Free Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow

at all?
    Albert: It’s funny, I don’t believe in the images of what God is, a thing or a person. I do wonder often the reason the sea horse is here, or a tree, or why I’m here, and so I don’t know if I’m religious. But it’s interesting when you’re part of a group—the Jews, to be exact—that the world has had such problems with. It has really nothing to do with religion. That’s why, if my kids didn’t want to go to temple, I used to say, “Let me explain something to you: If Hitler came back, he’s not going to ask if you went to temple. You’re already on the train. So you might as well know who you are and why they’re going to take you.”
    Judd: What do you get out of temple?
    Albert: I went to a memorial service and brought my kids and we thought about my dad and my mom, and the rabbi gave kind of a cool sermon, and you’re sitting in a room with everyone who would have to go on the same train. So there’s a bit of community there.
    Judd: That’s dark.
    Albert: But it’s true. Here’s what we know. We know meditation is healthy. Everybody says it slows your heart rate and everything, and the basis of religion seems to be that when you pray…I don’t know what people who are religious think when they pray, but it’s very close to what meditation is. It’s sort of ritualistic, it’s habit, it’s like exercising, so you might be able to get something out of that. I’m sure some people enjoy thinking it’s out of their hands. There’s all these people who think it’s “meant to be.” But I don’t buy that.
    Judd: I’d love to buy it, though. I wish I could.
    Albert: I don’t buy it, but I love it.
    Judd: It would make the day so much easier.
    Albert: Look, only a few people get to die peacefully in their sleep after a wonderful life. So that’s like not making the football team. There’s lots of things you don’t get to have. That’s probably one of them. Thank God, I consider myself lucky that I live after anesthetic. Can you imagine those days? “Sit down. Tuesday, we’re taking off your arm.”
    Judd: The whole setup sucks. And comedy is a constant exploration of it. I still can’t figure it out, because it’s so absurd and so awful that I can’t do anything but laugh in its face.
    Albert: But it’s really not awful. If I’ve learned anything—anything—getting older, it’s the value of moment-to-moment enjoyment. When I was young, all my career was “If I do well tonight, that means that Wednesday will be better. That means I can give this tape to my agent and…” It was this ongoing chess game. And that is a really disappointing game, because when you get to checkmate, it never feels like it should. And there’s another board that they never told you about. So if I come here and talk to you, if I have an enjoyable three hours, god damn it, that counts.
    Judd: Do you ever have a spiritual feeling when you’re creative?
    Albert: I used to hate when people say, “I feel it come through me,” but there are moments where two hours go by and you don’t know what happened, and you got all these words, and it’s the highlight of my life.
    This interview was originally published in
Vanity Fair
in January 2013 (Jim Windolf
/Vanity Fair;
© Condé Nast).

AMY SCHUMER
(2014)
    I was sitting in my car one day, listening to
The Howard Stern Show
, when Amy Schumer came on. I think I had seen her do a little stand-up on television once or twice before, or maybe just some jokes at a roast, but that’s about it. But sitting there in my car, listening to her talk to Howard, I was blown away by how funny and intimate and fresh she was. You could sense that she had stories to tell and was a lot more than just a comedian. I instantly thought:
I need to make a movie with her.
    So we did.
    Amy and I spent the next few years working on
Trainwreck
, and I found that she was, indeed, so much more than just a comedian. She is someone who is willing to go emotionally deep, as well as