Bruce Eric Kaplan

“In television writing, you want to hear what the characters say as opposed to giving them something to say. It's the same with the cartoons.”

“We only got clothing once a year, like, right before school began. It's like, that's when you got your clothing.”

“I am assuming my father learned at an early age that there is nothing more dangerous than showing your true self. I think a lot of us learn that, and it actually may be true.”

“I actually thought, like, I was sure 'Get Smart' and, like, 'James Bond' movies, I was sure that that's what real life was like.”

“When I was a kid, I would be watching TV shows like, you know, like 'Get Smart' and be like, 'That's what being an adult is.'”

“I read the 'New Yorker' when I was a kid. I used to love the cartoons and pick the cartoons out of the library, so I felt I knew the world of their cartoons.”

“James Thurber was an inspiration because his drawings were so primitive. I am self-taught - I didn't go to art school - so I thought when I started doing them, 'If James Thurber can be a cartoonist, I can,' because his stuff is very raw.”

“It's self-soothing for me to draw. So if I'm upset, drawing makes me less upset.”

“All I can really tell you about my father is that he did odd things like put tin foil on a bottle of beer after having a few sips, then put it in the refrigerator to perhaps have on another night.”

“I had always wanted to do a collection of cartoons, but you have to wait until someone is actually interested.”

“One quintessential moment in time is when you're 22, when you graduate college. And then another quintessential time is as a middle-age man. That's the convergence.”