Paul F. Tompkins quotes:

My favorite movie is Lawrence Of Arabia. But that's a long, long movie. So although I've seen it several times, it's not as fun as Jaws.

Someone thought that I dropped out of Harvard. I am a college dropout, but I dropped out of Temple University in Philadelphia.

I love a small dinner party - let's say six people, max, were everybody's having the same conversation. That's my favorite thing in the world.

Everyone is always asking me about clothes.

How has podcasting changed things? A lot of people ask me if I feel I should be more famous.

I loved the bike because it gave me some measure of independence that I did not have.

I think Jaws is one of those movies that, if it is on, I will watch it until it's finished.

In my late teens, early 20s, when I started stand-up and I was living downtown for the first time, I was deep into my blues and Bukowski phase. And, you know, that's when that's appropriate. And I grew out of it.

I do think I'm terrific at giving advice. Although in our hearts we usually know what we should do. It's rare that you get in a situation in life where you don't know how to proceed. You know the thing you should do, but don't want to.

When I was 16, I took the written driving test, just like everybody else did, and I passed it. Then the first time I was behind the wheel of a car, when I was a kid, it kind of freaked me out. I've always been a very anxious student of anything, and so not being able to process things quickly enough, feeling overwhelmed, I just got freaked out and so I just never tried again.

I didn't want to have to call a cab if I went to the supermarket. So I eventually got a bike, just a beach cruiser, and I rode that thing all over town. I rode it everywhere. I rode it in the rain, I rode it as much as I possibly could. Anytime I could afford the independence of the bike, I used the bike.

I like being around people who are good conversationalists, when there's a give and take, and you are heightening an idea, exploring it together, that is my favorite thing in the world.

I like being around people who are good conversationalists.

I meet Daniel Day-Lewis. He's just sitting in a chair on the set. Now, I had been told that Daniel Day-Lewis was kind of an intense person. And he's really not. He's really THE MOST INTENSE PERSON THAT HAS EVER EXISTED ON THE PLANET OF EARTH. He's not doing anything, he's just sitting in a chair, and I am terrified of him as if a jungle cat has wandered onto the set, like- WHOA! What do we do! Are we supposed to move around a lot or stay perfectly still?! What are the rules of Daniel Day-Lewis?!

I'm not a super adventurous eater and I try to make myself try things.

The bike has very few controls. It's very simple to operate and understand and your field of vision is certainly greatly expanded as opposed to being in a car.

The thing I have to keep in mind and I try to keep in mind about myself, about anyone, is you do the best you can do at the time.

Up until I think eighth grade - when I found out in front of a roomful of people - I believed that England and Great Britain were two entirely different places. Like I didn't know that England was a part of Great Britain. I thought they were completely separate in every way.

When I was younger I was strictly meat-and-potatoes and I just wouldn't try things. As I have gotten older, I'm much more adventurous but still not like whoever that dude is on whatever show it is who just goes around and eats bugs everywhere.

I famously stole tons of VHS tapes from a video store I worked in. It was detailed in my special, Laboring Under Delusions. I worked at Tower Video and stole a bunch of videotapes from them, and then got caught and had to return the videotapes. It was a mortifying experience.