The characters can't be wittier than people are in real life. They have to be character witty.

Jokes in sitcoms only work when they're not conspicuous and they reveal character.

People walk past me in the street and look at me, but because they think I work in their office and they can't remember my name.

People will kill you. Over time. They will shave out every last morsel of fun in you with little, harmless sounding phrases that people uses every day, like: 'Be realistic!'"

[What It Is (2009)]

Some people have told me that I'm grumpy; it's not something that I'm aware of. It's not like I walk around poking children in the eye... not very small ones, anyway.

People will kill you over time, and how they'll kill you is with tiny, harmless phrases, like 'be realistic.'