Few figures have left a bigger imprint on modern comedy than Judd Apatow. After his beloved NBC comedy “Freaks and Geeks” came to a premature end in 2000, he went on to direct several of the most influential comedy movies of the century, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Trainwreck, while producing films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Bridesmaids and The Big Sick. It’s only in recent years, though, that Apatow has returned to the stage as a stand-up.
“I started four years ago when we were working on Trainwreck,” he recalls. “I was seeing Amy Schumer performing at The Cellar, and I just got jealous. She was having so much fun. So I started going up again. It reminded me that stand-up always was the reason why I got into the business. I love making films, but the direct conversation with the crowd is more fun than anything.” Last year he released his first comedy special, “Judd Apatow: The Return,” for Netflix, and now he’s on the road behind new material.
Ahead of his election night performance at Turner Hall Ballroom on Tuesday, Nov. 6, Apatow spoke to the Shepherd about finding his footing on stage, how the #MeToo movement is reshaping the entertainment industry, and how he decides which projects to produce.
Why did you originally stop doing stand-up?
I was really young. I did it from the time I was 17 to 24, and I would work every day of the week at The Improv in L.A. I hosted for years and got to see everybody. But I just kept getting better jobs writing and producing than doing stand-up. And I was so young that I didn’t really have that much to say at that time. So I just let the universe take me where it wanted to take me.
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Was there a learning curve when you returned to the stage, or did it come pretty natural?
I literally had to sit down and listen to comedy albums again and remind myself how stand-up joke structure worked. But after about a year, I felt like I figured out who I was up there. I generally observe that everything I write about has to do with not knowing whether I’m doing a good job at anything [laughs]. A lot of comedians have strong opinions; I’m just lamenting that I might be doing a good job raising my kids, or I may have ruined them. I don’t know where I’ve succeeded and where I’ve failed in most areas of life. I have no advice for anybody! I’m just doing my best.
What sort of material are you tackling in your new set?
I had one of my daughters leave to go to college. So now we live just with my youngest daughter, who doesn’t love it, because four people is a family and three people is just a child observing a weird couple. So there’s a lot of discussion of this new phase of life. I tell some fun stories about my working life, a little politics, a little bit of everything. It always feels like an extension of the movies, like Knocked Up, This is 40 and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. People seem to know me based on the jokes in those movies. They know my personality and what I’m going through.
Is must be interesting for you doing stand-up, because so much of your notoriety is behind the scenes as a writer and director. You haven’t been in front of the camera as much as some other comedians. People know you largely from your work, not your stage persona.
What’s different now is people know you from listening to podcasts. I wrote a book called Sick in the Head, which is interviews with other comedians, but also interviews with me. I also made this personal documentary about the life of Gary Shandling. So when I go on stage, I already have a pretty intimate relationship with the audience, and that makes it a much more personal experience. It’s not exactly living your life through hearing Springsteen songs and watching him get older, but it’s my neurotic, Jewish version. They’ve seen the full ride. I’ve written about high school and getting married and having babies and death, so we all know each other pretty well at this point.
You mentioned politics. What role do they play in your set?
I talk a lot about the sexual harassment issues in the country and in Hollywood. I have a lot of opinions about that. There’s a lot of change happening, and a lot of men really don’t know how to handle it. All the discussions it raises are certainly worth talking about. And I think everybody’s a little confused and frustrated on both sides with the current political climate. So I think people enjoy kicking it around. I’m not a real firebrand, but I do think I’m certainly a voice for “what the hell is happening?”
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When you hear a guy say something like “I’m afraid to even go on a date right now” or “anybody could be accused,” do you have any sympathy for him at all, or is that completely bullshit?
I think it’s incredibly rare for people to be in trouble for doing absolutely nothing. It definitely happens. But it is really, really rare. Usually they’ve done something … But I think men are learning a lot of lessons they didn’t know they needed to learn. I always say, “It’s not hard to not be a sexual harasser: Just do nothing.” You’re the greatest guy ever if you just do nothing.
I suppose the easy joke to make is that as a white man, you’re the last person anybody needs to hear weigh in on these issues, because we already know what white men think. But because of your role in the industry, you have an insider perspective on how things are changing. Do you notice anything different behind the scenes working on movies and TV shows now because of the #MeToo movement?
I do. I think networks and studios are much more aware of pay disparity. I think they’re just beginning to truly wake up to how sexist general hiring practices are in every position on a movie. There are so few female cinematographers, it’s truly borderline criminal. And I think that people are beginning to encourage everybody to change that in a way they never did before, so that’s definitely very positive.
Are they serious about addressing these root issues, or are they mostly concerned with optics?
I think a lot of businesses are serious about it. At HBO, they have certain guidelines which encourage diversity in hiring practices and they change things instantly. If you’re hiring 10 directors to direct your show and the network says half of them need to be diverse, it probably changes who you were going to hire, because most people are in the habit of hiring the same 10 white guys for every job. So we’ve found all sorts of new people who have been fantastic, and I don’t think that would have happened without that kind of encouragement from HBO. And other people are doing the same thing. Because the statistics of how many women direct studio features are really upsetting. You can Google them. It’s really troubling. It’s a form of institutional sexism and racism that keeps things from changing. So people do have to force change, because we know that won’t change unless these businesses make it a priority. And look what happens, you make it a priority and suddenly Wonder Woman makes a billion dollars. There’s a lot of examples of that now. The foolishness of assuming that half the planet can’t do the same work hopefully will end.
As a man, do you ever feel threatened by these changes? A lot of men on some level feel like people are gunning for their power and for these privileges that they’ve always taken for granted. Do you ever feel a twinge of that, even if you’re not proud of it?
Do I feel like things used to be easier?
Sure, do you feel like things are harder for you than they used to be?
Well, it was very hard for me to break into the business, but until you work with people who are different from yourself, you don’t realize how much harder it was for them. There are certain doors that are truly closed. I don’t take it for granted that my road could have been much rougher. And I have made a conscious choice to create opportunities for all sorts of types of people to tell stories. So we did Bridesmaids, and The Big Sick and Trainwreck, and we’re always looking to make films with people who haven’t had the opportunity yet.
There are so few people who can really open doors in the entertainment industry, and you’re one of them. How do you use that power? You must have so many people asking you to help get their projects made, and so many people asking you to do favors for them. How do you balance all that?
My instinct is just to go toward originality. And there are a lot of people who, because they haven’t been given opportunities, if you do projects with them they will be original. You don’t see a lot of comedy movies about a Muslim immigrant. So for me it’s really fun to find unique voices. But at the same time, luckily, it’s also breaking down doors for people who deserve to make films and to have these opportunities. I don’t come at it from a place of “I’m going to change the world.” I really in my heart think, “Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody deserves the opportunity. So who’s out there?”
It seems like your career as a filmmaker and producer breaks down into two phases: you telling your own stories as a writer and auteur, and then these last few years where you’ve helped others tell their stories. Is that what you’re most interested in these days, helping others tell those stories?
I always like to do both. I like to make a film as a director every few years while simultaneously looking for people who have interesting projects that my support might assist in some way. So I think it’ll always be that way. You know, I learned more about what I do from working with Lena Dunham than you can possibly imagine. It really taught me about courage in my work and digging deeper and being vulnerable. So I benefit from every opportunity that I’m able to give to somebody else.
At this point in your career is there any passion project that you wouldn’t be able to launch? Do you have the clout to make just about anything happen, or are there still barriers?
What usually happens is the weirder the idea the lower the budget. I’m sure there are a lot of things I can made, but maybe for about eight dollars [laughs]. I can do it, but it doesn’t mean they’re going to give me the budget to do it correctly.
Judd Apatow plays Turner Hall Ballroom Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
