I remember lying on the floor of my room, staring at a black-and-white television for most of the '80s - watching 'Diff'rent Strokes,' 'Facts of Life,' 'Silver Spoons,' Saturday morning cartoons, and 'Murder, She Wrote' while eating an insane amount of Stouffer's French bread pizza. I was sucked into it all.
Jim Rash
I think there's a fear of disconnect sometimes; communication is a huge issue for all of us, from adults to kids, as far as our face-to-face time and our ability to interact with each other without isolating itself to a phone. I think that has to be something that's very challenging.
I think the networks, in general, have to evaluate what's happening around them. I'm sure they're scared about a lot of things: Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and all these places that allow people to watch shows in chunks.
There's always something exciting about small change.
When you get onstage, you can see everyone in the audience's face, down to the detail. You can see who may or may not be yawning.
I loved 'Dungeons & Dragons'. That was actually a good cartoon to me.
I feel like my experience on 'Community' was that I saw just how important that first year is for a series. That is where you work all the pieces out, and that means honing the characters' voices, setting that tone, finding your angle.
I love discussing the ins and outs of the collaborative nature of writing.
A sketch is just a mini movie.
There are writers' rooms that will write episodes all together, who will break into little groups and write certain scenes. Everyone's process can be a little bit malleable. Everyone tries to get into a groove or find what works for their room.
On the personal level, the people that follow you on Twitter are always nice to hear from.
If you're a writer, the insight of other writers - if there's some kind of Holy Grail message on how to deal with writer's block or how to deal with any problem that can come up - whether you're writing about yourself or a group of people, I find that very interesting.
I think what makes a good show is obviously a rabid fan base.
Some people like to purge out a draft and just let it go and then go back and fix it, but I'm a writer-rewriter. I can't move on until I feel like it's presentable.
As far as working with actors, I feel very comfortable working in that aspect of directing.
If someone said, 'Sit down and write a 'Community' episode,' I would be panicked.
People are vocal, so you hear the pros and cons of your shows.
On the movie side of things, the difficulties come with so few movies being made, and when they are, it seems that it's a marketing game. Story sometimes takes a backseat to that one grand marketing idea.
When you stop thinking about something, the idea comes to you. It seems to work.
I like to believe we're always looking to evolve as writers.
With writing, I love doing it, but there's that love-hate relationship: You're not having a good run, you've hit a wall; it's frustrating.
In a weird way, the drama behind the stage was sort of keeping 'Community' on people's minds.
One summer, when I was a kid, I was in the car with my stepfather, and he was asking me where I thought I ranked, on a scale of 1 to 10. I said, '6,' and he said, '3.' I think it was his way of telling me that I needed to get out and really attack life.
I think what's cool about a body-switching movie is, 'The grass is always greener:' the idea that someone else has a better life than I do.
I am always up to steal secrets from smart people.
The idea of just improvising and riffing can sometimes be at the expense of story.
Working out has always been a stress reliever for me. I don't know if it's so much vanity as it more just keeps my mind from going crazy.
As long as a teaser saves some things, that's good.
When you're talking about people like Shonda Rhimes, Vince Gilligan or Beau Willimon, you're talking to people who are notable and celebrities in their own right. People want to know how their brains work.
I think that... I would say that sometimes people get afraid of when you're balancing comedy and drama.
To me, if people really want to improvise, get into classes and learn.
I can't wait to meet Steven Spielberg or Al Pacino again so I can say, 'I have to tell you how you know me. You know me because I am the worst actor in the world.'
I was very much a latchkey kid. My parents would feel the back of the television to make sure I hadn't been watching it when they were gone, which inevitably I was.
I think that getting responsibility and structure are huge parts of growing up.
Can you imagine watching 'All in the Family' and having an outlet like Twitter? Where you could discuss it while it's happening? I think that would be a really interesting thing.
I think most co-directors and co-writers just hold hands.
I will say you could always look at 'Looney Tunes' and learn about writing. I think you can learn a lot about the beats of comedy. I think you can find out about awkward pauses, because I think they did those well.
I think fans have an outlet. Through social media, you can hear them.
Look at people that influenced me - but I didn't know if I had that sort of 'I'm going to take you under my wing' person.
I think the community that's created within a writers' room is a very interesting topic.
'Game of Thrones' is taking dense novels and trying to shrink it all down to a slightly manageable series in the sense that there are so many characters and so many locations.
The passion to explore and not be afraid to fail - that's something I will always attribute to the Groundlings.
When I teach sketch writing, there's still a beginning, middle and end.
For young boys, just to know you exist in any capacity is a strong feeling.
'Dexter,' while the pilot shares moments with the novel that created the character of Dexter, they completely abandoned the book from that moment on.
If there's ever going to be a challenge for an actor, it's that character who's often evolving - which is not often the case in television.
Technology has changed, and we need to figure out how to improve the archaic way of what makes a hit, or how to determine how many viewers are watching beyond some people with Nielsen boxes in a small percentage of homes in random areas.
You'd just die if you put your head to the grindstone.
Some people will ruin a movie for you if they enthuse too much.
Even with the fact that I grew up in North Carolina, 'Jim Rash' just screams 'Southern boy.'
