The first minute with Frank Sinatra - Jackie Gleason had arranged the interview for me, I was nervous. It was the first time I was nervous. But I got over it in a minute. And Frank eventually became a friend.

Currently [2015] living it would be Fidel Castro. From World History, Christ, Lincoln, Hitler.

Former undefeated heavyweight champion the late Rocky Marciano told me that when he was a kid there was a bully in the neighborhood that he was always afraid of. That he would go out of his way to avoid running into him. And then on the night he won the heavyweight championship, The childhood bully came to see him in his locker room and for a couple of seconds he was afraid.

I don't know. I remember when I was 9 years old, I would ask the bus driver why he wanted to drive the bus. We would go to Dodgers Games in Brooklyn, and my friends would want autographs, and I would want to ask questions. My 15 year old inherited that gene from me, he is constantly asking questions. I don't know where that gene came from. That's one of the products of the Jewish faith, encouraging learning. I did not go to college, I only went to high school, but emphasis on learning and being creative. My favorite question is: Why? Because Why can't be answered in one word.

i think having kids and getting into my mid 40s and some minor health issues have focused my thinking on the subject of death a little more than when i was younger.

i like what ramana maharshi said when he was dying: "Where could I go?" the question isn't what happens when we die, it's "Who is dying?" The universe certainly seems to be into recycling, so while i don't think my ego makes it persay, i think our essence isn't going anywhere!

The loss of CEW was fucking hard. I saw him with @rosepetalpistol at a place on the east side days before he passed away, his wife and beautiful daughter were there and we talked for 40 minutes about life, the show, and him. It was a huge blow to the show, he was the funniest person on it. So he's irreplaceable and I think that everyone felt that, and I felt worst for the writers and editors, seeing him over and over, writing him out of the show, the whole lot of it. But in the most disgusting and at the same time beautiful way, "the show must go on." I think that saying means something bigger than most people think. The show is the most important thing in many ways, because it is for the w...[Read more]

I just think the closer we (as a species) think we get to God, the closer we get to death.

Q: What’s the best book on the subject of death other than the works of Becker? A: Wow, this person knows the works of Becker? Well that's probably the best one, Becker's Denial of Death. There's a book by Otto Rank, the trauma of Birth, he talks about death in that one a lot. You probably don't want to read about death, but if you do want to read about death, it's a good "summer read."

Cervantes. I found Don Quixote transformative. I mean, I never read anything like that before. Well, I'm reading this norwegian guy and I can't remember his goddamn name. I'm trying to remember! I know what it's called, the book is called My Struggle. By Karl Ove Knausgaard. No wonder I couldn't remember it. The title is even very daring, but it's an unflinching look into mortality, which I like to do. I like to look into mortality, in an unflinching manner. Some days, I'll flinch. Some days I'll be honest with you Victoria, I'll stare into my own mortality in that abyss. I'll flinch. But I can't say the same for Horgalveyeysbadlobad. I'm sure he flinches too, but he writes it down and pret...[Read more]