Tash

It’s all too easy to judge a man for the (admittedly horrific) crime of Putting Adam Sandler Back On Our Screens, but dammit, Judd Apatow has done a lot for the comedy of the noughties. Sure, he’s the king of “hey that guy’s unattractive, bet some unexpected circumstances won’t mean that he gets this infeasibly Hot Girl”, but dig a little deeper than that, and actually the kid’s alright. My opening argument to you, John of the little-to-no-laugher, would be Freaks And Geeks. No-one involved in such a brilliant programme should be wiped from the records.

John

I don’t care if the man’s single-handedly saved the world from robots, aliens and/or the cataclysmic might of Jonah Hill’s stomach, I still hate him. Judd Apatow has been responsible for an extraordinary proportion of the crude, childish comedy which has been saturating our cinemas for years. Ever since he forced Jim Carrey’s career onto the ropes with witless 1996 carcrash The Cable Guy, Apatow has been scraping the murky bottom of the entertainment barrel in search of ever shittier ideas to pour into our unsuspecting brains. His crimes are unforgivable.

Tash

Oh fine, bring up The Cable Guy, how deeply predictable. That’s like calling out Zemeckis on What Lies Beneath whilst conveniently forgetting about Back To The Future, Death Becomes Her and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Yes, obviously The Cable Guy was terrible, obviously, obviously, that doesn’t take away from the fact that The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up and Funny People are genuinely brilliant – and though he likes to stick to what he knows, at least he’s GOOD at what he knows. He produced Anchorman and Superbad, not to mention the fact that he was a driving force in getting Bridesmaids made. And also, he puts Paul Rudd in the cinemas. What more can you want than Paul Rudd in the cinemas?

John

Paul Rudd not in the cinemas? I’m sorry, but I just think we can do better than sit through endless reels of Apatow’s dated, slapsticky, self-congratulatory bullshit films. He’s hit on a winning formula, sure enough: once you’ve got people used to a diet of weed scenes, hilarious black guys and probably Katherine Heigl filling out a bra nicely, they’re bound to disdain comedies that are – oh, I don’t know – ACTUALLY FUNNY. Apatow’s relentless hammering of the lowest common denominator is as depressing as it is good for his bank balance.

Tash

When you say “relentless hammering of the lowest common denominator”, do you actually mean “making easy-to-watch comedy that is consistently funny as well as managing to showcase the best of the American comedy scene as it currently stands”? Yeah it’s not Oscar bloody Wilde, but it’s entertainment. You seem to be saying that Apatow’s films bully other comedy into silence, but that’s just not true, Apatow is basically responsible for the only good comedy to come out of America in years. If anything, he’s the one inspiring young kids to GO FORTH AND DO THE FUNNIES. Can you name anyone else who’s had such a consistently LOLsy output in the last ten years?

John

Yes, I can. Edgar Wright has, both with and without his frequent collaborators Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, produced some of the best comedies of the last thirty years as well as one of the tastiest British sitcoms of all time; he’s also served up Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Them is in the offing. Or what about Matthew Vaughn? In between Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Layer Cake, Snatch, Stardust, Kick-Ass and now X-Men: First Class, he’s produced and directed some of the most consistently enjoyable films of the last decade – and they’re all funny. Comedy is allowed to happen without a rich compost of dick jokes and fat men, y’know.

Tash

Yes, you’ll notice that both of those examples you mentioned are English, not American. My point was not that Apatow is the only funny human left on this our Earth, but that you have to admit that without him, the American comedy landscape would have been pretty barren these past few years. Not to mention the fact that hard-working comics (such as the brilliant Kristen Wigg, writer of Bridesmaids) might never have been the promotion they needed and deserved without Apatow’s help. He doesn’t just self-promote, he’s happy to fill the gaps in others’ endeavours – whether that be as producer, writer or director – to ensure that genuinely funny stuff climbs out of Hollywood’s pit. And hell, if nothing else, can you imagine getting through those greasy university years without the help of a well-placed Anchorman reference to loosen the lockjaw of social redundancy?

John

Yeah, I’ll give you Anchorman. The trouble is, everything tarred with Apatow’s brush ends up looking the same reliably boring shade of funnyish (is that a colour?) – I think his comedy monopoly can only be bad for Hollywood, and the Yanks are clearly never going to do anything about it on their own. Let him put Will Ferrell, a joint and a joke about poo into a film every once in a while if it makes him happy, but not every comedy that crosses the pond. Please?

By Natasha Hodgson and John Underwood