Jeffrey Tambor

This whole thing about winning and losing is muddy waters. But I can remember, as a young actor, just walking around this city and not being able to get arrested.

The Emmy should be an ensemble award, too. I kept howling at everyone else’s performances.

I came to New York late; I was already past 30.

My education was doing good plays and also stinkers. When you do a stinker, you learn how to act. I like having to audition. It’s nice to do rehearsals. But it’s with an audience that you get to love it!

When I got this role, my daughter Molly said, ‘Dad, you’ve come full circle.

And I’d watch George C. Scott from backstage. He was one of my mentors.

As my manager says, ‘These are wonderful problems.’

I remember going to Bob Preston’s dressing room because I was losing a laugh – as you do in a long run. He said, ‘Give me the script. That’s where you’re going off the road.’ That’s comedy. It’s never the line itself; it’s in the foundation.

I love this company. I don’t know how it was selected. It’s a bunch of machers. They mean business.

I loved the gentlemanly way they treated each other. It was unlike anything I was used to. I started helping them strike the set and, at 11, began taking acting classes privately.

My part had three lines. I said, ‘You look wonderful, sir,’ three times. All my friends said, ‘Do not take that role – and do not understudy. You’ll regret it the rest of your life.’ I did both of those things, and I’ve never regretted it once.