Guest, who's married to actress Jamie Lee Curtis, has written comedy for Lily Tomlin (for which he shared a 1976 Emmy) and music for the National Lampoon albums in the '70s and "This Is Spinal Tap." From these varied endeavors one would logically assume Guest to be a wacky, goofy, fun-loving fellow prone to loud guffaws and even louder ties. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The man who shakes my hand firmly in the sparsely furnished offices of Castle Rock Entertainment is silver-haired and quietly intelligent. He moves with a dignity that suits his title as Fifth Baron Haden-Guest of Saling (a role Guest inherited after the recent death of his father). He is wearing a gray cable-knit sweater and khakis, and his soft lilting voice is nearly inaudible. He does not guffaw. He does not instruct me in the ways of Olympic synchronized swimming or regale me with the benefits of an amp that goes to 11.

Instead he smiles gently and speaks of both the disparities and the intangible connections between "All in the Family" and "The Beverly Hillbillies," the structural necessities of improv and the abstract essence of comedy.

What drew you into wanting to do comedy as a kid? Comedy is such a wonderfully abstract thing, I imagine it's hard to even pinpoint your motivations.

I'm glad you figured it out. I've only done 400 interviews and no one has said that. I do think it's very hard to talk about. First of all, there's a million different kinds of comedy. And there's a lot of different sensibilities within comedy. You have comedians who don't think other comedians are funny. You just have to find your own place in what you do and what makes you laugh.

As a kid of 5 or 6 years old, I knew that there was something about what I did that was funny. I mean, you'd have to get into a serious sort of analysis to say how or why, and then it does become very abstract -- as does trying to interpret what makes people laugh.

Rob Reiner has this incredible story that really sums up this whole world. Someone came up to him while he was doing "All in the Family" and they said, "Mr. Reiner, I just wanted you to know how much the show means to me. You tackle issues that nobody else does; the whole family sits around and watches it and discusses it after -- your performance is wonderful."

And Rob says, "Oh, thank you."

And the person says, "Yeah, that and 'The Beverly Hillbillies' are really, for us, just ..."

So you have a person who likes both of those shows, which is fine. You can't be a sort of comic dictator. People like what they like. But when Rob told me that story I laughed and I thought, Why am I laughing? I'm laughing because I would think one show is more sophisticated, but you can't dictate what people are going to like.

People have said versions of that to me, surprised me by saying, "I like your stuff and X's," and I think, I don't understand. How? I think as a young comedian especially, you tend to think, Well if you like what I do, then you certainly can't like that. But then you have to get past that. I hope. You really can only worry about yourself. These are the kind of movies I make. If people like them, great. If they don't, then what am I supposed to do?

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