Paul Shaffer

“When Marty Short and I get together, I sit down at the piano and play the score of 'Godspell.'”

“Writing never had the immediate gratification I was looking for.”

“Not only was it enough to be a cover band, it was perhaps the highest calling. After all, if you could play music recorded by others, stay true to the original, and still add fire and flare, why not?”

“I love to be the center of attention. My oversized ego craves it and needs it.”

“James Brown was my favorite, my absolute idol. Every time I played with him was like a music lesson, and I never thought I could be so funky! I mean, a white boy from Canada - a Jew - getting down with his funky bad self!”

“I love to do comedy, but music is really my heart.”

“I don't know why this concept of what is hip became so important to me.”

“I love funny people. I met and became friends with some of the funniest people ever. Gilda Radner, bless her soul; Martin Short; Dave Thomas; Eugene Levy.”

“I'm doing less than I used to because I'm a family man now, and I have two kids.”

“I actually met Deadmau5 for the first time on the red carpet in Hollywood for the Grammys. I was there with my daughter, and he introduced himself to me. He said, 'Hey, I'm from Toronto.' I had a little conversation with him, and then I realized I'm talking to a guy with a giant mouse head.”

“I've never had a plan for the future.”

“The Dave Clark Five had more appearances on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' than The Beatles.”

“I think of all the things that I've gotten to do, all the wonderful people that I've played with, being in the recording studio with Phil Spector tops them all. And of course, now he is in prison. I hope to visit him, I still consider him a friend, and what can you say? A terrible way for a guy like that to be remembered.”

“I lived at the Gramercy Park Hotel for about 10 years. It was terrific. It was a pleasantly run-down hotel of the '70s and '80s with a mix of older, rent-controlled apartment dwellers, Europeans and new wave and punk bands. The room service was great, the hamburger was terrific, and they had a doctor who made house calls.”

“I still talk incessantly about 'SCTV,' and I say, 'Screw the kids!'”

“As far as favorite 'overall package' record of all time, I'd have to say 'My Girl' by The Temptations. I like everything about it, not only the composition - but the arrangement, the production, the lead vocals, the background vocals, the horns, the strings. That one I listen to over and over again.”

“I want to learn to sight-read music. And to play the bass pedals on the organ. Those are my only ambitions.”

“You've got to be a really straight man to write a song like 'It's Raining Men.'”

“When I discovered that I could tune into American radio stations after dark, this was the hippest thing to me. It sort of saved my life.”

“My years on 'SNL' had reconfirmed that what I do best is play for a sort of edgy comedy.”