New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time.
I think comedy in the last 5-7 years is as good as it's ever been in America. I like it when people push it. You go through periods where people did not push the envelope. The more you push it, the funnier you get.
I want to be better every year, just like everyone else does. From what I learned from last year, I feel a lot more comfortable. I know the game and how it goes up here. You get in certain situations the first time, you really don't know what to expect. Now that I've been in them-and I've been in every situation possible last year-there's nothing new to come at me.
I think people, especially the press, like to pick on children of famous people and I think that's fucking awful. Things get made up. It's so, so sad. And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it as a 16-year-old. You're like, Why? What did I do?
I remember when I was in college, my junior year NWSL was not a thing and my senior year, it started up and I had a place to play now. It's really great that it's been able to be stable for these last seven years and we can always continue to push for more growth.
Last year, New York got $200 million. This year, we're going to give them $124 million under this particular program. But last year was an artificially elevated number to make up from the very low grant the year before.
I held 18, 19, or 20-year-old men in my arms, and I heard their last words, and I saw them take their last breath.
At last the cold crept up my spine; at last it filled me from foot to head; at last I grew so chill and desolate that all thought and pain and awareness came to a standstill. I wasn't miserable anymore: I wasn't anything at all. I was a nothing-- a random configuration of molecules. If my heart still beat I didn't know it. I was aware of one thing only; next to the gaping fact called Death, all I knew was nothing, all I did meant nothing, all I felt conveyed nothing. This was no passing thought. It was a gnawing, palpable emptiness more real than the cold.
Email is a mind-killer. Like, I really think getting a smartphone is the worst move I ever did in being a musician because while we've just been talking my phone's vibrated like 15 times and I only get push notifications for like two apps, so either like a bunch of houses are going up for sale right now or someone's like, "Why aren't you emailing me back?" It's just hard to stay in the moment. I can understand why people go to retreats to write and stuff like that but I don't have the time.
In theater they want to put you on a contract a year in advance and I don't really like that. That's the reason why I became an actor - I like the freelance work. It's interesting, I like not being told what to do still, and I have a job where people tell me exactly what to do, so maybe I don't know myself as well as I want to. I think my last play I did was three years ago.
When I'm taking my last breath, I want to look at how I used up the best of myself. How much did I sweat, push, pull, rip, fall, hit, crash, explode?...My dream is to be so well-used that in my last-half second, I just burst into dust.
Snoopy: So this is the last day of the year. Another complete year gone by and what have I accomplished this year that I haven't accomplished every other year? Nothing! (He smiles.) How consistent can you get?
My arms and chest were always the hardest for me. I obsessed over my arms for 32 years! I did everything to bring them up: for 2 years, I did mini arm workouts every night before bed!
Yes, I direct commercials as well. I get these really weird offers and then I have to bid on them and win the job. One offer that I have now, and I've already done this last year for the same company, is for Cash Value Cheese, this cheese out in the midwest. I did two spots for them last year and I'm going to probably do three this year. I also did some for the Utah Transit Authority, which was weird and interesting and they turned out really funny - they actually won an award.
They sell you this present of rainbows and butterflies, and as a 16-year-old, that's what I bought. It's why I did 'X Factor' and why I ended up in a group. But then you're working so hard, so young.
It frustrated me at college that all the acts in the Top 10 were like The Moody Blues and Phil Collins. It was like why did we get stuck with the last generation's music, why can't we have our own?