And director slams industry for not developing the next generation of comic stars

Judd Apatow has hit back at the idea that ‘woke’ has killed comedy movies. 

The writer-director-producer behind such films as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Trainwreck instead says that streaming has damaged the business model for mid-budget comedies. 

On today’s edition of the Louis Theroux Podcast, Apatow was asked about  a comment Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover, said in 2019.

He said he'd moved away from making comedies, saying: ‘There were articles written about why comedies don't work anymore. I'll tell you why. Because all the fucking funny guys are like, "fuck this shit because I don't want to offend you." It's hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter.’

Apatow responded: ’That hasn't been my experience. I do think there's an experience people have had where they've made edgy jokes that they thought were funny and then people dig up your old tweets, and then they kind of think that you're this terrible person because maybe you were trying to be shocking, and then people think that the cost of that was way too high. 

‘Because there was a time, you know, 15, 20 years ago where people were trying to push the boundaries of jokes, and I think that was part of what Twitter was – there was this kind of fun, light thing, but then there were other people who were testing it out. 

‘And so there were a lot of really smart people making some really bad jokes, but it wasn't, like, who they were. I think there's a lot of anger around that.’

But specifically talking about movies, he added: ‘I think the reason why comedy films have struggled is because the comedy business was about selling DVDs.

‘You'd make a movie for 20 [million dollars]. If it made 40, it would make 40 on DVD, so it really made 80. And when the DVDs disappeared, that really hurt comedy. Suddenly it became a better bet to make a $3 or $4 million horror movie than to make a 20 or $30 million comedy. And so, comedies have struggled and haven't been made at the same volume as before. 

‘A lot of people left comedy to go make TV comedies, and a lot of the great people in our business have just made a lot of streaming material. 

‘You get into a doom loop where young people do their comedy on TikTok or they want to get jobs on streaming TV shows, and young people aren't trying to write screenplays. 

‘And then the studios want old IP. Well, that means you're not going to break the next 25-year-old hilarious woman because they're not a giant name already. Then you can't break the next generation and people are like, "Well, I guess we, you can't make comedies." 

‘If you don't create new stars, you can’t. You have to create the next generation.’

• The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify and other podcast platforms,

Published: 11 Nov 2026