Judd Apatow talks about 'Comedy Nerd,' doing stand-up on Long Island
Judd Apatow, who grew up in Syosset and Woodbury, just came out with his book, "Comedy Nerd." Credit: Mark Seliger
While growing up in Syosset and Woodbury, comedian-director-producer Judd Apatow developed an obsession. He consumed all things comedy-related as a teenager and became passionate about the art form. This subject is well-documented in his new 576-page coffee table book, “Comedy Nerd” (Random House, $50).
In the book, Apatow, 57, describes his youth on Long Island and how his first exposure to stand-up comedy was at Westbury Music Fair where he saw Totie Fields, a friend of his grandparents. Young Apatow returned to the theater in-the-round to see legends like Don Rickles and Rodney Dangerfield.
As a teen, he worked as a dishwasher and busser at the East Side Comedy Club in Huntington just so he could see the comedians, and eventually he graduated to the stage. Today, he runs Apatow Productions, a film and TV production company based in Los Angeles, that has spawned numerous TV shows (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Girls,” “Crashing”) as well as hit films (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Superbad,” “Knocked Up”) garnering over $1.4 billion at the box office.
Apatow spoke to Newsday’s David J. Criblez from the West Coast about his first time on stage, in Mineola, moving behind the camera and why comedy films are a rarity these days.
When did you realize you were a funny guy?
I always wanted to be funny and I probably wasn’t funny most of the time. When I was young, I’d see people like Jerry Seinfeld and think, “I’m not that different from him. Maybe I could do this.” I felt like there was a tribe out there that I wanted to be a part of.
You first went on stage at Chuckles in Mineola. What was that experience like?
I can’t think of anything scarier than doing your first open mic. They give you five minutes and you’ve never done the jokes ever in your life. You are surrounded by comedians that are both good and terrible on that kind of a lineup. The host is usually 100 times better and you're in front of a boisterous audience. I remember my closing line was, “The great Jerry Lewis once said, ‘You learn nothing from being funny, you only learn by not being funny.’ I believe I just got an education tonight. Thank you.”
When did you make the shift to go behind the scenes?
When I moved to L.A. and started doing stand-up, I put it out there that I’d be happy to write jokes for people. There weren’t many comedians who would do that because most of them wanted to work on their own careers. I’d make a little money doing sessions with them. That turned into a job writing jokes for Tom Arnold, which turned into a job writing jokes for Roseanne Barr. Then I got a job writing jokes for Garry Shandling when he was hosting the Grammys. Work started accelerating. I did “The Ben Stiller Show” with Ben and it was so all-consuming that I didn’t have any time to perform. I took it as a signal from the universe that I should move in that direction.
You led the R-rated comedy boom from 2004 to 2015. Do you think it will ever return?
It’s hard to know, but most things are cyclical. All it takes is one huge hit to have everyone chasing it. Some feel like people are scrolling on their phones all day long and a lot of that is just jokes. By the time we get to the weekend, it's not like they are thinking, “Oh, I wish I could get some comedy in my life.” They have been watching generally funny stuff all day long. I would hope people would be interested in storytelling and comedy that is deeper than that. But it’s hard to know what people’s movie theater habits are going to be like.
Why are comedy films so rare now?
A lot of it is due to the DVD sales. When streaming replaced DVDs, the studios didn’t find a replacement for that money. Sometimes it would be half the money a movie would make. Also, comedies don’t do that well overseas. You could have a horror movie made for $5 million whereas a comedy might cost $20-$30 million. But that horror movie might open in Romania. It just became a safer bet. Plus, everyone wants old IP [intellectual property]. They want everything to be based on something that already exists, which is bad for comedy because comedy is always about discovering the next person. It’s not about casting the big star. If you are always looking to not break a new person, then you are depleting the selection of people who can star in a comedy. If you don’t let Adam Sandler make “Billy Madison,” you don’t get the rest of the career. You have to let Jim Carrey make “Ace Ventura.” It requires that risk.
What piece of your work are you most proud of?
On some level it will always be, being a part of Paul Feig’s “Freaks and Geeks.” After we made it I thought, “At least something came out exactly right, once.” I took a lot of confidence in how proud I was of the show. It gave me the ability to take more chances. The fact that it still holds up and is meaningful to people all these years later is such a special thing.
David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.
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