I could've always worked shows, CLUBS, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, but I was successful in business VENTURES, and THINGS weren't happening in show business, so I SAID, 'Let me SEE what I can do.'

I've had 79 to 80 years of SHOW business. I started when I was 5 with a man called Tom Mix. I didn't have TIME to go to school because I was in SILENT movies, I was in radio, I was in burlesque, I worked with the CIRCUS. I'm all show business!

See, every thing in SHOW business is a lie. It ain't all it's CRACKED up to be. You are in situations where you are forced to THINK that you are better than everybody else because of the pedestal the fans place you on. It's a lie. This is just a job, a high-profile job. You have to KEEP that in perspective and not get caught up in the hype.

I LOVE the CHALLENGE of SHOW business. It KEEPS me on my TOES.

For a few YEARS, I thought I was putting SHOW business behind me. I was busy doing other things in life, particularly with POLITICS. I was not out looking for films, REALLY. I lost interest.

Although I'm largely doing other things in life, it's very NICE occasionally to PUT my toe BACK in the waters of SHOW business.

There isn't any more REAL SHOW BUSINESS.

I KNEW REAL show business from my father, who had been an actor SINCE he left the world of boxing.

I was thrilled as a KID to point out my SISTER as she danced and SANG on the stage, and she was PRETTY good artistically. She was a great INSPIRATION to me. She was the one who sort of led me into show business.

I STARTED standup at age nineteen. I DECIDED that the only way I was going to TRY show business as a career was if I could make total strangers LAUGH.

Unlike a LOT of actors, my father encouraged all his KIDS to go into SHOW business.

It was a very hard decision to let PEOPLE know about the multiple sclerosis because we're in an INDUSTRY where ILLNESS is not something that show BUSINESS likes.

No one WOULD have picked me out in high school and said, 'This guy is GOING to be in show BUSINESS.' I don't have any of the talents you would normally associate with show business.

My PARENTS were both in show business. My father was an actor, my MOM an actress, and both SINGERS, dancers and actors. They met in Los Angeles doing a PLAY together and so I grew up in a show biz family.