know every day I'm in a calico dress basically so it's kind of funny.

I'm just not one of those naturally funny relaxed actors who enjoy the spotlight and are so good at it.

We've seen some insane signs: 'Is that a loaf of bread in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?' Funny stuff along those lines. Very original. One just said 'I will do unspeakable things.' I thought that was very interesting - and mildly terrifying!

I like funny guys and those for some reason tend to be nerdy guys.

Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives.

Boy those French: they have a different word for everything!

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

In those early years in New York when I was a stranger in a big city it was the companionship and later friendship which I was offered in the Linnean Society that was the most important thing in my life.

Those who insist on having hostilities with us kill and destroy the option of friendship with us in the future which is unfortunate because it is clear the future belongs to Iran and that enmities will be fruitless.

Often the magical elements in my books are standing in for elements of the real world the small and magical-in-their-own-right sorts of things that we take for granted and no longer pay attention to like the bonds of friendship that entwine our own lives with those of other people and places.

The second one the joint Truth and Friendship Commission which we started now with Indonesia that is the one that has been criticized its terms of reference call for providing amnesty for those who cooperate in telling the truth. It does not lead to prosecution.

It may be a cold clammy thing to say but those that treat friendship the same as any other selfishness seem to get the most out of it.

We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.