What I do when I act and direct is I do a small version, go a little bigger, do a medium one, an over-the-top one, and then even bigger than that. I'll do six readings of the line. And they're not all the same. Just so I know if I was wrong about what I should have done, I luckily have this more subtle version.

I remember walking into the editing room when I was a junior in college, and I watched the guy make cuts, and I didn't know what the hell was going on. He was just putting these shots together and telling the story, and it was amazing.

What makes Broken Lizard, I think, is our timing.

A lot of comedy films, there's the opinion, 'Well, if it's funny, put it in.' But I think you have to be more disciplined than that.

'Spinal Tap' influenced me, I think, specifically in making me really pay attention to tone.

I think that Broken Lizard movies typically have to be able to star five guys, so it's like, policemen, spacemen, a basketball team.

I find that there's so much funny stuff in real life, and I am much more interested in super grounded, real stuff, so now I just want things to feel real and authentic.

I am convinced that tough villains help make a comedy sparkle because they provide a contrast to the funny guys.

I don't like soft villains in comedy films.

You can't halt time.

Occasionally, we would shoot something and think, 'This is it; we are over the line.' But the test audiences didn't have a problem with it.

Frankly, I love 'Scream': I think it's one of the great scary/funny movies.

There used to be lots of legitimate independent distributors: Fox Searchlight, Miramax, Lionsgate, Warner Independent, Focus Features, Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse and Fine Line. Most of them have closed.

It's never a matter ever, ever - are - we're never trying to gross anybody out, or ever are we trying to shock people. We're just trying to make it funny in a way that makes the audience go, 'You know, that was the first joke they thought of, and they weren't afraid to do it.'

We've always had a philosophy that we would always go wherever the joke is.

We shot 'Super Troopers' on the side of the road in the summer in Poughkeepsie.

I would never be comfortable with an edited name. I have never hidden the fact that I am of Indian origin.

If you hang around people from L.A., they're, like, used to having their city being maligned.

Philosophy teaches you to think big.

History is ultimately storytelling. I think the more stories you write in life - and I've written a lot of screenplays, a lot of short stories - you realize it's your interpretation of events that people read, and they absorb that.

A lot of people come from small towns, and they come here wondering 'Can I really make it in Hollywood?' When I went to L.A., I knew I was going to make it. There's no doubt about it. Why? Because I'm from Chicago!

The thing about people from Chicago and the Northwest suburbs is that they're very cocky. I think that serves us well in the show business world.

What I've found is that humans do laugh at the same things everywhere.

'Super Troopers' did well but not crazy-well theatrically. But it did so well after that it - in ancillary markets - that it became impossible for us to get away from it. We'd get pulled over by cops who would thank us and then would let us go.