In a recent interview, Austin Peck had nothing but great things to say about the writers on As the World Turns.

"I have to take off my hat to the writers, because everything I have been able to do as an actor started with what they have given me," the actor said. "They've allowed me to be goofy, to be silly, to be arrogant and obnoxious - childlike, actually, like a big puppy dog. They see that's a big part of my personality, so they write toward that."

Peck added that he had tried to bring that same off-kilter comic edge to his earlier daytime role as nice guy Austin Reed on Days of our Lives, but it was like acting inside of a box.

"Austin was a very stereotypical soap character in most ways, a very good guy who always does right," Peck said. "I tried to put irony and humor into it, but I had to be incredibly subtle, so a lot of it just went over people's heads."

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.