Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit... Santa, who was jolly - but, let's face it, he was also very judgmental.

I like going back and writing fiction.

I’m not a standup. I don’t really have jokes. I don’t have 10 minutes. It took a while for me to realize this.

I think one of the basic tasks in life – one of the nice things we can do for each other – is to take things that are horrible and scary and make them acceptable and less frightening and, if possible, funny. It feels great to succeed at that.

To a certain extent I am taking a leap of faith. I’m adding up the evidence on either side, and I’m seeing the evidence of there not being a God is overwhelming compared to the evidence for there being a God.

Because death and illness are the most horrible things in life, of course that’s where the most absurdly funny things are going to happen.

Why isn’t there a book about someone losing their faith and it being a beautiful experience?

It took me years, but letting go of religion has been the most profound wake up of my life. I feel I now look at the world not as a child, but as an adult. I see what's bad and it's really bad. But I also see what is beautiful, what is wonderful. And I feel so deeply appreciative that I am alive. How dare the religious use the term 'born again.' That truly describes freethinkers who've thrown off the shackles of religion so much better!

Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit ... Santa, who was jolly - but, let's face it, he was also very judgmental.

Why isn't there a book about someone losing their faith and it being a beautiful experience?