Lots of parents and kids were in the audience.

That's the funniest thing about portraying certain things on screen, sitting next to your parents and they get to see this glimpse of me kissing another guy.

My parents always encouraged me to do what I wanted.

I think parents need to make that phone call and find out if your kid is really where they say they are and if a parent is home. We do have parents who say 'what I do is not your business,' but my reaction to that always is, but if my kid is at your house, it is my business.

Every individual face, a grandmother or grandchild or parents and their two kids, they're all there waving at you and they've all come to see you, it's as simple as that. They're not there simply by chance and that's very, very humbling.

[Parents can't get enough of the report cards.] In previous years at the State Fair, ... the department had kids throw beanbag frogs into holes. Last year, we printed out 5,000 school report cards instead. Parents would come up and say, 'I'm thinking of moving, or using open enrollment. Can you print out a report card for this neighborhood school, and the schools close to it?' What a change!