FAVORITE EPISODE:

"The audiences knows it as the PMS episode. It's probably our most commented upon episode, and it's the one where Patty won her first Emmy. It's a tour de force for her. Phil and I both wrote it based on our horrible personal experiences."

FAVORITE SCENE:

"One that sticks out is act two of "The Letter", and the whole scene takes place in my mother's kitchen. It was early in the series and we were still finding our way around, but it was a landmark show for us because we hit upon this great rhythm, and it just fit our style, our sensibility, our way of storytelling."

HOW SHOULD THE SERIES END?

"I don't want it to end with any major life-changing event, and I don't think it needs any kind of closure. There's nobody who needs to get married or have the baby or whatever. It just needs to end with a very funny episode and maybe with a little more emotional resonance than normal, maybe a little more poignant, but we'd just like to end the way we started, with a funny episode. It would be false for something big to happen."

WHAT WILL YOU MISS THE MOST WHEN THE SHOW IS OVER?

"I'm going to miss the camaraderie and the laughter of the writer's room. I've never laughed harder than spending these nine years in the writers' room. There is this bond between us, and it's almost like therapy. You come in, you spill your guts in the room, half because it's therapeutic and half because there might be a show in there."

HAS YOUR SHOW CHANGED YOUR LIFE?

"I now get comped at all the strip clubs. Obviously, materially, it's changed tremendously. Emotionally and spiritually, I feel like I'm the same person, with just a different set of worries and problems.

Professionally, I have more opportunity now, I can be creative in the way I want and not out of necessity. I have the same worries that I always did; those don't go away. Before the show, I thought my cab driver hated me. Now, I fear my limo driver hates me."

--- As told to Robert Pietranton.