The best comedy not only makes you laugh, but on the moment of the laugh, you learned.
— Jeffrey Tambor
The first time I met Garry Shandling was my audition for 'The Larry Sanders Show,' with Garry and his casting director Francine Maisler. I can recall every minute of it. He was gracious and kind, and he read with me. He was terrific.
The 'Hey now's' are delivered as people pass me. As I just get near ear range, I hear, 'Hey now!' and that's very funny.
I do remember going shopping with my mother; I think the name of the store was Ruth Atkins. I don't know why I can remember that. It's probably because it's not the name.
I lost my moorings. But you know the great thing about acting? It's all part of the gig. You get to put it in your work.
I think shows being sent out this way - pressing a button and 10 episodes can go out to the U.S.A., and the U.K. and Germany, it's very cool.
That's just me and my own body issues - I think I'm fat and bald and old and ugly.
I think everyone needs to know that I steal biscotti on Delta Airlines. People need to know that.
I give a speech at some colleges and corporations called 'Performing Your Life: An Evening with Jeffrey Tambor.' I get asked a lot of questions, and people say, 'Your stories are wonderful. You should write a book.'
I was with Robert Preston in 'Sly Fox.'
What's interesting about playing Maura is that I get to use more of Jeffrey that I've ever used in any role, and I think that's the remarkable part about it and truly the most surprising part about doing this role.
People are identifying not only with the trans movement, but also the Pfefferman family. What I am noticing is people are coming up on the street and talking about their life and their family, and they say, 'Your family is just like mine.'
I worked at The Old Globe Theater under the great baton of Craig Noel. One of the great theater heroes that we have. He was so great and so inspirational. I think I did 'Antony and Cleopatra' and 'The Taming of the Shrew'. I lived in Ocean Beach, and my rent was $140 a month.
We are part of the zeitgeist, and we are communicating in a human, real way.
Some people have a mandate that you can't change.
I went bald when I was 18. My father cried. He cried about many things. But it allowed me to play older men in summer stock.
The shedding of any clothes, when you're 70 years old, is tricky.
What can I say about a world without Garry Shandling? This is where I need Garry. He would have something pithy, and there would be a laugh, and your heart would break at the same time. He changed my life.
I cross-dressed as the judge in 'Hill Street Blues,' you know.
I don't mind if someone yells a motto out of their car at me. 'No touching! No touching!' No harm is done.
Every family has that secret. Every family has that thing where you go, 'Shhh, shhh, shhh.'
Lying and art are very allied. But after you lie, you get to the truth.
There was one television in the living room, and we all sat around on Sundays and watched Ed Sullivan.
Families are families are families are families.
They're my instructors, and every parent will understand that.
The Tambors were conservative Jews, and we attended Temple Beth Shalom at 14th Avenue and Clement Street in San Francisco. We were the only Jewish family for miles. To me, being Jewish meant 'otherness.'
'Dad, Dad, I'm getting married.' 'Sh-sh, don't say it. Nothing, nothing. Don't do anything.' So he honestly - 'cause he was taught don't celebrate - they'll take it away from you. And his parents were taught that, and his parents and parents' parents. Because if you did celebrate, and you were visible, it could be very, very dangerous.
You see kids walking to the bus, and they're watching product on their phones. I'm positive that my grandkids and their grandkids are going to put on a pair of glasses and watch something.
The brilliance of Jill Soloway is that while some people will give you Season Two, plus 10%, she's just kicked it.
I had a bilateral lisp, and I was overweight. I was the kid who played with the flowers on the ground in the outfield during baseball. I was that kid.
I am a huge believer - I always have been - in the power of comedy. That comedy will break hatred and will bring understanding.
I wanted to do well for me and for Maura. It is bigger than me. I have a responsibility. It's incumbent upon me to do Maura the best I can.
There are times between five and seven when this house is like a bowling alley, but it's reinspired me. My acting has gotten better because of these kids. I feel the same spirit I did when I was doing Off-Broadway.
You can send a lot of instruction through laughter.
So many people say they went to school on 'The Larry Sanders Show.'
I am the Internet guy. But the reason the 'Onion News Empire' was such an easy decision to make is I so trust that side of the fence now.
I'm the voice of a Chipotle Burrito. The world has changed.
I'm interested in people's stories, so I decided to tell part of mine.
I would daydream about what it would be like to be an actor. I would even do talk shows where I interviewed myself.
When I was a kid, we got up, we walked a number of paces to a television, turned it on, and changed channels.
You know that thing where you're trying to do the crossword puzzle, and you're trying to fit the word that's in your head in the puzzle, and then you go 'Ugh!' and you walk away, and then it comes to you. I'm interested in that moment. The release of expectation, and the release of pleasing yourself and pleasing anybody. Breaking the mindset.
'Attaboys' help people. I am huge on attaboy. Confidence is the great ingredient to living and art, with fidelity to self. It's so important to surround yourself with people who give you confidence.
I get up and cook for my kids, who really like my scrambled eggs. Or we make pancakes and the requisite bacon. The kids either play or watch cartoons, and Daddy gets to read the 'New York Times' and do his puzzle.
I was bar mitzvahed at Beth Shalom, and I had trouble. I didn't quite get it all.
I'm really aging myself, but I grew up with 'Playhouse 90' and the plays on the air - 90 minute plays.
I think most of my heroes are not the traditional types. A guy I was fascinated with was Buster Keaton. I just love what he did. I love that mug.
I actually got thrown into my Bar Mitzvah because my teacher, my Cantor, did not tell me that they would all say 'amen' at the end of each, for want of a better word, paragraph. And that threw me completely. I almost went into an Ella Fitzgerald sort of scat.
Usually when you act, you know where you're going, where the point is.
If you see 'Pollock,' I weighed almost 270 pounds.
My wife thought I was Vincent Schiavelli, and we married.
