Quotes

[on his role as a gay construction worker] We'll shoot in Los Angeles, on the same lot where we shot Roseanne. It'll be difficult because I live in New Orleans. But I really enjoy doing sitcoms. You've got 22 minutes a week to put on a new play. It keeps me off the street.

Doing Roseanne (1988) made me famous. To this day, people will call me "Dan Arnold". They will shout out, "Where's Roseanne?".

[on his performance in The Babe (1992)] I wish I could do it again. I didn't have enough time to get it right.

[on how he met and began his relationship with the Coen Brothers] I flew into New York for the Raising Arizona (1987) audition, and we just started joking around. I started going through their résumé pile, looking at actors, and just kinda made myself at home in my obnoxious way. I think they cast me because I had a baby face and that was a motif of the film.

[on quitting smoking in 2003] I quit a year and a half ago and I turned into a werewolf. I went nuts. I've been smoking since I was in junior high school. I did a couple of episodes of The West Wing (1999) two years ago and I was in the middle of one of these psycho things and turned around and smacked the stage door as hard as I could and my fist immediately swelled up. Thank God I didn't break anything, but that was the last episode I had of nicotine withdrawal.

[2007 - After completing rehab at Promises in Malibu] For my family and myself, I voluntarily took the necessary steps to remain sober the rest of my life.

[2008, on avoiding the Vietnam draft] I went to take my physical. But they measured me two inches shorter than I am. They measured me at six foot instead of six foot two. I was eleven pounds overweight for that height. They told me to lose weight and come back. By the time I was scheduled to come back, the draft was abolished.

[2008, on working with Al Pacino] I just idolized Al Pacino, and I was afraid that, you know, he was gonna wipe his feet on me or put a cigarette out on my neck or something. But he was so full of fire. He had such passion for acting. It's nice to meet someone like that.

[2008] When I look at myself on film, I just see shit I should have done. I'm incapable of watching myself objectively. Unless it's The Big Lebowski. The writing is so goddamned good, you can just enjoy it, go along for the ride like everybody else. Babe Ruth is one of those things I wish I could go back and do over. It's like being in that dream where you're in the subway with no clothes on.

[2008] I always overtip. Because at the end of the night, your feet hurt and you get to count it up and there's a nice feeling when you've gotten tipped well. I know what it's like. My mom lived on tips.

[2008] Celebrity is a dirty word. People are conditioned to hate you if you're famous or in show business. It's that love-hate thing. They can't wait for you to fail or get pulled over with a hooker or a stripper or a teenage boy with a lot of blow in the car.

[on Coyote Ugly (2000)] For the money. Honest to God, that's the only reason I did it.

[on whether the character Dan Connor reflected his own life] No, because Dan actually worked for a living.

[on moving to New York City after graduating college] And then I learned what life was all about... starvation.