Judd Apatow, the comedy filmmaking kingpin behind Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, believes the Trump administration has made politics impossible to parody.
The writer and director, 58, is currently promoting his documentary about Mel Brooks, The 99 Year Old Man!
Speaking to The Times of London in a new interview, Apatow said, “It’s much harder to do comedy right now.
“If you look at what’s happening in the world, it’s stranger than Dr Strangelove. Characters in our country are more ridiculous than characters in Kubrick’s film, so what can comedy do? The Trump administration is hard to be exaggerated in a sketch, so it’s a difficult moment for political comedy,” he continued.
“It’s very difficult and so cruel that there’s not a lot of humour in it. Indeed, sometimes I think things have become so serious that, maybe, it’s a moment for us not to joke about it and to instead have a bit more energy to fight for our values. It is important people have an outlet and an expression, but it doesn’t mean anything without action. And it’s certainly the time for that.”
Apatow is a longtime critic of Trump’s.
“The U.S. president is, I believe, a malignant narcissist,” he told The Independent in 2020.
“He doesn’t have compassion. He is not intellectually capable of leading our country and he is not emotionally fit to run our country and everything that’s happening is the natural result of that.”
Earlier this year, at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards in Los Angeles, Apatow issued a warning to any celebrities in the audience who might have voted for Trump.
“There’s a good chance that some of you in this room voted for Trump. I won’t judge you, I won’t judge you. But God will,” he told the attendees.
He went on to joke: “Maybe I should make TV that MAGA people would like... ‘The Real Housewives of January 6.’”
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! is a two‑part HBO documentary that explores the life, career, personality, and legacy of comedy legend Mel Brooks as he celebrates his 99th year.
The documentary features the final on-screen interviews with Rob Reiner and David Lynch.
At the film’s premiere, Brooks said he was “glad” his best friend and collaborator Carl Reiner died before the murder of his son, Rob.
Five years after Carl died of natural causes, Rob and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead at their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles in December. Their son Nick Reiner is set to stand trial for their murder.
“I mean, he never could have survived this terrible, terrible thing,” Brooks said of Carl.
“I loved him. I loved Carl. And I used to really... There was no fake laughter. I used to really break him up. He'd grab his belly and sometimes he’d fall down.”
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