Michael McKean

David Lander and I met in September of 1965. We were both students at Carnegie Tech, as it was then known. Before the Mellon money came in.

A character has to believe in himself, so I have to find a way to believe in them. Or at least sympathize to a degree.

People seem to think if you're successful, then you have some secret. The fact is, you've just managed to work your life a certain way.

Some of the most interesting characters in literature and in movies and TV have been ones that you can't quite figure out all the way.

I think a villain who starts his morning looking in the mirror, wringing his hands, and going, 'How can I be evil today?' is not an interesting villain. An interesting villain is a person who you understand on some level, I think.

I'm not really a gourmet. I like to try new things.

I'm not a big oyster eater. But I know people who will sit at a raw bar and eat oyster for two hours.

My wife makes an amazing chili.

I don't eat steak often, maybe once a month. But when I do, it really hits the spot. When you're done with your steak and your mashed potatoes and your green beans, you really know you've had dinner.

I think 'The X-Files' was a very important moment in TV history.

It's nice to take the gloves off, to really examine your character's desires and goals.

'Clue' was a big flop when it came out, but it became a... It's a movie that almost everyone references with me, now, when I run into people.

I can have a real long day; I can have a 14-hour day of intense work and then get home, and it's just me and TCM on into the night.

I like working with Bob Odenkirk.

Catherine O'Hara's one of the most amazing, wonderful actresses, but she's an amazing improviser. She really is.

There's more than one way to do TV just like there's more than one way to do widescreen movies.

I have never had a plan. Things happen to me, and, of course, I make friends who later say, 'Hey, you know who would be good for this? McKean would be good for this.' And they hire me, and if they like me, they hire me again, or the word gets out.

After I left 'Laverne & Shirley,' I got a ton of offers to play the goofy guy next door, and there were a couple of series that I was offered that turned out to be successful series, but it was too close to what I'd done on my series, and I was really glad I didn't take it.

To direct a sequel to somebody else's work is not interesting to me.

Even when there are banalities, they're usually kind of benign banalities.

I watch my wife knitting, and it's like watching close-up magic to me.

I try and find a way to love every character I play.

I was working with Bryan Cranston in 'All the Way.' We were about to make an entrance together - I was Hoover, he was LBJ - and he says to me, 'You should play the brother in 'Better Call Saul.' I was like 'What?' and it was time to go on. I'm doing the scene, and I can't think of what Hoover's supposed to say.

I'm all over the place. As you may have seen from the credits, I write with everybody.

I'm kind of the town pump. I think I have a pretty good ear for what sounds good in this style.