Paul Feig

“Whatever makes you laugh is fine, and all we can do as comedy professionals is try to steer you towards something that we think is a little better - but not put you down or just perplex you in the process.”

“Yeah, you know, I like to throw myself on the sword so that others may feel better about themselves. I tell the stories that you all want to forget, but when you remember it, it hopefully makes you laugh.”

“Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional W.W.F. wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and that they're going to destroy their opponent. Then they get hit once and fall down and roll around in agony and suddenly seem immobilized by pain, calling for the ref to intervene.”

“I was a standup comedian, which is kind of like writing and directing yourself.”

“Where there seems to be a difference between guys being nuts and women being nuts is that guys are much more open in calling each other on stuff; lots of insults and dirty names. Whereas women will talk frankly and honesty, but there also seems to be more passive aggressiveness.”

“With a suit, even if you're having a nervous breakdown, you still look like you're in charge.”

“The dueling maturity levels in high school is such a source of comedy to me. I was always such a late developer. I was last to walk. I was last to ride a bike. I was last to have sex. That's why it's fun to portray one side of your childhood onscreen.”

“I've always enjoyed people studying themselves in the mirror, and I also enjoy those 'walk and feel bad' shots. I like anything that isolates people and focuses them on themselves, or makes us focus on their faces as they're going through something.”

“I love the pictures of Old Hollywood, seeing the directors dressed in suits and ties. Even the grips would be wearing ties. But the biggest thing is when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to be an adult, and I think what happens with most guys is that no one wants to be an adult anymore. So they're dressing like kids.”

“There's nothing worse than the sequel that's a letdown from the first movie.”

“I always feel in improv that nothing is ever as good once it's repeated.”

“Forty is the line of demarcation that says you're an adult now. You're an adult, so don't pretend you're a kid anymore.”

“My style of comedy is very real and bittersweet, and sort of always on the verge of kind of being tragic.”

“We didn't used to be so precious about women in comedy back in the old days.”

“I'm just always a bit thrown when, in the immediate aftermath of some event which makes us feel like either God's out to get us or He's not doing His job as well as He can, we all still get together and continue to ask Him for help.”

“I've never been to a class reunion or anything because I'm always afraid of that one - there's going to be some 'Carrie'-like incident.”

“At the end of the day, I just want a movie that's great, that people are going to love and laugh at and be affected by, and also have an emotional journey.”

“What's so great about working with really funny women is that vanity comes second. Whatever makes it real and funny, they're going to go for, and it's just great.”

“I couldn't be happier to not be acting. I miss it, but I don't miss the auditioning or trying to get work.”

“'Constitutional' is just a real pip of a word. Positively rolls off the tongue. In fact, it's downright fun to say. 'Con-stit-too-shun-al.' It's the verbal equivalent of skipping down the street with an ice cream cone in your hand. It's like a semantic bag of Lays potato chips. You simply can't just say it once.”