Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow was born on December 6th, 1967 and is currently 58 years old. Judd Apatow was born in Syosset, New York, USA. Apatow attended the University of Southern California.

Judd Apatow is a producer, director, comedian, and screenwriter, and is best known for working in comedy films.

When Judd was just 12, his parents got divorced. His older brother went to live with his maternal grandparents, while Judd lived primarily with their dad, visiting his mom on the weekends. Their sister lived with their mom. Apatow’s mom spent one summer working at a comedy club, and that is where a young Apatow was first exposed to live stand up comedy.

His deep interest in comedy dates all the way back to his childhood; his heroes included the Marx Brothers, Steve Martin, and Bill Cosby. He got his start in comedy washing dishes at the Long Island East Side Comedy Club. When he was attending Syosset High School, he played jazz and hosted this program on the school’s radio station WKWZ called Comedy Club which he made in order to meet and then learn from the comedians that he admired.

He would cold call comedians during period, and managed to interview John Candy, Harold Ramis, Steve Allen, and Howard Stern, along with some emerging comedians like Garry Shandling, Steven Wright, and Jerry Seinfeld.

At the age of seventeen, he began performing standup comedy, while he was a senior in high school. In the September 1985 issue of Laugh Factory Magazine, he’s listed as an associate editor.

During his time at the University of Southern California, he organized and hosted a number of on-campus “Comedy Nights” events, which included headliners like Kevin Nealon. Judd would introduce the acts at these events with short stand up routines of his own.

He was introduced to Garry Shandling by Jimmy Miller (a manager) which ended up resulting in Judd’s hiring as a writer for the 1991 Grammys that year which Shandling hosted. Apatow went on to co-produce the comedy specials of Jim Carrey, Roseanne Arnold, and Tom Arnold.

Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy is a collection of hilarious, intimate conversations with some of the largest names in all of comedy, like Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Mel Brooks, Harold Ramis, Jon Stewart, Lena Dunham, Seth Rogen, and Chris Rock.

Judd Apatow was the original comedy nerd, long before he became one of the most successful filmmakers in all of Hollywood. At the age of 15, he took a job washing dishes in a local comedy club, in order to watch an endless amount of stand up free of charge. Then at 16, he was interviewing comedians, telling him about their careers, the science behind a good joke, and their dreams of future glory (turns out Shandling wanted his own TV show some day and Steve Allen already invented everything).

Decades later, Apatow’s still that exact same comedy nerd, and he is still interviewing funny people about why they do what they do.

This is a collection of Apatow’s most revealing and memorable conversations into a wide ranging, hilarious, and incredibly candid book which spans not just his career but his whole adult life.

Judd Apatow: Awards & Accolades

Judd Apatow books have been nominated for multiple awards, Sick in the Head was nominated for the Goodreads Awards, Best Humor, in 2015. Springfield Confidential was nominated for the Goodreads Awards, Best Humor, in 2018. Sicker in the Head was nominated for the Goodreads Awards, Best Humor, in 2022.

Related Authors

Fans of Judd Apatow also enjoy these authors:

1. Andy Weir, author of: Project Hail Mary.
2. Stephen King, author of The Dark Tower Series.
3. Neil Gaiman, author of the American Gods Series.
4. Michael Connelly, author of the Harry Bosch Series.
5. Patricia Cornwell, author of the Kay Scarpetta Series.

Judd Apatow: F.A.Q