I remember the first time I went snowboarding again after I got sick, and I used to be really into snowboarding and skateboarding, and we’d go snowboard all day, and I went snowboarding, I couldn’t even get to the bottom of the hill without, “I’m going to sit down, take a breath.”
It took quite a while for me to kind of realize that I was kind of going through some stuff that wasn’t really anything about the beating the cancer, it was just, I have to kind of find a way to kind of get my body healthy again. In the last year or so, I’ve really kind of figured I have to get out there and exercise. Look after myself a bit more.
MEL BROOKS
You know, they say, “Well, shuffle off this mortal coil. The table is needed for somebody else. We need that table.” As long as I feel okay, as long as I have energy, and as long as I still love singing and comedy and entertainment and people, and some food. As long as I still have an appetite, it’s great.
I mean, I’m not complaining.
LIFE LESSONS
“Messy for Everybody”
Here’s what I’ve learned:
Try to shut up and listen, and listen with your heart.
If you don’t know something, admit it. Don’t pretend like you do. Learn.
Don’t exhaust yourself with anger at things you have no control over.
Most of the shit you are reacting to most of the time is stuff that your brain is making up, and you have some control over that.
If someone needs help, try to help, if you can.
Be honest.
Be nice.
Learn and know your limitations and work from there.
Talk to people. It helps everyone involved.
No yelling.
Get your yearly physical.
Try to accept who you are.
Don’t hurt yourself because you don’t like yourself.
Apologize.
MEL BROOKS—COMEDIAN, WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, ACTOR, MUSICIAN
I’ve been having fun. You know, what do you live for? Occasionally, you live for a grilled cheese sandwich, and fun.
CONAN O’BRIEN—TALK SHOW HOST, COMEDIAN, WRITER
I used to believe that worry was a talisman against something bad happening to you. I’m a worrier, and I’m a guy that prepares, and I’m a guy that really tries to plan it out and make sure that I take care of everything. You can do that, and things can still go to shit, so you relax a little bit as you get older because you realize it’s no guarantee against things, so why not try and enjoy it a little more?
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN—MUSICIAN, SONGWRITER, AUTHOR
If you want to live a life, you’ve got to realize you are not going to be the writer of your own script. Life is something that happens. You don’t happen to it. It happens to you. You’ve got to allow it, in all of its often-uncontrollable chaos, to come into your life. The way you reach adulthood is, you realize that you have the power to withstand the hurricane forces that uncontrolled events bring into your life.
What comes with those uncontrolled events? Love, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction. You let all those things in too, which if you are a control nut, you squeeze out, because what’s more dangerous than love? There’s nothing more dangerous than that. You don’t know what the hell’s going to happen.
RUPAUL CHARLES—ACTOR, DRAG PERFORMER, SINGER, MODEL, WRITER, TELEVISION HOST
My acting teacher told me the best advice I’d ever gotten from anybody ever and since. He said, “Ru, don’t take life too effing seriously.” That is the key to navigating this life. Don’t take it so seriously, and that’s when the party begins.
If you take that red pill and you start your journey, you’re going to discover, like Dorothy—all roads lead to Oz—that you get up close and you look behind that curtain, you go, “You’re the wizard? Really?”
Then you get to know the wizard, and you go, “Okay, so everything was all in my head. I imagined this whole thing?” That’s wherein lies the party. That’s where you can really have some fun. The only thing you have to watch out for is other people who feel threatened by your party.
JASON SEGEL—COMEDIAN, ACTOR, WRITER
You have this idea of I need to get there, but then you find out “there” keeps moving. If your impulse is I need to get there, that’s never going to go away. It’s been the past few years when I’ve realized I’m good. Everything is going great, and let’s focus on life stuff.
KEVIN HART—COMEDIAN, ACTOR
I find a positive in anything negative that happens, because I know it happened for a reason. For me, I refuse to treat people like shit because I see that things come full circle.
JIM NORTON—COMEDIAN, ACTOR, RADIO HOST
I take pictures with celebrities. I didn’t do it for a long time and then I met Richard Pryor. He was my idol, so I got an autograph. I always regret not taking a photo, but I am happy that I got an autograph. With the photos, it became something I started to do.
Ozzy was one of the first photos I took. I probably was with Jim Florentine. We met Ozzy. Jim’s like, “Get a picture.” I was like, “Yeah, I should get one.”
Then it became addictive. I noticed that sometimes I got good stories out of it, sometimes I didn’t. It just became this fun thing. And if I’m ever saying, “I feel sorry for myself, my life is not this or that,” it’s like, “You fucking cunt. Shut up, you fuck. Look at what you’re doing. You’re meeting your idols. You’re having fun. Shut your fucking mouth.” It was like a visual slap to my fucking spoiled face. You’re one of the lucky ones, man. I get so mad at myself for that fucking sense of entitlement or “I deserve more. I should have more.” To me, the photos are a way of saying, “Look at what a fun life you had there. It’s fucking fun what you do.”
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Your desperation has to be greater than your fear. Your desperation, your hunger, your desires, your ego, your ambitions have to be greater than your fear of complete humiliation. So as long as you have that equation correctly balanced, you’re going out there, my friend, no matter what happens. Because you have to.
CONAN O’BRIEN
I swear to God this is true. Get yourselves into situations where you don’t have a choice. I really believe that’s the definition of accomplishing a lot of things in this life. I have some part of me, I’m not a brave person. I don’t even think of myself as someone who has a lot of guts, but I will get myself into situations where the house is on fire, and there’s only one way out, which is through the front door. Then, people later on give you credit for going through the front door, and you say, “Well, there was really nowhere else to go.”
In ’93 when I replaced David Letterman from complete obscurity, I got myself into a situation, and I was very aware that, “Man, this is a fucking serious situation I’m in.” The only way out was to survive it. That’s the only way out, because if I had been taken off the air after six months, I would just become a Trivial Pursuit question.