One of my favorite things about 'Star Trek' wasn't just the overt banter but the humor in that show about the relationships between the main characters and their reactions to the situations they would face there was a lot of comedy in that show without ever breaking its reality.

'Friends' was an education in intelligent comedic banter in intelligent vernacular. It was an education in scene study. It was an education in group dynamic. I came out of there with a master's degree in comedy.

My inspiration was my mom. She's a great cook and she still cooks and we still banter back and forth about cooking. Growing up in a mostly Portuguese community food was important and the family table was extremely important. At a very young age I understood that.