Sometimes I liken the comedian's lifestyle a little bit to a firefighter's in the sense that there's a lot of waiting and a lot of nothingness. And then there are moments of urgent firefighting.

The beautiful thing about stand-up advice is that it applies to anybody, any gender, any race, any age. The best thing you can do - everybody will tell you - is get on stage as much as you can. I would add to that: get on stage as much as you can - with the people you admire.

When I got divorced, the first people I called were Nick Kroll and John Mulaney and T. J. Miller - all the pals.

Joy is in learning to say yes to what is and to surrender into flow with what is, even when it's what you don't want.

My mom wanted me to be a youth pastor, and when I became a comedian, she said it was close enough.

As soon as I heard the term 'comedy nerd,' I'd hoped there was a lot of them.

Dorks are not exempt from bad behaviour.

I disagree with the idea that everything happens for a reason.

I'm down with Jesus, sweet Jeez, sweet baby Jeez.

I can't speak for everybody. But I will say that for me, when I've been depressed - and I get depressed. I have irrational bouts of anxiety. I have random FedEx deliveries of despondency. Just like, 'I didn't order this. Oh, well, keep the PJs on, cancel everything you're doing today. It's time to take a sad shower.'

I think a lot of pain in people's lives comes from not being open and honest about what they really think, what they really feel, what they like, what they don't like.

Whenever I make a blasphemous joke, I always say that I believe in a God big enough to know that I'm just kidding. How can God not know that I'm kidding? And also, how could God be offended at a thing that he made not believing in him?

The skill set of pastor and comedian are incredibly similar. You want to affect people. You're good at reading rooms. You're persuasive, and you're likable.

I booked an E-Trade commercial. That's a lucrative gig.

I felt like I was in a unique position, or I am in a unique position, to show the evangelical world in a way that I haven't seen on TV before. That's a world that I'm very familiar with.

In real life, T. J. Miller is one of my best friends, and I'll maybe see him for two or three days in a row, and then I won't see him for four months. That's just how our lives are.

Good comedy can be liberating, and if I'm doing my job as a comedian, part of the joy for the audience is getting that release.

I think 'everything sucks' is too often leaned upon as a comedic stance. It's a really easy and pretty weak perspective.

It's funny - the reason I started doing a podcast was because every time I was on someone else's podcast, I would take it over a little bit.

The underlying goal of comedy is feeling not-alone.

I think my mom recognized that I liked people to be happy. I like people to get along. And I like to be a peacemaker. And I liked the church. So she was like, 'You should be a youth pastor.'

Science would like to tell us that people laugh because of the benign violation theory, but comedy doesn't have hard rules.

It's hard to control the things that are going to inspire you.

I used to just want so badly to have afterlife insured and make sure I was going to heaven.