David: I don’t know if that’s my line, but it’s not a bad one. When I went to school my dad always said, “You need to study because you need something to fall back on.” And I feel like, if you have something to fall back on, then you’re gonna fall back. It’s scarier to not have a safety net, but what are you young for, right?

Judd: I met with Steven Bochco when I was about to start Freaks and Geeks, just to get general advice about how to run a television show. He said you have to always remember that when you’re making TV, you’re basically trying to put ten pounds of shit into an eight-pound bag, and you never have enough time and you never have enough money and so you

David: I was breaking my wife’s heart. Somebody once said to me, you know, “Junk’s gonna give you everything, but you’re going to have to give everything to junk.” And there comes a time when you don’t want to anymore. You know, I’ve been so lucky in my domestic situation. My wife is such a wonderful person, and strong. Resolute. Graceful. And at a

Judd: What makes you do it again? David: You become successful. I won the Breeders’ Cup twice. It looked as if I was doing great. Judd: And it’s fun on some level? David: No. Judd: Never fun? David: It’s something to study. I mean, the track is a great place to study psychology. But what a waste of time. You learn everything you’re going to learn a

just had the feeling he didn’t really want to direct traffic, but he felt that he had to for his persona. That he was doing something to fulfill others’ expectations of him rather than it was coming from his heart. I felt he was a little caught in a vise. And then when I saw him many years later in California, he was expressing this other side of h

Decades later, I met Steve Martin—formally, in a non-stalkish way—for the first time at a work-related meeting, to discuss a project he was kicking around. At the meeting, I was urged to tell that story, and so I did. When it was over, someone said to Steve, “Is that how you remember it?” And Steve responded, “Actually, I believe I was the one who

I learned very early in my career, even before I was working in television, that the biggest laughs in show business, for me, came the same way the biggest laughs in reality do: out of whatever the reality of a given exchange of a social situation is.

Spike: No, we did what we wanted to do. We also felt like MTV wasn’t really promoting it that much because they were so nervous about it. They were really into it because it was so successful but they were also nervous about it and getting shit for it. And it just felt right to end it. We ended it on a high. Judd: What was the criticism? That it wa

Spike: Yeah. I feel ridiculous to complain about it but I’m just giving myself time to recuperate. Making a movie takes so much out of you, but it also gives you so much. When I lock picture—it’s like a relationship ending, and there’s something bittersweet about it, too. It’s a love relationship in one way, in terms of negotiating what you need fr