You have done more than almost any man alive to promote female‑led comedy. What has made this so close to your heart? Oroklini
I love funny women. I was an only child. I was close to my mom, who was very funny. I lived next door to a family of eight kids, six of whom were girls. Most of my friends were either girls or super-nerdy guys. When I got to Hollywood, I started hanging out with these funny women that I knew from when I was a standup comedian. When I went to see their movies, they just played the mean girlfriend. I thought: I don’t like this balance. I relate more to stories of funny women because they tend to be less aggressive and toxic. I was bullied so much as a kid that I would run to the girls for solace.
Do you believe comedy can still be laugh-out-loud funny with so many restrictions on what is and is not allowed, or do you believe that the muzzling of many topics restricts the scene? Sudikko
I’m not in the school of thought that political correctness has killed comedy. My only goal is to make people laugh and hopefully not offend anybody in the process. What offends people is making fun of things people can’t change, like their physical appearance, their race, their gender. But if you are just making jokes about extreme characters and the human condition, you can get away with a lot of stuff.
