There's a million leading men on TV today that are perfectly great, and their jobs are fantastic. But it's not as interesting to me when every fight they win, every case they solve, every girl they get.
When I was in Pulp, I actively did more TV stuff because that was during the Great Britpop Wars, and it seemed important to prove that indie people could speak. That war doesn't exist anymore.
I'm 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks... stuff that's in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.
I had a great time on News Radio, I got to make tons of money in relative obscurity and learn a lot about the TV biz and work on my standup act constantly. It was a dream gig.
The great thing about TV is that it's so fluid. When you bring in someone for one quick role and they're fantastic, you can bring them back.
I think if you look back at all those great comedies on television in the past, it's all lovable losers that gathered together - 'Taxi' and 'Cheers,' 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends.'
Films and television and even comic books are churning out vast quantities of fictional narratives, and the public continues to swallow them up with great passion. That is because human beings need stories.
It's a word called symbiotic, you send the messages and it comes back in return. Together, it's a wonderful thing, it's why television is so great and film can never reach.
I'm always being asked if I watch 'The X Factor,' and I do from time to time. I know it makes for great TV and that Simon Cowell has a real gift.
The entertainment world, television, movies, social media, YouTube stuff, we're so bombarded with so much imagery and such a great sense of inhumanity, and there is a coarseness, a coarsening of interaction.
I just like to go where the material is, whether that's TV, or movies, or the stage. As long as it's great writing, it's pretty much something I can't resist.
In the evening, since I have a lot of friends in theater, we might take in a Deaf West production in North Hollywood, or, since I'm a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, they have screenings that are really great.
I turn on the TV sometimes, start watching something and think: 'This seems quite good, a bit familiar.' Then I realise... It's one of my movies. It's a pretty odd feeling.
I have always been of the mind that good work is good work, whether performed on stage, on television or in film and, like any reasonable actor, I keep my options open.
I don't think anything connects with an audience as deeply as a long-form serialized drama, and much as I love television, I've always found a good ongoing comics series to be much more immersive.
I'm not good with sci-fi stuff. I'll be in it, as long as I can see what I'm dealing with and know it's fake. As soon as I watch it on TV, though, my brain registers it as 'Everything's real!'
And so there are so many good things going on all across Iraq and unfortunately that's not what the American people see on TV or they don't read a lot about it in the newspapers.
I love a good steak with a great glass of red wine. But for the TV watching, laying around doing nothing kinds of days, nothing beats a pepperoni pizza and chocolate Haagen Daas.
All Oprah needs is a good book. My only request when she's building any house is, 'Could I please have a TV in my bedroom?'
I believe in meditation - it's a good tool to centre yourself, but unfortunately, I'm too lazy to do it. It's very hard work, and I prefer to watch 'Nothing To Declare' on TV!
I think sometimes actors are drawn to good television because you have more time to sell it, you have more time to shape a character, and to tell a story, and that's really appealing.
