[Had acting come up empty for him,] I'd be teaching history at a prep school, ... And that's still my backup plan.

...teaching is, after all, a form of show business.

Once I moved to Chicago and started trying to get acting jobs, I just tended to book more things that were comedically based than anything else. I never had the preconceived notion, 'I will be a comedic actor.' I just thought, 'I'll go into acting and see what kind of work I can get.'

I don't think my kids have to worry too much about me embarrassing them because that's not how I would want to grow up, with wacky dad showing up at school and performing for everyone.

I'm terrible at metaphors or analogies. I don't know the difference, actually, ... For me, acting is like your dad teaching you to ride a bicycle. You feel totally vulnerable at first. You imagine yourself getting hurt, and the only thing that prevents you from crashing is your dad is running after you, holding on to the back of your seat. You keep looking over your shoulder at him, and he's going, 'You're doing it, kid.' And then, all of a sudden, you're, like, 'Why are you still holding on, Dad? Let go.'

It's weird; I was not a really tough guy in high school, but I end up playing all of these psychopaths and criminals. I don't really care who they are, as long as they are complicated and going through something that I can understand and put across.