Judd Apatow thinks its hard to write political comedy now because Donald Trump’s administration is so “ridiculous”.
Judd Apatow thinks political comedy is tricky right now
The 40-year-old Virgin filmmaker believes the current climate in the US is hard to write about because the president and his officials are already behaving in a way that is hard to exaggreate for laughs.
He told the Sunday Times’ Culture magazine: “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.”
And Judd is also worried that major world issues have become so “serious”, he’s not sure comedy is appropriate right now.
He said: “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.”
Paramount have proposed a takeover of Warner Bros., and the 58-year-old filmmaker is concerned about the wider implications for the TV and film industries because such mergers mean fewer outlets are available for their work.
He said: “It’s really scary.
“A lot of times you have an idea and pitch it to five or six places and just one will get it. But if you’re pitching to only three, the chances of getting it done go way down.
“And the consolidation is tragic, because when mega companies combine, they tend to eliminate an enormous amount of the workforce. You have less competition, fewer jobs and potentially less product.”
Paramount chief David Ellison is an associate of Trump, and it has previously been speculated that CBS – which is owned by the studio – dropped Stephen Colbert’s talk show due to political pressure.
And if the planned merger does happen, Paramount will take ownership of CNN, as well as a studio that has released politically-charged films such as One Battle After Another and Sinners.
Judd said: “When companies don’t want to be on the wrong side of the administration, then of course they will kill the projects they think might get them into trouble.
“And you’ll never know what those projects were. We always talk about the ones like Colbert, but that is just because it’s on air. You didn’t hear about the 200 things they wouldn’t make — and not just comedy or films. You will see political docs disappear very quickly. That could change with a different administration, but this moment is terrifying for creatives and also journalists. We have never had so many outlets under control of people with very strong political points of view.”
However, Judd hopes that would instigate further change.
He said: “If they make CNN right wing, hopefully someone will say, ‘I’ll invent a new CNN without that point of view.’ And if movies feel censored, there will be a financial opportunity for the people who don’t do that.”
