By David Marchese
“You know when you realize you’re getting stains on your shirt,” says Judd Apatow, “and it’s because you’re starting to sweat and there’s nothing you can do to stop it?” He shakes his head. “That’s all I could think about last night.” It’s a hot midsummer morning, and Apatow, leaning back in a chair at a conference room in the New York office, is wearing a (stain-free) Pearl Jam T-shirt and talking about the stand-up gig he played the evening before. “I kept leaning forward in a weird way so my shirt wouldn’t be up against my chest.” He gives a resigned shrug. “Every set is different.”
The mechanics of stand-up have lately been consuming the celebrated writer-director. After remaking the template of Hollywood comedy, via his own movies (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and the films and TV series he’s co-produced (Girls, the sleeper hit rom-com The Big Sick), into its current, more naturalistic shape, Apatow has, in recent years, gone back to his performing roots. In addition to spending a chunk of the summer touring in clubs, the 49-year-old has a Netflix special due later this year, taken from his performance at July’s Just for Laughs comedy festival in…
