CarolLeifer

I think there will always be sexism in the comedy world, because we're still very much in the minority. But I have always seen being female as a tremendous advantage in my comedy career, because you need to take what makes you different and use it to your advantage. I've especially tried to do that in my comedy writing, especially with shows like Seinfeld and coming up with ideas that men wouldn't pitch, for example, Elaine thinks the Korean manicurists are talking about her behind her back in Korean. It's doubtful that a man would come up with that idea. So take your femaleness and brandish it!

I think people make the Elaine connection because I dated Jerry many many years ago, and we have stayed friends since. And he has mentioned that I was a bit of an inspiration in coming up with the character when he and Larry were creating the characters, but then I've also heard Larry David mention a couple of other women as his inspiration for Elaine. But as far as direct comparisons go, look: I'm a very good dancer, I don't push people halfway across the room when I'm surprised, so there you go.

1) Another excellent question! There was a storyline that I really wanted to do when I worked at Seinfeld, you know so much of the ideas there were inspired from real life and I knew that if I pitched something and it happened in real life I would have a bit of an edge. So at the time, fanny packs were really popular, and I remember wearing my fanny pack under a t-shirt one day, and wherever I went people were exceedingly nice, letting me go in front of them in line, letting me go first wherever I was, and then I realized at the end of the day my giant fanny pack under my t-shirt made me look pregnant! So I always thought it would be a great Elaine story if she started to use that, the fanny pack, as a way to make her day in New York a lot less taxing, you know - getting the first taxi because she looked pregnant, getting concert tickets first because people saw her standing in line, and I think they always liked the notion of it but it never became an episode. So I love those ideas about Seinfeld because nobody has fanny packs anymore, so it really was specific to the time (except dweebs who wear fanny packs).

2) Yes, I was there, and Patrick Warburton did kill at that table read. It's something that I love about doing television, when you read the script aloud and kind of stars are born, you know? Patrick really hadn't done much before Seinfeld, and when he came on the scene he just killed. Another actor like that is a little actor named Bryan Cranston, who played Tim Watley, the dentist, and was another person who really killed it at the table read and at the tapings.

3) Not sure what you're asking?

I would probably have to say Frank Sinatra, because I opened for Frank Sinatra in my standup days, and I tell this story in my book, because the lesson from that was from the deepest valley of your career can come the greatest moment. And that was what happened with me - I was working with an agent that promised me the moon, and I wound up doing at Ground round restaurants on the New Jersey turnpike, and I kept asking him where the great gigs were, and he kept promising me to open up for Frank, and at that point I was like "Frank who? Frank Stallone, because nothing is happening here?" and finally he got me to open for Frank Sinatra, and he was such a gentleman, and it's very rare when you interface with greatness like that.

As to the worst celebrity I've ever worked with, you'd have to be a dummy to think I'm going to answer that question - because as I talk about in my new book, it's really important to be nice in business, because when you say bad things about people it gets back to them and it screws YOU over, so who did it really help?

I think the best quality for a writer to have (and I talk about this in great detail with my new book) is "the easy hang." And it's something that Larry and Jerry used to describe writers they wanted to hire. You can be as funny as anybody, but if people don't like hanging out with you, if your personality is a drag, you're not going to last very long in a writer's room. So I always advise people to work on their personality skills along with their comedic skills.

As an agent once told me: "Don't be an asshole, because if you are, they will fire you and hire someone else who isn't." And that's applicable to anybody in any field.