I don't think just funny is enough on Broadway.
Don Knotts
My idol was Jack Benny and he was the master of subtlety and timing.
Mainly, I thought of Barney as a kid. You can always look into the faces of kids and see what they're thinking, if they're happy or sad. That's what I tried to do with Barney.
I felt like a loser. I was unhappy as a child most of the time. We were terribly poor and I hated my size.
We began to do little things, have little scenes where we just talked about things that had nothing to do with the plot. In fact, in the beginning, they didn't want us to do that. But as time went on, you see that in so many shows. I think we were the first to do that.
Well, they put me in a booth and then did some nice things to the speaker to make it come out sounding ok.
I don't think actors get good training today. I put my training to use in everything I do.
