Running my show is really like an actor being in repertory but where, in one day in one performance, you do scenes from a drama, a farce, a low comedy and a tragedy.

Statistically, I'd say comedy writers are perhaps the sanest category of show people. And why not? They make big money, and although it's not an easy trade - particularly when you're at your galley oar five days a week - it's easier on the nerves and the psyche than living with the brain-squeezing pressure and cares of being the Star.

There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?

Show people tend to treat their finances like their dentistry. They assume the people who handle it know what they are doing.

I'm not freakishly short. I had, on my show, used shortness as a joke subject; it didn't really bother me.

Show people tend to treat their finances like their dentistry. They assume the man handling it knows what he is doing.