I want to point out to adults that there is a world of good material available to you now in comic form - in this medium - and learn to give it your support because the more you support it, the better the material will be as it comes out.
The comic book, and I've said it before, is a treasure trove. It's a grab bag. We certainly have characters and story lines that we really want to do - but to get there in a TV series, you have to take your time. Sometimes you can't get right to it. They're two different mediums. So we make it our own and really own the material. I like to think of it as an alternate universe.
What I'm always afraid of is going "off-book,I always get upset when the director leaves the classic comic that was so very popular. I argued, and I won't say with who about what, but when we go way away from the original source material... that material is popular for a reason and I like to stick with it.
I tend to feed the trolls because it gives me material for my work. I'm sometimes taken aback by the racist and antisemitic abuse I get, but most of the time I'll get angry for a second, and then remind myself, 'This is material.' The trick is not to be too reactive.
People get sick and sometimes they get better and sometimes they don't. And it doesn't matter if the sickness is cancer or if it's depression. Sometimes the drugs work and sometimes they don't. Sometimes the drugs work for a while and then they stop. Sometimes the alternative stuff works and sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes you wonder if no outside interference makes any difference at all; if an illness is like a storm, if it simply has to run its course and, at the end of it, depending on how robust you are, you will be alive. Or you will be dead.
Sometimes if you get 'em too drunk they don't pay no attention to what you're doin' anyways, so you might as well just do old songs. But if you get one that's paying attention, sometimes we'll do some new material.
The Daily Show was an incredible training ground for that kind of thing. It was all about discipline and generating material constantly.
I'm pleased because as a comic I live on the fringes of an extreme society. What could be better than satirizing this insanity. People are on edge, desperate and afraid. Those who aren't are soulless or living in extreme denial, locked in a magic kingdom of their own making. As a comic I get to poke at people's bubbles! Of course I'm pleased. I get to be their mouthpiece for their rage and fear! Tremendous fun.
I run the material, always with two people, sometimes three. We all see things so differently, so to get a couple of people's perspectives on what I'm doing and the material itself is insanely helpful for honing in on what to take into the audition room.
I'm a comic book writer, so I work with a lot of artists. Sometimes, you get art back, and you're like, 'Oh, no.' Sometimes, you get art back and you're like, 'That's exactly what I imagined in my head,' and you're happy about that.
Sometimes I'm inspired by the material and sometimes there's an idea that speaks to a material.
Being in a smaller environment - sometimes I like that. As a comic, we start off in comedy clubs, and there are people right at your feet, right on top of you. And I realize, as I get older, I miss that sometimes.
Something like going to get the newspaper can increase your writing efficiency by taking you away from the material. When I'm doing other things, writing stuff will be swirling around in my head, and sometimes I'll see a new way into the material.
I looked at Tank Girl, which is the coolest comic, ever. The movie didn't make the comic book any less cool. The comic is still the comic.
The thing that's worked for me is having as much of a connection to the material as possible. And sometimes the material requires a more straightforward approach, and sometimes it requires a little more silliness, you know?
Sometimes groups and their material can get overbloated.