#978 - Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow (0:02)

Joe, I might plug some dates early.

Joe Rogan (0:04)

Do it, do it.

And we're live. Judd. How are you, buddy?

Judd Apatow (0:11)

Yeah, Judd Apatow here.

Joe Rogan (0:13)

Dude, you know Sussman real well.

Judd Apatow (0:15)

Not only do I know your manager, Sussman, Jeff Sussman, when I was a kid, I loved comedy, so I got a job at the Eastside Comedy Club, which was in Huntington on Long Island. This is about 83, 84

He was the bartender, and he used to give me rides home, because I lived really far away, and I used to take a cab home and spend all the money I made as a dishwasher on the cab ride home.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

Wow.

Judd Apatow (0:43)

But I just wanted to be in the club near comics. Eddie Murphy was coming in. It was crazy.

And I swear to God, this is no BS. You have those people in your life that you remember who were insanely kind and cool, and Jeff Sussman was like that. As a young kid, I was maybe 15 or 16, I thought, this is the greatest guy I've ever met. He's so nice to me. He gives me a ride home. He's funny.

And I'm so glad that he's rich now.

Joe Rogan (1:14)

He's been my manager since I was an open mic'er.

Yeah. He discovered me as an open mic'er in Boston.

Judd Apatow (1:19)

Who were his first clients?

Joe Rogan (1:21)

Bob Nelson.

Judd Apatow (1:22)

Yeah, Bob Nelson at the Eastside Comedy Club.

Nothing funnier. He used to do a show once a week, and one of the things he did is he would just turn on the radio and scan through the channels and do improv based on what was on the radio. So if it was elevator music, he would do a dentist routine. If it was heavy metal, he would suddenly do like a heavy metal guy. And it was incredible.

Joe Rogan (1:45)

Yeah, that guy was huge at one point in time. And then I think he blew a fuse or something.

Judd Apatow (1:51)

I think he's a very religious person now, and he still performs in Branson.

Joe Rogan (1:55)

That's a nice way of saying he blew a fuse.

Judd Apatow (1:58)

Depends on your view of things, I guess. Maybe he's happier than all of us.

Joe Rogan (2:03)

Maybe. Highly unlikely.

Judd Apatow (2:07)

But God, was he funny. I mean, truly as funny as people get. And then he built a thing on stage. You have to imagine this. He built like a wall on the stage. And in the wall, he built two doors.

And he would do all these bits where he would come in and out of doors as different people. And then he did a thing where he would like come out of the door, like run out of one door, across the stage and in the other door, and then run out that door again as a different person. So it looked like he was chasing himself.

Like it'd be like a gorilla chasing Bob, but he would just change his body language as he ran in and out of these doors. It was really creative. No one has ever really done stuff like that since even.

Joe Rogan (2:46)

Well, something happened somewhere along the line where Carrot Top owns props.

They don't, no one does props anymore. You remember when we were first starting out, there was prop comics. It was a genre.

Judd Apatow (2:58)

Dennis Miller used to do props when he started.

Joe Rogan (3:00)

I heard that.

Judd Apatow (3:01)

He used to put his lips through a 45 record and I forgot what the bit was. And I threw a couple of props the first few times I went on stage.

I remember bringing a light and putting it to my finger to make my finger look like E.T.'s finger. I can't quite remember what the bit was, but that's how little material I had.

Joe Rogan (3:20)

Isn't it funny, though, that that genre is just sort of dissolved?

Judd Apatow (3:23)

And it is funny as hell. I went to see Carrot Top in Vegas.

I mean, it's a ridiculous show. I laughed my ass off. I broke my whole family. We really laughed hard. I mean, that is a funny genre of just ridiculous, stupid prop jokes.

Joe Rogan (3:40)

Yeah, Carrot Top gets way more shit than he deserves. He's very funny.

Judd Apatow (3:44)

Oh no, he's very silly. He's very funny. I mean, I'm always for the silly guys. You know, I love the smart people and the inventive people, but the silly guy is also pretty great. And it's hard to write super silly jokes that make people laugh out loud. Like, there's gonna be things that are funny, and you're like, oh, that's funny. And then there are people who actually make you piss your pants.