A long time ago in a decade far, far away (as seen on VH1), quality R-rated comedies were commonplace fixtures at a theater near you. Somewhere between Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, though, funny movies aimed at the younger demographic traded in their profane punch lines for saccharine sass. No one seemed to notice the death of a genre.
Well, young adults: Mourn no more. I present Judd Apatow, your comedic savior, and his apostles of amusement, including Steve Carell, Will Ferrel, Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill. Along with the troop of funnymen whom he met as he paid his dues in television and film (he began his career as a stand-up comic and TV scribe), has revived the R-rated comedy and he now sits at the top of a Hollywood dynasty built on the backs of such breakout hits as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Knocked Up.
Apatow may be busy redefining funny at the box office nowadays, but his beginnings in the industry are a little more humble. In 1979, the 11-year-old Apatow was a lot like the lovable nerds who are featured in his movies, he told the Los Angeles Times. “There was a period when I would get home at 3 and watch TV until 11, and I couldn’t be happier.”
When he wasn’t basking in the glow of a cathode-ray tube, he was jotting down his own jokes, which were less than impressive, as made evident by his early failure as a comedian. “I only wanted to be a comedian. Everything I’ve done happened because I couldn’t be a great comedian,” he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Despite his early missteps (some of which occurred during a period when he shared an apartment with another aspiring comedian by the name of Adam Sandler), Apatow would make use of countless hours spent marveling at the studio laughter that marked comedy done right.
He made a name for himself behind the scenes, producing and writing for The Ben Stiller Show and The Larry Sanders Show in the early 1990s, both critical darlings that earned him Emmy nominations.
Although he dabbled in screenwriting after breaking onto the TV scene, he returned to his roots at the approach of the millennium, helming cult classics Freaks & Geeks and Underclassman, which USA Today brands “two of the most acclaimed TV series to ever last only one season.”
Both series were ill-fated, failing to find a steady audience despite critical accolades and rabid devotion from a select group of fans. Their subject matter-the warm-hearted trials and tribulations of social outcasts and 20-somethings-would soon bear fruit on the big screen under Apatow’s direction.
In 2004, Apatow achieved notoriety and cemented his collegiate cred as producer of the blockbuster, Ferrel-starring film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. His next project, with Anchorman supporting player Carrell, signaled the triumphant return of playful profanity to the movies. The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which Apatow co-wrote and directed, was widely praised by critics and audiences alike, amassing a whopping $177 million world-wide.
If Virgin earned Apatow a reputation as the smartest, dirtiest funnyman in the business, it also shot several of his similarly talented pals into the spotlight. Carell became a bona fide superstar on the success of Virgin, and his cast-mates became some of the most recognizable working comedic character actors. Rogen, Hill and Paul Rudd have become members of Apatow’s inner circle, and this group of talented buddies has become a secret to his prolonged success.
Rogen stared in this summer’s first Apatow production, Knocked Up, alongside Hill, Rudd and fellow Freaks & Geeks alumnus Jason Segel. Rogan went on to co-write and co-star along with Hill in Apatow’s most recent producing credit: the buzzed-about Superbad, which many critics have likened to a feature-length, explicit episode of Freaks & Geeks.
With critics and adolescents across the country seemingly at his beck and call, and an impressive ensemble of actors, writers and directors in his corner, Apatow seems to be the new king of his own brand of crude but coy comedy.
