Here comes the Judd
BILL BROWNSTEIN
One of the major plot points in the new romantic comedy
has a struggling Chicago-based standup comic trying to impress a talent scout from the Montreal comedy festival. The comedian, played by Kumail Nanjiani, is unsuccessful in winning over festival scout Bob largely because his girlfriend is sick.
Irony abounds in Montreal. Nanjiani has performed several times at JFL. So has the film’s producer, Judd Apatow, who will be back at this year’s festival in Montreal to do five solo shows.
Apatow appears to be taking a fork along his career path. True, he did do standup as a 17-year-old and has occasionally popped up at clubs over the years. But he is far better known as the director, writer and producer of some of the most successful contemporary Hollywood comedies.
Among the more than three dozen films Apatow has directed, written and/or produced are
So why, pray tell, is the 49-yearold so keen on returning to his standup roots and to put filmmaking on hold?
“Good question,” Apatow cracks. “I miss (standup) and I miss the camaraderie of it. My dream was always to be a comedian, but everything else happened as an offshoot.
“There’s nothing like the thrill of telling a joke in front of an audience and getting immediate response. When you make a movie, the actors are there for maybe three months, and then you’re just alone in a room with an editor for half a year. Then in one night, you show your movie and you know if you’ve done a good job or if you’ve screwed up.”
Apatow would have had no qualms about giving up seven-figure paydays for three-figure ones to try to prove his standup mettle.
“I wanted to be a Jerry Seinfeld or a Garry Shandling. I didn’t think about anything else. But in order to make a living as a standup, I started writing jokes for other comedians. I couldn’t make my rent with what I was getting paid. Then suddenly those people I was writing for were getting HBO and Showtime specials. And the writing work overtook my standup work.”
Another irony: Most stand-ups would kill to be where Apatow has been. Not to detract from their love of live comedy, but the ultimate goal is typically to land work in film or TV. As a result, the standup world is highly competitive, even nasty.
“I’m lucky that I don’t have to feel the pressure,” Apatow says. “I know what it’s like when you’re young and when you’re trying to bust down the door and you’re trying to have enough money to live. So now I can do it for the pure joy of it all and I can be as creative and bold as I want to be, because I’ve already paid my kids’ tuitions.”
Much of his standup material deals with both his family and professional life. “The point of view of many standups is that they have all the answers,” says Apatow, who is married to actress Leslie Mann and has two teenage daughters. “My standup is about me not knowing if I’m doing anything correctly.
“One of my daughters doesn’t like my comedy at all, and she says, like a true teenager: ‘Dad, I hate your comedy so much that sometimes my friends make jokes that are funny and I can’t laugh because you make jokes.’ I think every kid thinks their dad is goofy.”
Regardless, Apatow pledges he will persist: “I will get to lower my salary and my self-esteem at the same time.”
David Letterman and Sen. Al Franken were both feeling frustrated about pessimism around the topic of climate change — so they got together to talk about it. Thankfully they invited some cameras along, too, with the help of and the prime-time Emmy Awardwinning
The fruits of their conversations can be seen in the digital series Their talks run the gamut from serious to funny as they take on everything from coal and carbon prices to Letterman’s retirement beard in the six five-minute shorts that began rolling out Monday on funnyordie.com and its Facebook page with a new instalment each week.
For Franken, it’s an effort to “fight back” against the creeping apathy and disregard toward science and climate change.
“Since taking office, President Trump has decided to disregard science in order to repeatedly put the short-sighted interests of his friends in the fossil fuel industry ahead of the safety of our planet,” Franken said.
Letterman also spoke about late-night television in the Trump era and jokes about the president that cross the line.
To me, people ought to be aware of this, people ought to have this tucked in their wallet. People ought to walk around with this every day in the back of their mind and people ought to be aware and be educated and looking forward to things that they might do to help their kids and their children’s kids. I think it’s better in that regard than it used to be — the current administration notwithstanding. When you travel places — and I know in California the same thing is true — you see enormous solar installations, you see enormous wind farms that 10 years ago did not exist. I am aware firsthand through travelling here and abroad that people are aware of this and doing things about it.
Here’s what I keep saying: We know there’s something wrong, but what I’m tired of is people, daily, nightly, on all the cable news shows telling us there’s something wrong. I just think we ought to direct our resources and our energies to doing something about it. And other people have made this point: If the guy was running Dairy Queen, he’d be gone. This guy couldn’t work at The Gap. So why do we have to be victimized by his fecklessness, his ignorance? But it’s just the behaviour is insulting to Americans, whether you voted for him or not — and I feel bad for people who did vote for him because he promised them things that they really needed and one wonders if he’s really going to come through. I know there’s trouble in this country and we
Trump has decided to disregard science in order to repeatedly put the short-sighted interests of his friends in the fossil fuel industry ahead of the safety of our planet.”
Al Franken need a guy who can fix that trouble. I wish it was Trump, but it’s not.So let’s just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home.
As you and I know, you can make jokes about anything. But you have to be prepared to answer the criticism — so that’s just what that was. She made a
No, no, and it frustrates me. I’ll tell you the climate situation and gun control make me crazy. And the fact that 30 million people in this country are hungry every day. The answer to your question, the long and the short of it, is no, and I find it deeply, deeply frustrating. That’s why I would do anything with Al, I would go anywhere with Al. Because on the other hand, I always wondered about what it looked like when a celebrity got up and talked about people who didn’t have shoelaces, but it’s killing me. And I think Al to a certain extent felt that same frustration. He’s figured out a way to do it and it’s been successful. And the guy is superfunny, superintelligent and the integrity just seeps out from under his door.
And one more thing: If Nat Geo or anybody else would like a project and they need a stooge, I would be first in line. The Associated Press