0812997573 (N) by Judd Apatow

Author:Judd Apatow
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780812997576
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2015-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

LARRY GELBART AND JAMES L. BROOKS

(2007)

In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asked me if I was interested in putting a panel talk together. I said yes, but only if I could invite James Brooks and Larry Gelbart, and spend an hour talking about comedy. I knew I had no business being on the same stage as these guys; nobody does. I was simply thrilled to have the opportunity to sit there and talk to them, and I knew at some point that a photograph would be taken of the three of us onstage, which I would cherish for the rest of my life. So yes: I did it for the picture.

Why did I pick James Brooks and Larry Gelbart? Because two of the most formative shows of my life, the shows that trained me in comedy—not to mention how to be a human being—were M*A*S*H and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The work these men did was emotional and hilarious and, I felt, spoke to the best part of human beings. I mean, M*A*S*H was the highest-rated program in the history of television: More than 100 million people watched the finale. James Brooks has won nineteen Emmys, for shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, and The Simpsons. And I’d like to point out that Freaks and Geeks lasted eighteen episodes.

Everything flows from these guys.

Judd Apatow: There’s an enormous amount of pressure here right now. This is a pressure cooker.

Larry Gelbart: For the record, dying is harder.

Judd: Oh, yeah.

James L. (Jim) Brooks: This means I have to go.

Judd: Anyway, it’s exciting to be here. It is an honor to share the stage with the two men who are the primary reasons I wanted to be involved in comedy, and I also feel bad about your being here, which clearly demeans you. I was looking at everyone’s credits on Wikipedia last night, and it was embarrassing. I felt bad. I read them and thought, I should not be here.

Jim: You’ve done more pictures than I’ve done this year.

Judd: Oh, Jesus. Anyway, when I was a young man and, you know—M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, these were what made me want to do this. So this is very exciting for me—not so much for you, but for me. We are going to show a few clips tonight. We’re going to start off—each of us has picked a clip from a film that influenced us in some way. The first clip is mine, from Punch-Drunk Love. It’s a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, and Adam Sandler is one of the stars. This is a scene where you see him with his family and all of his sisters, who don’t treat him very well. I was working on The 40-Year-Old Virgin simultaneously, but this struck me as the much better way to do it, so I wanted to show that.

(Clip from Punch-Drunk Love: Barry is uncomfortable at a dinner party with all of his sisters.)

Judd: I really like that movie.

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