My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him.

And so he made a conservative choice.

Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant.

And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job.

And our family had to do whatever we could to survive.

I learned many great lessons from my father.

Not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want.

So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

It's not the only thing he taught me, though.

You know, I watched the effect of my father's love and humor and how it altered the world around me.

And I thought, that's something to do.

That's something worth my time.

It wasn't long before I started acting up.

You know, people would come over to the house and they'd be greeted by a seven-year-old throwing himself down a large flight of stairs.

They would say, what happened?

And I would say, I don't know, let's check the replay.

I'd go back to the top of the stairs and come back down in slow motion.

It was a very strange household.

My father used to brag that I wasn't a ham, I was the whole pig.

And he treated my talent as if it was his second chance.

When I was about 28 after a decade as a professional comedian,

I realized one night in LA that the purpose of my life had always been to free people from concern, just like my dad.

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