It really doesn't help to think of these stories as comedy

stories.

They should be stories that would work just as

well without any jokes.

If you have a great story and great characters,

it's easy to find a way to make it funny.

The problem with a lot of comedies

is they're serving a comedic premise,

primarily, and they don't really have a reason to exist.

You could say that The 40-Year-Old Virgin

could have fallen prey to that.

We don't approach it as a funny idea.

We approach it as a real idea about a guy who

let something get past him.

And now he's so embarrassed and so scared that he can't do it.

And that's a dramatic story about shame

and about someone who is stuck as a pubescent person.

And if you take it seriously, then, suddenly, his predicament

can become funny because he's in a corner.

I generally just think difficult circumstances lend themselves

to comedy and it allows it to be both dramatic and funny.