Sick In The Head: Conversations About Life And Comedy Part 20

Ben: Well, n.o.body was banging down the door. Let's call it-basically I got a new agent. And he said, "Okay, you can't do anything for about six months."

Jim: Hide under the porch.

Ben: And then we'll see where we're at. It's so obvious in show business. When a movie doesn't make a lot of money, people don't call.

Judd: But then you did Zero Effect, and then right into Something About Mary?

Ben: I did-after this, I did Zero Effect, Something About Mary, Permanent Midnight, and Friends and Neighbors. I could keep going, Jim- Jim: No, I'm loving it.

Judd: But I remember when you got Something About Mary, that was big, because your star had not risen- Ben: It was a break. Huge. The Farrelly Brothers gave me a chance because they liked Flirting with Disaster.

Jim: Which is one of the cla.s.sic comedies of all time, by the way. That was a genius movie.

Ben: But it was a weird time, where I didn't know what I was going to- Jim: When you kiss Tea [Leoni] in that movie, did you really kiss her?

Judd: Versus how you kissed her, in Fun with d.i.c.k and Jane?

Jim: It was crazy! It was crazy what was happening outside the frame.

Judd: I just remember once, we were at a restaurant after Something About Mary, and you were saying, "It's really weird, because people keep walking up to me with their hair gelled up, like with s.e.m.e.n," and I was like, "Really? Nooooo." And then a girl walked up to our table and said, "Can you come say h.e.l.lo to my friends?" And you walked over and came back and said, "One of the girls had her hair gelled up, like the-"

Jim: It's a nice thing! That's nice.

Judd: It's nice having catchphrases, visuals, that people yell at you.

Ben: But this was your reality, Jim, when you were making this movie. It had already been like that for a few years. What was it like?

Jim: It was odd.

Judd: I remember being in the mall with you, Jim. We were in a bookstore and suddenly people started walking up to you, and then more people, and more people, and then we realized every single person in the mall is headed to you, and then it got sort of dangerous for us to get out and became a Hard Day's Night moment.

Jim: No, exactly. And that's why I'm a martial artist. That's why I'm a weapons expert.

Judd: How emotional do you get now when a movie does well, or badly? Like after having made a lot of movies, how emotionally connected are you?

Jim: My entire self-worth is wrapped up in it.

Ben: I find it hard to totally disconnect from that stuff.

Jim: I want to go to a place where they hate me personally, and I have to win them back. It's odd, because some of them-when a movie doesn't work, you know, it's because it had something of gravity in it, and actually there was something that was not going to appeal to everybody, and it spirited people away in the other direction.

Ben: It's a complicated thing. Because how do you disconnect from that, but not make it about yourself, too?

Jim: Whenever you try to do something serious, you're gonna lose people. Certain people. Because they want you to be a certain thing and- Ben: There is that thing with comedy. People can take it very personally if you're not there to be funny.

Jim: On Twitter, man, every once in a while, every fiftieth person is like, "Who do you think you are? You better not be dramatic anymore. Don't you be dramatic!"

Ben: I'll tweet something about Haiti and there'll be someone who'll tweet back, "Be funny! Who cares about Haiti!"

Jim: "Who cares about Haiti? Put your p.e.n.i.s in your zipper and shut up."

Ben: "I'm unfollowing you, you're not funny. You just care about Haiti."

Judd: I get that for retweeting your Haiti things! "Stop retweeting Ben's Haiti things!"

Jim: "Who do you think you are, funnyman?"

Ben: Judd, how do you feel when your movies come out?

Judd: I have those moments where- Ben: I'm looking for some insight here.

Judd: Where I'm so proud...and it doesn't do well. Like this movie. This blew my mind-I didn't recover like you guys. This one threw me for years because I loved it so deeply. Like, how come-I loved this work so much, what Jim's doing, what Ben's doing, and how come it didn't do well? It threw me because I thought I was in tune with what the audience liked.

Ben: See, I've never felt like I had any idea about what the audience liked. It's always like a c.r.a.pshoot, really. (To Jim) We were talking about it-you only do what feels good to you, right?

Jim: Yeah. Only what feels good.

Ben: Yeah. How can you figure out what twenty million people will like?

Jim: Well, it's the Emerson thing: What's true for one man isn't true for all, and- Judd: I went back to TV after this. I retreated.

Ben: I didn't direct again for four years after this.

Judd: It's true.

Jim: I still marvel at where everybody went. It just blows me away. It's hard for me to even be in the room with you guys.

Ben: (Laughs) Honestly, though, Jim, just to put it in context, when we did this movie, you were giving us a shot-right? I mean, wasn't Jim giving us a shot?

Judd: We were all giving each other a shot, but in weirdly interwoven ways.

Jim: Judd was like pumping me back when I was in the clubs and stuff, and no one was watching me.

Ben: I remember going to your young comedian special, in Phoenix, with David Spade.

Jim: Judd actually opened for me.

Judd: And I thought, I gotta quit. Because I can't do that.

Ben: So what did you think, Jim, when you said to everybody, "I want Judd to produce it," and then Judd said, "I want Ben to direct it"?

Jim: You know, this is the thing- Ben: You had the power to do that.

Jim: No one really knows anything about comedy. We know a little bit about what we're doing, but as far as the industry-the exec branch-they don't know how it happens. It never comes to you prepared and ready to go, you always have to work it to death till the last second, in the moment and whatever. And I don't know what the h.e.l.l I'm trying to say right now.

Ben: I think you're saying that they don't know, so they let you go with your instinct.

Jim: Exactly.

Ben: If you're the guy in the power position, they'll listen to you.

Jim: A lot of the comedies, you find yourself having to take shots with people, because they have that kind of-not a lot of experience, but they have that kernel of brilliance, that you go, like, "A good brain's a good brain, man. Let's go."

Judd: And they don't know to be scared. I mean, we weren't scared when we did this and in a lot of ways that's what makes it pure. Really, it's like a pure comedic thought.

Jim: There's not somebody trying to fit it into a shape or a form that's known to be successful.

Ben: And I don't think we knew enough about the context of the "business" to know whether or not it could hurt us.

Jim: It's too bad that my money got in the way of all the fun. But you know, I'm just not going to look back with regrets. I'm just not. It was fun. Such a fun movie. We really had a lot of fun. And I can't believe that the three of us can't find the time to come together again and do something creative. Seriously, I hate you guys.

Judd: We've all priced ourselves out of the business.

Jim: You guys got huge kingdoms. I can't even get inside.

Judd: I'll work for free. I'll say right now, I'll get it going.

Ben: Get my a.s.sistant, okay? She'll hook it up.

Judd: Call my a.s.sistant's a.s.sistant.

Jim: We really should do something, because this is not enough. We just cut our teeth on this thing.

Judd: It'd be fun now that we know more. But do you think we're scared now?

Jim: I'm not scared.

Ben: Fear is part of the experience, but-I'm beyond fear now.

Judd: I paid off my house, I'm okay.

Jim: You can live forever.

Judd: Is that where we stop?

Ben: I'm glad we did this. We've wanted to do this for about ten years, right?

Judd: Ten years.

Jim: Well, I'd never done this before. How'd we do, by the way? Did we do okay?

Ben: We can always come back and do it again.

Jim: Let's start it over. We're going to do it again. Turn it over and I'll be you this time, Judd.

This interview was originally featured on the DVD of The Cable Guy and appears courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

JIMMY FALLON.

(2015).

I don't understand Jimmy Fallon. He's fast, witty, handsome, musical, inventive, a confident performer, a great listener-and he is definitely having more fun than the rest of us combined. I always thought comedy came from pain. I thought the people who created it were drawing from some bottomless well of existential angst. I thought it was impossible to do it well if you are also an enthusiastic, hopeful, energetic person. Most talk show hosts are fun to watch because they seem so miserable, but Jimmy is the opposite. He is more of a Steve Allen or Martin Short type of guy. He is exactly what he seems to be when you see him on TV-a warm, chipper, funny guy. A good person. I wanted to speak with him to figure out how he became this way-with the secret hope that it would help me shed some of my old, boring, neurotic, my-pain-is-so-old-I-don't-even-remember-where-it-came-from BS. I think I got my answer but I am not sure I can make it work for me. (I think he is happy because he is not a Jew.) Judd Apatow: I had the loveliest time with your wife at the wedding the other night.

Jimmy Fallon: She just got back. She's like, "Thank G.o.d for Judd Apatow. He was fantastic."

Judd: I was a stand-in for you.

Jimmy: Did you do all my bits?

Judd: Yeah. If she didn't look over, she may have thought that you were there.

Jimmy: Was it fun or was it just a wedding?

Judd: It was great. When you go to a wedding and Lionel Richie comes out and sings "I'm Easy," what more do you want?

Jimmy: Goose b.u.mps.

Judd: He was really funny, too. I always get annoyed when someone like that is funny.

Jimmy: I know. What did he say, "I only do this if I get paid or invited," or something?

Judd: Yeah. (Laughs) I was-I wanted to say, "Hey, I used your song 'h.e.l.lo' in The 40-Year-Old Virgin!" But then I realized I used it in the sequence where Steve Carell prepared to m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e.

Jimmy: That's why I don't go out anymore. Because I'll see somebody-"Oh, hey, I just talked about you. I talked about your bad plastic surgery. Sorry!"

Judd: That's your biggest conflict. You have no choice but to be nice to their face, and then take them down in the monologue.

Jimmy: (Laughs) What a big tough guy I am.

Judd: Someone told me a funny story about the South Park guys-they had, I guess, torn Janeane Garofalo apart in something, and then they were in a restaurant and saw her across the way, and just ran away before they could be spotted.

Jimmy: Did you ever hear the story about Wayne Newton punching Johnny Carson?

Judd: No, no.

Jimmy: There's a story that Wayne Newton got p.i.s.sed off that Johnny Carson was making jokes about him, so he stormed into his office, past his secretary, grabbed his collar, and said, "You say one more joke about me and I'll f.u.c.king knock your block off." I don't think Johnny mentioned him ever again.