Andy Borowitz has built a career that any comedian or humorist would envy because he's carved his own path virtually every step of the way.

Borowitz became a professional sitcom writer just out of college, and after writing for shows including "Archie Bunker's Place," "Square Pegs" and "The Facts of Life," created the show that put Will Smith on the map, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Following that success, Borowitz ditched the Hollywood shuffle to move back east and develop his own comedy projects. These days Borowitz writes for The New Yorker, provides humorous commentary for CNN and NPR's "Weekend Edition," and last fall released "The Republican Playbook," a satirical look at the "schemes, scams, and dirty tricks" Republicans have used to win elections since the days of Nixon. Along the way, he has also appeared in several films, including Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda," and created the award-winning satirical Web site BorowitzReport.com.

Bankrate spoke to Borowitz about some of the more notable aspects of his diverse and distinctive career.

Bankrate: How did "The Republican Playbook" come about?

Andy Borowitz: Hyperion wanted a book for the 2006 election. There's always been talk about a Republican playbook that they've used to win elections, and we hypothesized about what that would look like. I tried to imagine that it was an actual book, one that Republicans carry around with them when they campaign. The added gimmick was that it would be George W. Bush's copy, so that we can have his impressions of things, his juvenile scrawl, in the book.

Bankrate: How long did it take to write?

Andy Borowitz: We were on a very tight schedule. They suggested it to me in fall 2005 and originally thought it would come out in fall 2007. Then they remembered there wasn't actually an election in 2007, so everything had to be hurried up by about a year. So I had about three months to write it.

Bankrate: How did you get your start in comedy?

Andy Borowitz: I was always interested in it. I was doing stand-up in college, and I was president of the Harvard Lampoon. A TV producer named Bud Yorkin, who was partnered with Norman Lear, saw me perform, and offered me a job as a writer. So I went out to Hollywood just about a month after graduating college and started writing for Norman Lear's sitcoms. I worked in television for about 15 years.

Bankrate: What was the first show you wrote for?

Andy Borowitz: It was called "Archie Bunker's Place." It was a spinoff of "All in the Family" -- a vastly inferior spinoff, I should add. It was Archie Bunker, but without any of the other people you liked. It was a very intimidating introduction to television writing, because Carroll O'Connor, who played Archie Bunker, was a very formidable actor, and at that point was ruling the set like Hugo Chavez. He was a total dictator. This is what happens when you're on television for 11 years -- you get complete power over everything. He had the best parking space on the CBS lot, which is usually an indication of power in Hollywood. So that was my first show, and I worked on other shows for about eight or nine years, and then did "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which I created and executive produced. That show ran for about six years, from 1990-1996.