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Screenwriter turned TV writer turned screenwriter turned director turned "mayor of comedy." Prior to his film career, he was responsible for Too Good to Last shows like Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks, as well as a notorious Flame War with former friend and fellow The Ben Stiller Show alumnus Mark Brazill (creator of That 70s Show). His career really exploded, however, after the runaway success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, to the point where it's hard to find a recent mainstream comedy that isn't in some way associated with him or influenced by his brand of comedy. As John Hughes was to The Eighties, Apatow is to present day comedy.
Apatow is inordinately fond of Improv (full scenes are often entirely improvised by the cast), profanity, stoner humor, sex jokes, and gratuitous nudity (male nudity, more often than not). His characters are usually average Joes who learn to connect with either women or their male buddies, leading some people to call these films romantic comedies for men -- "bromances," if you will. He has occasionally been accused of sexism, towards both women (as shown by Katherine Heigl's complaints regarding the portrayal of her character in Knocked Up) and men. Often for the same film.
This video parodies the tropes employed by Apatow's films.
Directed:
Produced/Co-Produced:
- The Cable Guy
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
- Superbad
- Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
- Drillbit Taylor
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Step Brothers
- Pineapple Express
- Year One
- Get Him to The Greek
- Bridesmaids
Wrote/Co-wrote:
- Fun with Dick and Jane
- You Don't Mess With the Zohan
He tends to work with many of the same actors many of whom starred in his earlier shows, a who's who of comedy that includes:
- Jason Segel
- James Franco
- Paul Rudd
- Seth Rogen
- Jonah Hill
- Jane Lynch
- Martin Starr
- Bill Hader
- Steve Carell
- Leslie Mann (his wife)