Judd apatow

Judd Apatow was born on December 6, 1967 in Syosset, New York, into a Jewish family. And humor seems to have always been his thing. In fact, in high school he had a radio show, where jokes were his recurring theme, and where he interviewed comedians like Steve Allen, Harold Ramis and John Candy , or the then unknown Jerry Seinfeld . At that time he admired one of the great American comedians, Steve Martin . In such a hobby, he sure had to see his mother, who worked in a comedy club. In any case, the laughs didn’t stop his parents from divorcing him, when Judd was only 12 years old. His brother Robert went to live with his grandparents, his sister Mia with his mother, and he with his father.

His studies led him to Los Angeles, to the University of Southern California, where he took a scriptwriting course. The campus would be the ideal place to continue developing his comic vision, with events for students. He had his experience in comedy clubs – first washing dishes, then with his jokes – and he met Adam Sandler , who would be his roommate. He would soon realize that he was better at concocting jokes and gags than interpreting them in the first person.

In the 90s he met Ben Stiller , for whom he produced The Ben Stiller Show; and in 1996 he did a rewrite of the script for Un loco a domicilio ; It would also be the occasion to meet his wife, the actress Leslie Mann , whom he married the following year, and with whom he has two girls. Who becomes a great mentor is Garry Shandling , for whom he made The Larry Sanders Show between 1993 and 1998. It is clear that all this trajectory would inspire Apatow for his film Make Me Laugh (2009).

After doing television work and obscure tasks without credit in rewriting scripts, 2004 will arrive, an important year for Apatow. He then signed the script for The Reporter (2004) , a film starring Will Ferrell . And he shoots and directs his first script, 40-year-old Virgin , with Steve Carell , which becomes a sleeper hit the following year; the idea of ​​a sexual comedy, with thick humor but a certain moral about the obsessions with the subject, will become his formula for success. This is how the comedian explained to me in an interview about Make me laughhis fixation on the subject: “There have always been risque films. Sometimes some are funny precisely because of their sexual content and others, however, are also funny and have no sex. But what she was trying to reflect here is that comedians, when they get together and talk, since they’ve already heard everything, either they have a lot of fun or they don’t make fun of each other. And this is a reflection of how they talk to each other. Normally people would never behave that way, but oh well. Still, having said that, after a hard day’s work, there are plenty of people who fancy a off-color penis joke. You don’t have to think much and you do a great service to the community. (laughs)”,

Immediately, taking advantage of his many contacts with club comedians, he will form a kind of group of actors with whom he will repeat, in films directed by him, or at least with his signature on the script and his intervention in the production: Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell , Seth Rogen , Jonah Hill , Jason Schwartzman … From the Apatow factory will come titles such as Super Smoked (2008), Dick and Jane: Laughing Thieves (2006), After Spins (2006), Dewey Cox: A Long and Hard Life (2007), Step of you (2008), Brothers by balls (2008), Zohan: License to comb(2008), and even produces Harold Ramis in the failed Year One (2009). They are not great movies, and rudeness is a common resource, but the fact is that they work at the box office, especially in the United States.

Movies directed personally by Apatow are certainly more valuable. Especially Embarrassing Mess (2008), his most mature film, a reflection on the ‘Peter Pan complex’ of so many, and an invitation to assume responsibilities such as parenthood. Also Make Me Laugh (2009), within its obvious comic tone, invites us to think about the use of time and the transience of life, by following the trajectory of a comedian.