Judd Apatow Returns to Talk Rickles, Newhart and Norman Lear

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Judd Apatow is known for making long movies, from comedies like ‘Funny People’ or ‘This Is 40’ that balloon past two hours to documentaries on his comedy heroes like the two-part, four-hour films about Garry Shandling and George Carlin. So it was somewhat of a shock when he dropped a 20-minute short last month about the lifelong friendship between Don Rickles and Bob Newhart. “I’ve changed,” he jokes. “All my movies are going to be shorts now, no matter the genre.” In this bonus episode—his third appearance on the show—Apatow breaks down what made those two stylistically opposed icons a perfect off-stage pair. He also weighs in on how the art of roasting has evolved over the years, shares memories about his friend and mentor Norman Lear and explains why he thinks Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ is finally being fully appreciated more than a decade after its premiere.

Watch ‘Bob and Don: A Love Story’ at newyorker.com

Follow Judd Apatow on Twitter @juddapatow and Instagram @juddapatow

Follow Matt Wilstein on Threads @mattwilstein

Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod and Threads @lastlaughpod

Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh.
0:06.5	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast and joining me for his third appearance on this bonus episode of the podcast.
0:13.7	He's made pretty much all of my and your favorite comedies.
0:17.2	Welcome back to the show, Jed Appetal.
0:19.4	Happy to be here.
0:21.9	It's good to have you back. How you doing? You look very nice. I don't know. I think I look great, right? Don't I look good?
0:26.0	Happy birthday. It's just, we're talking just a day after your birthday. That's right. Did you,
0:30.6	did you celebrate with Adam Sandler on tour or what's going on? I'm on tour. I'm in San Antonio tonight doing the show and then headed back.
0:41.2	But I've been out for a week with him, which has been great.
0:43.3	The crowds have been incredible.
0:45.5	It's just so fun.
0:46.9	We've known each other for so long.
0:48.5	So to see Adam performing these big arenas and to do a little time before, it's a really magical,
0:56.4	a full circle, a fun event.
0:58.8	Do you spend any time on stage with him?
1:00.8	Do you guys collaborate at all during these shows?
1:03.0	There's a little thing that we do in the show.
1:06.6	I don't know if described would really make much sense.
1:10.0	Right, yeah, you have to be there.
1:11.8	You have to be there.
1:12.8	Some things you just want to spare the audience the description of them.
1:17.7	So you've been here, as I said, two times before.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Daily Beast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Daily Beast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.