Maya Rudolph

“I feel like I come from a smaller off shoot of black people because I am mixed. People say I'm African American but that doesn't include the other half of me.”

“I learned the enormous power of writing for yourself, especially now that people seem to be receptive to the fact that women can write.”

“I don't know if comedy is a male sport. I always wondered that.”

“I feel like I'm a drag queen.”

“I've never set out to write a funny movie or be a funny comedian as a woman. I am a woman. I don't really have a choice in the matter. My goal is just to be funny.”

“I really love laughing.”

“I never thought I'd get a chance to do what I'm doing. It's such a dream.”

“Lord knows I had what you could call many fashion Don'ts in my day.”

“Without a doubt in sketch comedy there are fewer women than men.”

“No, no, no. Your accent is so beautiful.”

“If my time with my kids is shorter than it was yesterday, it's better than nothing.”

“To grow up with the loss of your mother is a scar that never goes away.”

“Most of my life I didn't feel very normal. There's definitely been some moments where I feel like, all right, I've finally graduated and I'm a normal lady.”

“I like comedy as a group sport.”

“I've been writing joke songs since I was a kid and it served me well at S.N.L. I can write those in my sleep. In fact, I have.”

“There are days when I wonder why my mom couldn't be here to see this.”

“I get anxious. That lovely Jewish guilt that comes with ancestry.”

“To have your childhood dream realized is a really big deal.”

“I've met people who are baffled by children, as though they were never children themselves.”

“I still have a fantasy of being a musician when I grow up.”