When you don't have a laugh track, you can make the clothes funny. We can make a sign funny. We can make the way somebody walks funny. The makeup can be funny.

Something about not waiting for the laugh of a laugh track allows you to take lines that otherwise might be seen as just direct jokes, and make them seem realistic.

Comedy is surprises, so if you're intending to make somebody laugh and they don't laugh, that's funny.

One longs to be funny, to make people laugh. Laughter is such a sign of approval, isn't it?

I write funny. If I can make my wife laugh, I know I'm on the right track.

You know, 'The Golden Girls' was a very unusual show to start on. I was young, and it was a show about old people, and it was a very traditional show, but it was also an amazing training ground for a joke-writer. It forced me to learn those skills.