Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures

by Judd Apatow

An intimate, rollicking highly-visual memior of a comedic genius that offers a rare glimpse into the creative life and inner workings of a a legendary director producer Judd Apatow through never-before-seen photos, letters and behind-the-scenes stories

In the mid-eighties, a young, self-professed comedy nerd from Syosset, Long Island, named Judd Apatow took to the stage to perform his first standup routine—and survived. Over the coming decades, Apatow would translate his obsession for comedy into one of the most successful careers in Hollywood, through genre-defining films such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, and This Is 40 and iconic series such as Girls and Freaks & Geeks. Through his solo work as well as his collaborations with fellow comedians Steve Carrell, Adam Sandler, Amy Schumer, and countless others, Apatow reshaped the landscape of American comedy. 

In this revelatory scrapbook memior, Apatow has pulled hundreds of personal photographs, letters, scripts, drafts, and paired them with never-before-told stories to create a unique-in-format, deeply-personal-in-tone account of a storied career. Spanning decades, Comedy Nerd takes us on Apatow’s lifelong journey of fandom, creativity, and from the exacting, relentless work that goes into cracking people up; surprising stories about our favorite comedians; and insights into how Apatow has managed to push the limits of his craft in an ever-evolving cultural landscape. It is a candid, joyful, and fascinating portrait of an artist and storyteller who has spent decades making us laugh.

Genres: Memoir, Humor, Biography, Comedy, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Media Tie In

576 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Judd Apatow is an Emmy Award-winning American film producer, screenwriter, director and former stand-up comedian. He is best known for producing a distinct series of critically and commercially successful comedy-style films, including Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Funny People. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the critically acclaimed cult television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

Reviews

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely for fans of the author as well as anyone curious about the successful careers of a core group of comics that all started out around the same time in L.A. It's pretty impressive to see all the connections and how enmeshed it all is, and a little sad that the zeitgeist and camaraderie of that scene is unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.

This is not the typical memoir and if you head in expecting that, you will be disappointed and then you will likely feel the need to give it a crap review here on GRs. To avoid this disappointment understand this is a scrapbook memoir, which means it is a big picture book of memorabilia that holds meaning to the author. There's usually some accompanying text providing some context for the material presented. It is messy and not super perfect but if you like the movies and tv in the ever expanding Apatow-shpere you will enjoy the shared anecdotes and history.

All the author proceeds are going to charity, which is pretty cool. And if you are a fan like I am, read the 2 star reviews here for fun, they are awesome.

[Riley Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun. proud of judd apatow.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apatow has started the careers of many young comedians and produced some of my favorite comedies. This book is kind of rehash / scrapbook of his other work, and skimming it is the only way to finish it. The subject seems a bit dated now too as he reminisces about his friendship with Gary Shandling, so I not sure people remember as he passed away ten years ago.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Judd Apatow, I'm not sure I like all his movies, but I like Apatow enough to find out what his history into comedy was about. I knew that when he was in high school he started interviewing comedians (Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Gary Shandling etc.) for his high school's radio station. He's a self-proclaimed hoarder never throwing out scripts, photos, letters, etc. This book shares a lot of his stuff.
One quibble I have is that he seldom labeled who was in all of the pictures. Also, there was one page, very late in the book where a written page ends but the thought didn't because there were some words left off.
The proceeds for this book are going to helping fund the L.A. fire-ravaged.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read every single page and I still feel like I may have missed something! I am a huge fan of all things comedy from the 80s to today and this book showcases all my favorites. I love the back story behind Apatow's work and putting this together like a scrapbook was a fantastic idea! Apatow is a comedy legend and built up amazing talent. I am excited to keep this on my bookshelf for future reference.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know that he did this book for charity for the people who lost their homes during the LA fires. That is very commendable. I am definitely not a comedy nerd. I do not watch television. I barely watch movies so a lot of this was lost on me. It was very dense and in my opinion just way too much. Then again if you’re a comedy nerd, maybe.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

He was a guest on a podcast I listened to. So I thought I would read his book. It’s kind of like a scrap book. I will admit I did not read every word. I wish he would have identified more people in all the photos. I didn’t know much about him before the podcast. Now I know a lot more about his career and personal life. It is a big book.

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you love Judd Apatow you'll probably think this mindless self-praising coffee table book is the greatest read ever. But for the rest of us that yawn at his crude and clueless attempts at being funny in movies and on TV, the book ends up being just like most of his other creative works--flashy, shallow, and meaningless to anyone other than those in the creator's self-serving orbit.

At 575 pages he seems to have stuffed every photo and review of his career into this oversized scrapbook. He even includes pictures of tweets where famous people praise him! It's not a true memoir because there is very little narrative commentary beyond an occasional oversized page to ponder his greatest on a project. This is navel-gazing to the max, which fits right in with the woke hip modernist daughters he is trying to impress.

The thousands of pictures are overwhelming because few of them are accompanied by explanations, so we have no idea when they're taken, the people in them, or how they tie into the chronological portrait of his life. Then there's no index, so you have to guess where to find people and works you're interested in. Whoever thought it was a good idea to just jam tons of pics without explanation then toss in a generic one-page "thank you" at the end of the book to barely acknowledge those who let him use photos was mistaken because he failed to give image creators and owners of proper credit. Ironic for a guy who uses the book to complain he doesn't get enough screen recognition for projects he helped revise scripts on.

All of this means that Apatow has one of the biggest egos in the history of the entertainment industry. He thinks EVERYTHING he does is great. There's no discernment of the large amount of crap he has produced, nor the negative impact his comfort with immorality has had on the industry or country.

Then there are the eye-rolling pages that the hypocrite devotes to being influenced by Buddhism. The author even includes a "5 Minute Buddhist" page to help inspire us with The Noble Path ("Right Speech, Right Action," etc.), "Ethical Conduct," and "Not to Destroy Life, Steal, Commit Adultery, Lie or Drink Alcohol." Seriously? Has he not watched his own films and TV shows that are filled with all those things that Apatow appears to be promoting as totally okay in society?

He even tries to claim some of his works are "spiritual." I'm sure you're wondering what would qualify for that--Bridesmaids? Anchorman? Girls? 40-Year-Old Virgin? He produced the Pete Holmes sitcom where a former Christian home-schooled married man catches his wife in bed with another guy and starts to become a crass standup that bedhops around New York City. You know--the one with full-frontal male nudity in the pilot and the star slowly losing his faith to become like every other heathen comedian. Wow, inspiringly spiritual, right?

The author even includes a few totally unnecessary swipes at conservatives ("Republicans want to create laws to make it harder to vote") and especially Donald Trump (Judd wrote anti-Trump jokes for Obama). I guess the idea of morality and enforcing laws in order to make the country safer for everyone is something Apatow objects to.

But this also made me realize he's a lot more like Trump than he'd want to admit. Both love to take credit for things others came up with, self-promote beyond reason, and use wife or daughters in a creepy sexualized way. Judd's dedication to his family would normally be admirable, but he fails to go beyond them being an extension of his ego-boosting to promote moral family messages in his works.

This book makes me long for the good old days where people were truly funny and had a sense of propriety instead of this modern envelope-pushing where blue language and dangling penises are thought to be the height of humor. It's ironic that Apatow mentions Jerry Seinfeld inspiring him because the two comedians could not be farther from each other in content. And it's hard to take Apatow seriously when he thinks one of the funniest recent things he has produced is the horrible Bros movie with Billy Eichner.

Having so many self-praising myopic pages prove this guy is at least half of a "comedy nerd"--it's just the humorous part that's he is missing.

[Erik Prime · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination career retrospective, memoir and scrapbook that chronicles every step of the accomplished comedian’s journey in Hollywood and beyond. It chronicles his early years in high school and college as a driven wannabe-comedian, his first jobs as a sit-com writer and screenwriter, all the way through his stints as director of such hit movies as 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up and his more recent focus on documentaries.

The book contains thousands of photographs, signed postcards and other memorabilia. To put in in the author’s own words, “I’ve been a hoarder since I was a kid…I’m 57 years old now and have thrown away almost nothing…I often say to my family, ‘The second I’m no longer alive, you have my permission to put it all in a dumpster.’…I did think it would be pleasant for a certain type of person to see all these things assembled somewhere before that happened.”

Many of the anecdotes are laugh-out-loud funny. Apatow’s story about Robert DeNiro muttering “cheese” under his breath whenever he poses for a photograph is hilarious. He also includes such interesting content as an insult-laden email argument between himself and That 70’s Show creator Mark Brazill.

[Lee Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Judd Apatow is a very smart and funny writer and producer. I love a lot of his work (including Freaks and Geeks, Trainwreck) and I hate an equal proportion of his work, most notably Bridesmaids. This is a great compendium of photos, magazine articles, and reminiscences of his entire career.

My favorite page is one where he talks about his friendship with Steve Higgins (SNL, Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon). He says that in the ‘80s Midwestern comedians would hang out at an apartment shared by Steve, Dave Higgins, and Dave Allen, aka The Higgins Boys and Gruber. I went to school with Steve and Dave Higgins and have met Dave Allen. I love that one of the photos of guys in their twenties hanging out includes another Iowa comic I love, Jake Johanssen.

[J R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the October 28, 2025 release of the book by Judd Apatow, Comedy Nerd. I first learned about this book when he was on Stephen Colbert on October 28, 2025. Writer, director and producer Judd Apatow, who admits to owning seven storage units full of showbiz memorabilia, writes about the comics and performers who shaped his childhood.

Apatow mentioned a YouTube video about writing that is a two part interview with David Milch about, The Idea of The Writer which was interesting to watched

I never realized the amount of Apatow’s body of work he had contributed to or wrote and directed. He’s not only talented but extremely diverse in his knowledge of comedy and its history.

Good Read Indeed

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an anecdote in here where PT Anderson tells Judd to make one of his movies shorter to tell a tighter story. That applies here. A great collection of photos and a fun book to flip through, but Apatow really doesn't leave a single professional stone unturned here and it gets to be a bit much as far as being a 'good read' goes. I'd call it overly self-indulgent if the proceeds weren't going to charity.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judd Apatow’s a funny guy. He’s like the Cameron Crowe of comedy- writing to his comedic idols for signed photos then turning his ideas into a vast comedic career. Nice book,not much text, nor enough I.D.ing photo-subjects.

[Lindsay]

This is fun to read/page through, even though I’d have organized it differently. It would benefit from some chronology and an index. There are also some typos, but this does not seem like it was edited by anyone.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely curated scrapbook of an influential comedian (though the typographical layout made it difficult to physically read). Occasionally self-absorbed, but often warranted.

MS: Apatow includes a heated email exchange from a colleague accusing him of joke theft. Apatow handles it in stride.

[Eva]

Started this because of one particular movie (that had a mere 3 pages devoted to it…) but LOVED it. Right up my alley and I didn’t realize just how many Judd Apatow things I’ve watched and rewatched over and over

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough history of Judd Apatow’s enormous contributions to modern comedy and also great lessons on comedy, writing in general and also life. The pictures are terrific but it’s the writing within that makes it a must own for comedy fans and artists of all types. Loved it!

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly pics with some short biographical stories/life advice.

[Lori Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

He writes it, I read it. He directs or produces it, I see it. His writing style is effortless and very enjoyable to me. Can’t wait for the next thing Judd!

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading through and reminding myself of Apatow’s work. Lots of fun pictures and articles. I definitely finished with a positive view and inspired by his work ethic.

[Kay Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! Judd Apatow is a such a prolific writer, producer and director. This book was a great peak at his genius and life.

[Sydnie Painter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong believer that everything we have today that’s funny, is because of Judd Apatow.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Craigtator · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rarely executed scrapbook autobiography. A one star demerit for being self-absorbed, even for an autobiography.

[Dave the Rave · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressive scrapbook of Judd's career progression from his Long Island high school radio station through early struggles to the highest levels of the comedy profession! His myriad accomplishments are all laid out here chronologically in a delightfully colorful presentation! Recommended to all lovers of comedy and celebrity!

[Jen Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. He starts by saying he’s a hoarder and I felt like the book could’ve used a good edit. Lots of behind the scenes pictures to skim through.