I've always liked New York, as I like towns with an edge and New York has a European feel, so when I came to play music here in the '80s it was a surprise to me.

As I came to New York, it was for me a new beginning. To discover what people are living here. What do they need, what do they expect, what would they like to be the image and the performance of the New York Philharmonic?

I came to New York in 1962 and it began to look like I might he able to make a living in 1972.

I came to New York with $500 and I had to live on that, but thankfully I was taken up by photographers quickly.

People with brains went to New York, and people with faces came West.

I came back to New York after college like any number of struggling performers, and you just find that niche where you can have some sort of impact. And for me that turned out to be comedy.