"'Work hard,' is not only the most important, but actually, essential. I believe that if you didn't have to work for something, it can't truly be considered success. Luck doesn't count. I think success is allowed a certain pride and you can’t be proud of luck or even of being born smart, artistic, or talented. It's what you do with it that counts."

Derek

"From my own experiences I've learned that quirky, different, fringe projects that may only be cult, often travel a lot better internationally. Mainstream comedians and TV shows that might be the biggest thing, on say, UK TV for a while, often don't sell a sausage around the world. Comics selling out arenas in the UK often can't sell a ticket in America or many other places."

"I'm a strong believer that creativity is the ability to play."

"If you do something peculiar and remarkable it might not be for mass consumption in your own country but there are 7 billion people in the world. People everywhere in the world will recognize and appreciate its innovation. A world cult is many times bigger than a single country's mainstream hit. So in the long run, being different can make commercial sense as well as artistic sense."

"The broadest, most inoffensive, mainstream hits are so often the least 'talked about.' They just happen and wash over a disconcerting majority once a week. Again, this is fine if you just want commercial success but it's soul destroying if you have loftier ambitions."

"You should always try your hardest. The Office was the first thing I really tried my hardest at. I don't know why I started this radical new approach then, but I think it was one of those carpe diem type revelations. I came into the industry with a slightly older head on my shoulders than most and maybe deep down knew I shouldn't blow the opportunity. I put everything into it. A lifetime of experiences, and I couldn't have been prouder of the results. I don't even mean the success of the show, but simply the finished product. I was the laziest man in the world before I made The Office but now I'm addicted to that sort of success. Pride in my work. Now I'm a workaholic, because I realize that the hard work is sort of a reward in itself."

"Be a cocky little nobody. But work hard, be original and write about what you know."

"As an artist, you want as many people to see your work as possible with no compromise.  .... I don't want to .... have it watered down, and follow a soap opera, and have all the edges filed down and have someone interfere.  ....  Delivering the exact thing that I made ... that's so important to me, you know, that's, I said, the ideal of the most beautiful and purest thing. And it's how little it can be ruined from your brain to the observer. And that's the way you do everything yourself, really, because, you know, I've probably only produced and directed to protect my writing, the idea, you know?"

"It's about making the ordinary extraordinary.  It's my favorite thing really."

"The reason I deal in taboo subjects is because it's more exciting, and because I also think that a comedian's job isn't just to make people laugh, it's to make them think. And I think that if you take them through territory they haven't been before, they're quite nervous, but when they come out the other end, 'Wow,' you know, they had the best rollercoaster ride ever because it was a bit scary and they didn't die. And that's the lovely thing, you know? (Laughs.) That's better than a gentle ride that you knew you weren't going to die on, but it wasn't that good either."

"I've always preferred an auteur approach and not a committee approach. Nothing wrong with it—nothing wrong with a committee—but it doesn't interest me. I like to have the ideas.  Nothing excites me as much as an idea popping in my head.  It's the only thing left that gives me an adrenaline rush. This is my extreme sport."

"I'm going to keep doing it my way until someone says, 'You can't do it anymore,' and I think that's the only way to do it."

"As long as I can get exactly what's in my head with minimum compromise, I don't care where it's going. I don't care if, in five years' time, they've discovered telepathy, that I can just have ideas and blink and people get them all around the world. You know, we don't know what the medium's going to be, so I'll have whatever delivers the purest idea that I have to the most people."

"I think that most people who take offense are offended because they confuse the target of the joke with the subject of a joke. If you deal in taboo subjects—which I do, for a very good reason—just to bring up any subject that makes them feel comfortable and they straightaway assume it is 'wrong.' Well, it's not wrong. 'You haven't listened to the joke,' you know? People say to me, 'Is there anything you shouldn't joke about?' The answer is, 'No, it depends on what the joke is.' They wouldn't ask you, 'Is there anything you wouldn't write about?' You'd go, 'No, I could write about anything. It's what you say that counts.' Exactly. And the same with a comedian. You can joke about anything. It depends what the joke is and what side you come down on, where you land, you know?"

"That's what fiction is for; role-play for the soul. We create heroes and villains for them to be rewarded or punished. No one really gets hurt."

An Idiot Abroad

Extras

The Office