[MUSIC PLAYING]
Number one show on late night.
Nothing but illustrious guests.
Mero, who do we have in the virtual building today?
Super producer of various millennial
hits of the [STAMMERS]--
whatever-- it's Judd Apatow, ladies and gentlemen.
Yo, Judd.
How's it going, man?
That was the dream intro I always wanted.
That was it.
Yeah, no, everybody is like-- everybody is like,
ladies and gentlemen, film producer Judd Apatow.
Now you've got, like, a fire one for your sizzle reel.
Was that the intro you dreamed about as a child in Syosset?
Yes.
You know, Syosset-- people never talk about Syosset, land of n--
They never talk about--
They never talk about the 11791.
All right?
That's right.
They don't talk about Natalie Portman growing up there.
That's right.
Talk about the GOATs.
Talk about the legends.
They don't talk about Idina Menzel.
Yes.
Name those names.
Everybody from RENT went to Syosset.
We don't know why, but they were all there.
Nothing but legends.
Syosset is what PG County is to the NBA.
So we thank you.
Tough shopping center town-- that's what
my friend JJ Wall used to say.
Oh, man.
Judd, just saw your new movie with Pete Davidson.
Fantastic movie.
But I'm biased.
We know Pete.
But what was it like working with Pete?
And that movie was just so--
it was-- if you know Pete Davidson, that movie was
like a day with Pete Davidson.
Like, you got the essence of him.
You got everything he is about.
How did you get that translation from real-life
onto the digital?
Well, most people, when you write a movie with them,
you know, they will not let you write certain things.
You know, people will say, I'll go this far, but not that far.
I'm not going all the way.
And Pete was like, let's completely
tell the whole story.
I'll hold absolutely nothing back.
And that's pretty rare.
That's why I think the movie is special,
because he's being so honest.
He's opening his heart up and being so vulnerable,
but he's also hilarious.
And you can feel it.
Like, when you watch the movie, you can
tell, like, Pete's not kidding.
This is what he's really feeling.
What's it like working with, like--
Pete is like, you know, he's done "SNL."
Bill Burr is, like, a stand-up guy.
When you get those different types of comedy together, like,
how do you make that-- how do you mesh that together, like,
in a film?
Well, Bill did an episode of "Crashing" with Pete Holmes.
And I would watch the dailies.
And I was like, Bill Burr is an incredible actor.
So I just-- in the back of my head, I thought,
we've got to do something with Bill.
He's really gifted and hasn't done
an enormous amount of stuff.
And Pete-- I also--
I didn't know exactly what his acting chops were like.
And as soon as we started rehearsing,
I noticed, like, he's very natural.
But he's also-- he's not like most comedy people.
He's not desperate to get a laugh.
He wants-- he wants to be real.
He's not sweaty.
That's what we always say when someone's trying too hard.
Oh, they're sweaty.
And Bill and Pete are not that way.
And they love each other.
So as two people who hate each other in a movie,
I thought, it'll be fun because you
could tell that underneath it, they care about each other.
In this pandemic era, as a filmmaker,
what changes are we going to start seeing on sets?
Because we still-- you see we're still recording from our homes.
What's the future going to be like for making movies?
Like, have you-- or have you even approached that yet?
Or just wait and see?
You know, I really don't know, because, you know,
a movie set is, in the best of times,
the most unhealthy place on Earth.
You know, there's the craft service table,
and it's nothing but Red Vines and deviled eggs.
Like, everything about it--
half the crew is in terrible shape.
And everything that you do is, like,
about people being in your face, and makeup people touching you,
and people having to kiss.
And so I'm not really sure how you can do it
unless the testing is air-tight, and you really
know if somebody is contagious.
So there are people who are tiptoeing into shooting.
And I think everyone else is watching to go,
so do these protocols work?
Like, is it safe to do?
I will be the last guy in the door.
Right.
I'll have to try.
I'll let other people--
You'll do CGI for us before you-- before
you put everybody at risk.
Yeah, I think--
I think it might be that it's all green screen.
And everyone is just connected in post,
but no one ever actually met before.
Right.
Aw, man.
You-- this doesn't get brought up enough.
You worked-- you were a staff writer on one of the most
illustrious shows ever in the history of television,
"The Critic."
MERO: (DOING AN IMPRESSION) It stinks.
It stinks.
That show is so huge to me and Mero.
So-- what was it like--
that's something-- people come on this show, and they're like,
oh, I have a multi-million-dollar movie
opening worldwide next weekend.
And we're like, no, let's talk about what you made in 1993.
What's up with "The Critic?"
Yeah.
Well, for the people who don't know "The Critic," which
I assume is almost everybody watching right now, it was,
you know, John Lovitz, the brilliant John Lovitz--
DESUS: The GOAT.
--as kind of a Roger Ebert-type
critic who had adopted parents who
are incredibly rich and WASPy.
And he was very, like, Jewish.
And it was all the guys from "The Simpsons."
And after a few years of "The Simpsons,"
Mike Reiss and Al Jean created the show,
and James Brooks produced it.
It was, like, my second or third job.
I was the only guy in this room of heavyweight Harvard writers.
And I'm, like, this, you know, college drop-out.
And I felt like such an idiot in the room,
because everyone was a genius, and I
would make some filthy joke.
Like, the not-wittiest joke ever.
And I remember one of the writers going, Judd,
you've outwitted us again.
[LAUGHTER]
What?
Oh, man.
And you're like, oh, shit.
Wait a minute.
I was like, come on.
Syosset in the house.
There you go. There you go.
Represent.
We're doing dick jokes.
We can't do that on "The Critic?"
Yo, it's "The Critic."
Come on.
You have-- you've gone very far with dick jokes, my friend.
You--
That's my bread and butter.
My bread and butter, my dick and balls.
Has anyone at any point in your career,
like, early on, came up to you and was like, yo, you gotta--
you can't continue doing these jokes?
That's a good question.
You know, some things just took a really long time to get made.
You know, when Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote "Superbad,"
I mean, we went almost 10 years before somebody would make it.
Because it was about high school, and it was filthy.
And we said to everyone, I think kids will get this.
This is how they talk.
And everybody said no.
And I remember, we couldn't get anyone to make it,
so we added another producer to the project.
And we thought, well, maybe someone with more weight
than me could get it done.
And then that guy got hired to be
the head of Paramount pictures.
And we're like, we're gonna make "Superbad" now,
because our producer is the head of Paramount.
And the first thing he did as the head of Paramount
was to tell us, I will not be making "Superbad."
DESUS: Wow.
I'm not coming into the game with this.
Wow.
With a veiny cock on a piece of paper.
Exactly.
I can't take that to my corporate bosses.
What will they say?
Come on!
Have you found that that's, like-- that that's
kind of, like, the case when you go to these meetings
or whatever?
I mean, obviously, now you're established.
But, like, early in the game when you go to these meetings,
there's, like, always, like, the older exec and, like,
the younger guy who's there to, like, kind
of be like, yes, that's cool.
I think that, you know, people--
most of the people in the higher-up positions
don't know what's coming.
They don't know how to get excited about something new.
So I've been in every meeting where you say, I think
Jim Carrey is the next guy or I think
Kevin Hart is the next guy.
And they just go, we don't.
And you're like, what?
I mean, I remember going to meet with Fox during "In Living
Color" and saying, we should make movies with Jim Carrey,
right?
And they were like, nah, we don't think he's a movie star.
And that would happen--
with every person who became big,
there is a sea of bad meetings where someone
didn't believe it could happen.
Yeah.
That's it.
We're familiar.
What's the biggest, like, fuck you that you could
give to any producer that was just like, nah,
we're not doing this?
Like, for example, like, Jim Carrey or, like--
Well, I mean, I think they exist for everybody.
I mean, every time we would cast a TV show, we would say,
you know, we think Seth Rogen should
be the lead or Jason Segel.
And we would get resistance.
And it was really painful.
It was the only thing that would really
make me feel just devastated and break me was when I thought,
I believe in this person, and these people
don't actually even understand why they're great.
We did a pilot in 2002 and the cast
was Kevin Hart, Jason Segel, and Amy Poehler, and January Jones.
"North Hollywood?"
Yeah.
And they didn't pick up the show.
And no one even called and went, you
know what, we're not picking up the show,
but this cast is kind of incredible.
Like, the whole thing went over their heads.
They had no sense that they were sitting on everybody.
Wow.
So what's it feel like-- what's it feel like now that you don't
have to go through that, now that you're like,
this is who's going to be in the film, this is what I say,
let's make it happen?
Well, there's less stress when you,
at least, can make a project the way
you think it should be made.
You know, we work with Universal Studios.
We've worked with them for, like, 16 years.
So, you know, we have a great relationship.
They get the joke.
So if you say to them, I think, you know, Pete Davidson,
and Bill Burr, and all these people, Ricky Velez, and Derek
Gaines, and even if they don't know everyone,
they trust us that we have a sense of who might be great.
How do you--
how do you become part of the Judd Apatow circle?
Like Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, you know-- are you
accepting, you know, two guys?
I feel like it requires a Showtime--
if you have a Showtime interview show of some sort.
You know, you invite me on as a guest.
Maybe at the end of it, I get some
of the free sneakers that's sent to me at some point.
What size are you?
I'm an 11.
Oh, oh, oh.
Whoa.
Cover these up.
You're not getting none of my babies.
[LAUGHTER]
And then the relationship begins.
I feel like this is the beginning
of a relationship, a long one.
Is that how it works with you, though?
Like, is it, like, organic?
Or is it more like, yo, bring this guy in.
I've heard about him.
Or is it more just, like, word-of-mouth, like, you know,
circle-of-friends type of thing?
Well, sometimes you just meet somebody and you think,
that person is really funny.
I remember when Seth Rogen did this movie
with Owen Wilson, "You, Me, and Dupree,"
and Bill Hader was in it.
And it might have been Bill Hader's first, you know,
part in a movie, like, a small part in a movie.
And then Seth Rogen just called me one day and said,
Bill's gonna be one of our guys.
I love this guy. He's the best.
He's going to be in everything.
[IMITATES SETH ROGEN'S LAUGH]
I think he had that feeling about Jonah.
He bumped into Jonah at the movies
the night before he was auditioning
for "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
And everyone once in a while, you'll just meet someone.
And I always say it's kind of like when you hear
a new band or an artist and instantly you're like,
I'm so in on this.
You know, I get this.
It's like that with a comedy performer.
I mean, you just see someone, and you're like, holy crap.
And you get excited.
Yeah, that was definitely-- when we met Jonah,
it was like, immediately, like, yo, this guy is cool as shit.
Like, you just know it.
OK, if you had to go back, what are some of the-- what
lesson did you learn that you wish
you could go back and tell the younger version of you
about Hollywood?
About Hollywood?
Well, I used to really fight with people a lot.
Like, I didn't know how to debate, like,
the notes-- like if someone had notes about how
to make something better.
And so I was working on a sketch show.
It was "The Ben Stiller Show."
So this was on the Fox Network.
And this friend of mine was a producer on "In Living Color."
And he said to me, he's like, Judd, if the notes are bad,
don't take them, because if you fail,
they'll never say you failed because I gave you bad notes.
You have to fail with the way you want to do it.
But I didn't know what that meant.
So when they gave me notes where they didn't really understand
the sketches, they didn't get what we were doing,
I would be belligerent.
And I remember once, I said to the guy from Fox, well,
I'm not doing any of your notes.
What happens now?
Ohh.
Pull the plug, I dare you.
Exactly.
And you know what?
You know what happened?
They pulled the plug.
I remember.
I mean, the plug got pulled.
I don't know-- it might have been being 89th in the ratings
also was part of that.
But it took me many years to understand
how to have a constructive conversation
and to find people who like what you do, who get you.
Because there's some people that will never get you.
You have to find the people you can collaborate with.
Listen.
You might have been 89th in the ratings,
but I was definitely watching every episode.
I love that-- the sock puppets-- shut your stinking traps--
oh my god.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Oh, man.
I was devastated when it was fired.
I've been working with your sucio brand of comedy
for a while, man.
Well, what do you have coming up?
What are you working on?
You said the schedule is free.
Are you just chilling?
Or are you just in a kind of hiatus right now because of
how the world is?
What's going on?
You know, the main thing that's really on the runway
is I'm going to make a documentary about George Carlin
with my friend Michael Bonfiglio who
I directed the documentary about Darryl Strawberry and Dwight
Gooden with.
So we're about to go deep down the George Carlin well.
One of the GOATs.
His stand-up was so dark.
And the last few years of his life, people
thought, like, he's kind of losing
his mind with how he sees the world in such a negative way.
And now that we see the world how it is now,
he feels like a prophet.
And so we're going to try and do something
that talks about that.
Oh, man, yeah.
With his-- some of his stand-up stuff, you see it now,
and it's just like, was this written in 2020?
Like, it's so on the nose.
Yeah, he was-- he was the best.
Your catalog is deep.
Is there one particular movie that you were like, yo,
this is my baby--
that you really had to fight to get made?
Or, you know--
That has a special place in your heart?
Yeah.
You know?
It's hard, because you're so attached.
Every time anything gets made, you're so attached to it.
You know, like, lately, "King of Staten Island" means so much
to me, because now that it's come out and people like it,
I'm so proud of Pete for having the courage
to put himself out there.
Because that's a risk.
I mean, what if the movie was terrible?
I mean, that's embarrassing if you say,
here's my life and all my feelings,
and you make a terrible movie about it?
People are like, boo!
You suck!
Get this shit out of here!
Your whack-ass life.
Nobody wants--
Your life sucks!
Shut up!
The fact that, like, people liked it
and the reviews were good, I'm so proud of Pete
for having the courage to do it.
I think it takes a lot of generosity of spirit
to offer yourself up like that.
Because it means a lot to people.
A lot of people suffer.
They have a lot of grief and trauma.
And I think--
You know, what he said to me was he
wants to make a movie that was like what Kid Cudi's
music meant to him when he was young,
and he was struggling, and having issues.
He was like, I would listen to that music,
and I felt less alone.
And it really helped me.
And he wants this movie to do that.
So as of right now, that's where I'm at with my favorite.
I think you might have achieved it with this one,
because it definitely-- it definitely is a tear-jerker,
pulls on some heartstrings.
And it's also funny.
And, you know, Staten Island.
Staten Island's cool.
Staten Island.
But it's no-- it's no Syosset.
OK? Don't ever get it twisted.
That's right.
Yeah.
It's not even Woodbury.
I'll tell you that.
Woo!
Oh!
He said, you're worse than Seldon.
Aw, man.
Judd, thank you for talking to us.
We know you're a busy man, so we're going to let you go.
But every illustrious guest on this show gets a neon sign.
What would you like your neon sign to say?
Maybe just your names, so it could be right behind me.
Desus and Mero.
There we go.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
All right, take care, guys.
Yo, Judd.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Continue making great sucio movies
and doing the dick jokes.
We love them!