The directors recent DGA Awards monologue was a window into current industry trends.
He has some thoughts.
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In February,Judd Apatow hosted the Directors Guild of America Awardsfor the fifth time.
Its AI autoerotic asphyxiation.
It costs $1 a month, and on the first day, 3 billion people sign up.
The industry is saved!
Thatll be one good thing that comes out of his pain, Apatow said.
People might be a little easier on me.
Below is an edited excerpt from the interview.
But I dont really think thats the way to do it.
You got to look more like Leonard Bernstein, right?
I feel like youre allowed to look like the people you want to pretend to be.
I dont find any of that offensive.
There are Jewish people with small noses.
I havent met one, but they exist.
And I thought they did a good job with that nose.
The premise of the monologue is always,Im not as good as any of you.
That tends to help.
The weird thing is people laugh because they dont think I am as good as any of those people.
That premise would not work if it wasnt agreed upon.
You talked a bit about the election in the monologue.
What can comedy do?
What role can comedians have?In this election?
Then he won the election.
At that moment I went,Oh, it will never change it.
Maybe its a morale booster.
I dont think there are hard-core Republicans watching a new Jon Stewart bit going,Now I get it.
Maybe they didnt fight as much as they could have.
Maybe they should have stuck with everyone and had a larger strike.
Theres a lot of politics in how those decisions and deals are made.
I dont really have a position on it, because Im just self-involved and dont look into it.
There were definitely people saying to me, like, Maybe dont do that joke.
And I said, No, I think you got to give yourself a hard time.
You cant make fun of everyone but yourself.
Which is rooted in truth!Yes, Im on Ozempic right now.
Thats not a lie.
I did take Ozempic, and I tried to eat ice cream.
Like, I was almost offended at the idea that a drug could make me lose weight.
Like,Fuck you, Im going to gain weight.
Who do you think you are?
You think youre stronger thanthis?
My low self-esteem, which is sedated by food, cannot be stopped by your silly injection.
He also said to take these shots.
Im just a spacey person, so I didnt ask him what was in the shot.
And Leslie was like, You never asked what was in a shot.
You literally inject yourself with a mystery juice.
And I never checked.
Im still doing it now.
It doesnt work at all.
Look at me; I look terrible.
I want to look like Sharon Osbourne.
I am not making this work.
Im not good at making up stuff.
I cant build a whole fake world.
In the monologue, you had a couple of jokes about the state of the industry.
The first was about theSuitsphenomenonand how people just want to watch old shows with lots of episodes.
How do you feel about that trend?Im of two minds.
I understand why people like the comfort food of television.
We dont need to spend $200 million on a new show.
We can just bring backBarnaby Jones.
Theyre going to do it, then youll get fewer new shows.
There are these corporate behemoths and people from the tech world taking over creativity.
And for some of them not all of them their intentions are just eyeball time online.
Thats why they started calling it content.
All of a sudden, they diminished it as much as it possibly could be.
I dont think it would be that weird if you read something in the paper that Pornhub bought Paramount+.
But even in the years since, it has gotten worse.
Your next movie wasmade to be released directly on Netflix.
But isnt that like saying a Marvel movie is a comedy?I dont think so.
Its not a drama.
There are some emotional moments in it, but its just wall-to-wall jokes.
Theres something about it where I feel like no one wants to give comedy the win there.
Like, why cant we sayBarbieis a comedy?
What other category would it be?
Neither didNo Hard Feelings.
All the major comedian movie stars are making movies directly for streamers.
What do you think is the future of comedy in movie theaters?I assume itll swing back.
The industry does follow the leader.
But for comedy, it just requires another hit or two.
Make more like that.
The thinking is not deeper than that.
They will just chase anything that does well, because people generally are averse to risk taking.
I mainly work at Universal.
Donna Langley, who runs Universal, whos supported us in our comedies, took a bet onOppenheimer.
Like, who would think that anyone cared aboutOppenheimerlike that?Oppenheimerisgoing to make almost $1 billion.
Like, is anyone talking about the inventor of the atom bomb in their lives?
They want smart movies.
They want original cinematic experiences.
You do need a comedy equivalent of that.
You joked about being snubbed for every movie youve made.
People like our movies, and they watch them over and over again.
And all these Oscar movies, no one will ever watch again.
Thats really how Ive always taken it.
But that also makes you feel better, because youre like,Oh, awards dont even make sense.
Im sure a lot of peoples children are filling out these awards ballots.
I dont think any of it is to be taken seriously.
But the losses dont mean as much.
They never said, like, Oh, what an honor to be in this category.
It was always just like, Were the best!
We did it again!
We could doThis Is 60, I guess.
The other day, I was like, Why cant it beThis Is 56?
It could be any number, really:This Is 68.
I have some ideas for it.
I do get almost more feedback aboutThis Is 40than any of the other movies.
I think its because every time someone turns 40, they watch it.
They see it as something they need to know.
I also think its probably a young persons game to really dig into that.
I dont know who it will be.
Like the scene fromThe 40-Year-Old Virginwhen Steve Carell got his chest waxed.
Its basically an improv.
We have five cameras on him.
It was like we were shootingJackassfor the day.
But maybe the most fun is when we manipulated musicians to perform in a movie.
We had James Taylor inFunny People, and we needed one song.
I said to him, Why dont you sing a whole bunch and well decide later?
I made him sing like 11 songs over two days, over and over again.
We were all crying.
It was so moving.
Then, slowly, you develop a side of yourself that asks,What are you trying to express?
Listen to the full interview onGood One: A Podcast About Jokes.
