[Ed Grimley] lives in a retirement home in New Jersey. It`s called the Retirement Home in New Jersey for Characters Who Were Interesting in the `80s for About an Hour. He`s there with the Whiners, Gumby and Jon Lovitz`s `That`s the ticket` guy.

It`s the bane of existence for anyone in comedy. `The photograph must be funny!` So the people coordinating the shoot throw rubber chickens at you, 20 at a time. Or put a feathered hat on you. Or give you a clown nose. Of course, all of this makes you depressed, so you wind up looking more like you`re promoting A Long Day`s Journey Into Night.

I`m totally aware of how lucky I am. I have health, family, children. I do work that gives me total joy and allows me to make a living, and maybe, if I`m lucky enough, I`ll feel I`ve fulfilled a little bit of service to society because I brought other people some laughter.

I truly believe that when you`re funny, you`re blessed. Your whole life is kind of golden. I was happy, although it was not perfect happiness. There was illness and sadness and death.

When my dad died at the end of my sophomore year [at university], I stopped and took stock of my life. There was this real sense that my childhood was officially over. I decided I wanted to be an actor. I knew I was loved as a kid. The thing you can always rely on, your core person, comes from your family`s attention and love. When my mother got sick, and I`d see her fight to survive, it gave me an early view of bravery and what life was about. I was able to prepare for it. Your mother dies, and you`re eighteen, and you face a choice. Are you going to take drugs? Become a drunk? Or are you going to try to become more spiritual? Why not go with the thing that seems more positive? [pause] Why do I tend to be optimistic? Because the alternative is just crushing to my soul.

I`ve chosen to treat my life more like a party than something to stress about.

My mother was the concert master of the symphony. Absurdity and eccentricity were not criticized.

What`s great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It`s not about the gloss of your eyebrows.

What`s great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It`s not about the gloss of your eyebrows...One of my great influences was Don Knotts as Barney Fife.

Years ago, I found that being that excited about something so commonplace, like what to wear on an airplane, was kind of engaging.

I`ve done lots of improv things but not a whole movie.

David Lynch and I almost made a movie together in the late `80s. We had lots of dinners and lunches. He`s a very cool, hip guy. This film, let`s face it, is like an homage to him, I would imagine he`d find it funny.

I know if I were to drop dead now, people would probably write nice things in the obit.

No one is any one thing.

All these things that enter your head are assignments. You write them up and then throw them out there and if someone wants to do it, your assignment is done.

I have a kind of objective luxury about my career.

I`m totally aware of how lucky I am. I have health, family, children. I do work that gives me total joy and allows me to make a living, and maybe, if I`m lucky enough, I`ll feel I`ve fulfilled a little bit of service to society because I brought other people some laughter. [2000]

I hate to lull the audience into letting them think that something is something. It`s always fun to defy expectations.

I have sometimes imagined my own death and brought myself to tears.

This is satire. I am a satirist. Modern-day society has this obsession with needing to know every ounce of angst about performers` lives, to the point that it becomes more important than whether they can perform. [On his Broadway show Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, 2006]

I think I`m funny because my family, my siblings were funny.

Two words, sweetie: balloon mortgage. And the need to be loved. [On why he remains in show business]

You go through publicists because it`s easy for a publicist to say to another publicist, "No".

All you`re trying to do in an improvisation is get as much material as possible for the editing room.

Sometimes people get passionate about the obscure jokes.

I think loss can fuel how you lead your whole life.

People do think I`m Jewish. But we`re Irish Catholic. My father had a brogue.

I`ve never done an improvised movie as a fictitious character. I think that`s the challenge.

I truly believe that when you`re funny, you`re blessed. Your whole life is kind of golden. I was happy, although it was not perfect happiness. There was illness and sadness and death. [2000]

Someone once asked me what was the weirdest question I was ever asked. And I was stymied.

Being the youngest of five, you`re adored, you`re fueled with confidence.

What I learned, a little too late, was that the `traditional` Martin Short target viewer weighs under 300 pounds. Unfortunately, I was on during daytime.

I always do my life around the school year. Around the middle of June, the kids are out of school and we go up to our cottage in Canada.

I pretend I`m one of the royal family when I`m in a hotel and that the hotel belongs to me - it is a palace.

One of my great influences was Don Knotts as Barney Fife.

You try to figure out things to keep yourself interested. It`s very easy to get lulled.