Quotes from Sean Hayes

I felt like I couldn't fully be myself and accepted in my family, so I would lock myself in my room on a Saturday night and watch 'Saturday Night Live,' and that was, like, the best thing that ever happened to me.

Knowing you're gay, as a kid in the '80s, is a very scary thing.

Nobody owes anything to anybody. You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be, and if you don't know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?

I think because my life is so insane and it's constantly going at 120 miles per hour, my favorite thing to do is sit at home in front of the TV and check out.

I'm definitely an actor first, but it's fun to kind of, you know, push your boundaries and see if you can do things that have scared you a little bit your whole life.

I was buttoned up as a kid. I did what I was told and never broke the rules.

I like to be busy and I like to have places to go in the morning, when I get up.

I did, like, 30 or 40 commercials before 'Will & Grace' where I was the straight husband. I had two spots on the Super Bowl in 1998 where I was the straight dude.

Being an actor, the less people know about my personal life, the more open-minded they can be about each role I play.

When I play a gay character, I want to be as believable as possible. And when I'm playing a straight character, I also want to be as believable as possible. So the less that people know about my personal life, the more believable I can be as a character.

I like common sense, to try and be the voice of reason at work.

We've always been interested in the commentary on politics and society and how comedy always sort of cuts that with a nice laugh, and the perspective it brings.

I feel like I've contributed monumentally to the success of the gay movement in America, and if anyone wants to argue that, I'm open to it. You're welcome, 'Advocate.'

I don't think comedy necessarily comes from a dark place. But I do think what a lot of us have in common is that, growing up, being funny was a coping mechanism.

The thing about producing is that the pressure is off of being in front of the camera, and being critiqued and judged in that way, but there are other pressures producing.

And so, I think when I got to college, you discover who you are and find yourself more than you did before.

I enjoy construction and the process of building things, so maybe I'd be a developer of some kind - residential and commercial. Because I produce a lot of television now, I enjoy building things from the ground up, whether it's a physical structure or a show, and seeing them and realizing them.

NBC programs great shows; it just doesn't have the eyeballs CBS does.

Through that, I got to know Jerry's work, and I am definitely his number-one fan right now, which is interesting because it usually works the other way around: you usually create a project based on your hero.

I knew 'Promises,' and I knew 'Never Fall In Love Again,' only from the radio, from being a kid; and of course, that 'House is Not a Home' and 'Say A Little Prayer.'

I was anxious to get back to my life before 'Will & Grace.' You do need that time to find who you are again. Who am I without this? With fame, you can't help but lose yourself. You want to be the one who says, 'I'll always remain the same,' but it is humanly impossible to disallow fame to change you.

You don't have a face to work with, so your voice has to do all the work until you see the animation. So, a lot of it I had to pull back because it was too big.

I have talent crushes on Fred Armisen and Kyle Mooney.

I was the music director at a dinner theater called the 'Pheasant Run Theater' in the suburbs of Chicago, and that was my side gig while I acted.