Stalking ‘Funny People’: A Defamer Chat With Judd Apatow

Accosted recently by a Defamer correspondent moments after receiving the first ever Just For Laughs Comedy Person of the Year Award in Montreal, Hollywood comedy baron Judd Apatow somehow agreed to commit to a short interview. Later that night, he’d appear before a rowdy crowd at Club Metropolis, hosting an all-stars comedy event billed as Apatow for Destruction. Judd opened the show by launching into a funny set that explored the not-always-tidy-side of family life and getting older. Soon after came Seth Rogen—basically Judd minus 15-or-so grounding years—with a raunchier act that included a riff on frequent self-pleasuring (”I forgot you could use hand lotion for something other than jerking off…”), and a notable preoccupation with all things gay. (On late-in-life movie star Ian McKellen: “As soon as Magneto lifted those cars, the guys sucking his dick dropped 50 years in age.”) Newly announced VMAs host Russell Brand closed out the show. A deeply charismatic stage presence with an indelibly dirty mind, he’s as comfortable dropping psychoanalytical insights as he is being a horny goofball (a hilarious bit about the gulping sound that means your oral sex partner really cares) or flippantly self-deprecating (”I use homeless people as scabby wishing wells. Vending machines for good karma…”).