I have very happy memories of fairy tales. My mother used to take me to the library in Toronto to check out the fairy tales. And she was an actress, so she used to act out for me the different characters in all these fairy tales.

And I love Mel Brooks. My Dad loved his movies, too, they're awesome, the kind of thing that if you're in for ten minutes, you're in for two hours.

My parents would read those books to me as well but they used to make me starving when I was a kid because they were always eating ham sandwiches with the crusts off and drinking ginger beer.

Europe is weird songs that would never make it in America.

So they ended up turning this little twenty eight page book into the movie. And it's all about this stinky, smelly ogre who doesn't care what anybody thinks of him.

Dr. Evil got shortchanged in the first one. The family dynamic between Scott and Dr. Evil - the adventures of being an evil single parent - needed to be explored.

The message of the movie is to accept who you are and not to succumb to the pressure of what the media tells you is beautiful and what you should be looking like.

Shooting this one was kind of like a two month party, we would literally play music between takes, and other movies that were shooting on our lot would play hookey, come over and hang out and stuff. We had a great time.

I loved the logistical reality of a guy who wants to take over the world, yet who has a family too.

Europe is scooters. Europe is five young people on one bench sharing a chocolate bar. Their idea of entertainment and fun is so much different than ours, which is exactly why a movie about them would be funny.

I think when I have kids and grandchildren I will be very proud to have them watch this movie.

I do miss Saturday Night Live, that's for sure. There's nothing like it. I just hosted, and I felt I'd only been away for a week.

For me, everything definitely comes from music.

When you're writing these things, you're in a room making each other laugh, you really have very little sense of political correctness or incorrectness. This is a question that Europe tends to ask and America doesn't.

I had a blast, but I still wonder sometimes why they saw me as the perfect guy for this strange character.

Austin sounds a little bit like Aston Martin, which is the type of car James Bond would drive.

Well, I like how people talk. I like language. You know, Linda Richman spoke in Yiddish.

Oh, you know, driving around, coming to a stop sign and an entire family, from 8 to 80, will be looking at me with that Dr. Evil look - pinkie on the mouth.

Comedy. It was just huge in my house. Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness, Monty Python and all those James Bond movies were highly regarded.

Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour - we're more like celery as a flavour.

And I thought, when I have kids, that's the sort of well told, silly, and fun fairy tale that I would want to take them to. But it was an amazing experience. And I think Shrek is a real classic, a fairy tale classic.

People ask me to record their answering machines all the time. I love it. It's a miracle to me that people want to hear back those characters.

I had done Shrek as a Canadian and I'm very proud to be Canadian, but I knew I could give more to it.

Europe to me is young people trying to appear middle-aged and middle-aged people trying to appear young.

Verne's all about what you can do versus what you can't do. He just kept saying yes and his part kept growing. I would love to work with him in every movie.

I think that Scottish people, like Canadians, are often misunderstood and what I like about my Scottish friends and relatives is how quickly it can go from love to anger. It's a great dynamic.

My Dad was from Liverpool, and he picked it up in the army. He'd often come out with this stuff.

My dad loved to laugh. He was very funny and very silly.

I have very happy memories of fairy tales. My mother used to take me to the library in Toronto to check out the fairy tales. And she was an actress, so she used to act out for me the different characters in all these fairy tales.

My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.

Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it.

Dad loved movies, and I grew up with British comedy. My ultimate favourite is Peter Sellers.

Dad was in the British Army and my mom was in the Royal Air Force, so both of my parents believed in discipline.

I came out wanting to be an actor. From my first view of the world, that's what I wanted to be. I'm made of 99 percent ham and 1 percent water. I was just cooked that way!

I can be described as many things, but no description of me is complete without saying 'Englishman.' My parents were from Liverpool and emigrated to Canada before I was born.

I grew up in Toronto and as long as I can remember, as long as there was cable, even those old cable boxes that were wired to the TV, there have been Bollywood movies on Toronto TV.

I knew I wanted to be a father; I didn't know it was going to be this awesome or that my kid would come out so beautiful and lovely.

I like smart jokes, I like dumb jokes, and I like dumb jokes done smartly.

I love making comedy. I never stopped loving it. I will continue to love it and I can't believe that I get to do it.

I love making stuff. There's a joy in having the first molecule of an idea, then testing it in front of audiences at secret shows that people only know about the day before. I videotape those, study them, enjoy being in the character and figuring out the movie.

I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me.

I would love to be a father. I had a great father who taught me how gratifying that is. I'm not going to deny myself that. I think I'd be good at it. Everybody wants that experience. I definitely do.

I'm a comedic actor, not to mix words, but it's something I think about. A comedic actor. I like to think that Christopher Guest, Phil Hartman, Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness are comedic actors. And Dan Aykroyd, too. Those are my heroes.

If I went by all the rejection I've had in my career, I should have given up a long time ago.

Marriage can be viewed as the waiting room for death.

My dad sold encyclopedias and my mom worked in a factory office.

My father was always a straight-up funny guy. He was silly. He was my inspiration.

My parents taught me to do whatever makes you happy - follow your bliss. That's why I don't make a lot of movies. I'm very meat and potatoes when it comes to work, putting in eight hours each day. I only do what I love.

On my death bed, I'm not going to say, 'God I wish I did more movies.' I'm perfectly happy I was present for the ones I did.