Pathetic Judd Apatow Panders to Politically Correct Hollywood Crowd: ‘F*ck You, Jerry Lewis’
by John NolteAnd you wonder why Apatow’s overlong, forgettable films are about as edgy as a baby’s pacifier.
While accepting the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy film, “Bridesmaids” producer slammed Jerry Lewis for a sexist remark the legendary comedian once made.
“Jerry Lewis once said that he didn’t think women were funny, so I’d just like to say, with all respect, ‘F*ck you!’” Apatow exclaimed at the end of his speech to cheers from the audience.
Lewis made the comment in 1998 at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. He told an audience during a Q&A session that “I don’t like any women comedians” and “A woman doing comedy doesn’t offend me but sets me back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world.”
With its all female leading cast headed up by co-writer Kristen Wiig, “Bridesmaids” scored critical raves, took in $288 million worldwide and is nominated for three Golden Globes. Though it seems silly to think that there were skeptics, its success proved to many in Hollywood that women can anchor successful broad comedies, not just the romantic comedies and “Sex and the City” films.
Jerry Lewis pushing ninety and this jerk is making his life miserable over a 14 year-old remark?
How ballsy.
Why not just get on his knees and beg for love?
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94 Comments
When are these hollyweirdo's going to get it? I watch very little television and I have seen one movie (Mission Impossible) in the last 7 months because of idiots like Aptow. I bet many who read this are the same.
Judd is a dudd.
Judd speaking at the peoples choice awards. Irrelevant and more irrelevant. Then to pick on an american icon of 90. Ballsy. He must feel soooo proud. Another reason to forgo hollywierd and read a good book.
Jerry Lewis is a quintessential film icon and humanitarian. The other guy is just some guy.
Name- calling and shock profanity has become so natural for the left, they do it without thinking. It has become involuntary, like breathing.
I wonder what Judd will say over the next few decades that someone will drag out long after he says it.
So you don't think Lewis's remark was sexist? It clearly was. In any case Kathernine Heigel lobbed similar accusations at Apatow over Knocked Up feeling that all the women in the film were treated as killjoys and shrews who oppress their male counterparts and dont let them have any fun.
Bridesmaids plainly sucked. The Bridemaid's plot was predictable, are not we tired of movies with a target age of 12. As for Jerry Lewis, he should get paid, since his comedic style was used. I have not seen such a assinine attack at one who's work is stolen since Rupaul verbally assaulted Milton Berle.
Yes. that' very true………lol.
I’d just like to say, with all respect, ‘Judd Apatow is a tasteless, low-class hack.’
Once you start using four letter words what ever the argument is you lost, You should know better Judd. I don't know in what context Jerry Lewis said what he said, but like a lot of things people say gets cherry picked to mean something else. Its to dam bad that things are being reduced to such a crude level.
Same year except I saw War Horse. I watch mostly on line now. pick and choose what I watch and that is it. I tried to watch broadcast TV the other day and turned it off in 10 min.
I don't agree with Lewis' comment. My wife is extremely funny!
That said, when Apatow makes a Nutty Professor of a Geisha Boy or a The Bellboy (the making of the last one itself is amazing), all without a single F-word, he can start throwing insults at old men. Nah, not even then.
And the audience cheered? Bread and circuses.
Yet to see a Judd Apatow flick that I'd ever watch twice.
I like the three Apatow movies I have seen (Superbad, Talladega Nights, Don't Mess With The Zohan). Shame he's a jerk.
40 Year Old Virgin holds up to more than one view. Not sure about the rest though.
What happened to the First Amendment Rights Jerry Lewis was asked a question and he answered it and his opinion offends the Left. Also that comment is 14 years old.
The Left says much worse about people on the Right. Screw these pompous a** holes. Now there is another movie I will not waste money on!!!!!!!!
I'm watching almost no television anymore. I don't feel like I'm missing much.
I didn't need another reason to loathe Apatow (or Bridesmaids). His movies are either marginally amusing or just blatantly unfunny. And they are ALWAYS too damn long. The only one I've ever watched twice is Superbad.
And to any trolls, this isn't even about his politics~ His movies are simply overrated crap. I long for the day when everyone in America finally realizes this…
I'd rather watch a Jerry Lewis movie than a Judd Apatow flick. 'Nuff said.
The only movie of the three that I've seen was "Superbad" and that was because of all the positive reviews that it received, even on some conservative sites. I found the foul-mouthed "Seth" character (Jonah Hill) off-setting and rather creepy but I thought the adventures of Fogell with the two cops rather funny if highly implausible.
Those movies were produced by Apatow but not written or directed by him. His "films" are Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Happy People.
Jesus, so the first amendment doesnt apply to Apatow then and his response? Gotcha.
Who cares? it looks like a very stupid movie. Now FUNNY would be Lewis's classic "the Nutty Professor'.
So you don't think Lewis's remark was sexist? It clearly was." It was also 14 years old. For Apatow to slam Jerry Lewis over a 14-year-old remark at a recent awards ceremony would be like some friend or acquaintance bringing up some embarassing remark that you said years ago at some public gathering in order to generate laughs at your expense. The fact that Katherine Heigl made similar accusations about Judd Apatow shows that Apatow is as big a douche as he's accusing Jerry Lewis of being.
14 years ago: “Jerry Lewis once said that he didn’t think women were funny,
Okay, there’s ‘funny’ and there’s ‘vulgar funny.’
Gracie Allen was funny. Phyllis Diller is funny.
Give a name of a current ‘funny’ woman. Any time in the last 14 years.
If you read the quote, JL didn't say "Women aren't funny". He said, "I don’t like any women comedians..I have a problem with it".
That's called a personal opinion, and each of us used to be free to have one. God d*mn the left are like the Nazis.
Hillary Clinton
Wait, wait, wait, 'funny'–not vulgar funny' !
Not to mention Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.
I have to wonder if the dearth of modern comic actresses isn't due, at least in part, to political correctness. I have to wonder if the PC police would be willing to allow a Gracie Allen or Lucille Ball these days. As is so often the case with successful comedians, their humor relied on laughing at themselves but these days their acts would probably be condemned as demeaning to women and playing into stereotypes.
I don't know WHO suggested that Uncle Miltie go on the 93 MTV VMAs but I hope Berle soon afterward kicked that person's tukus.
He could very well have changed his opinion since then. Or the context could've been distorted, which isn't a big surprise. Either way it's a cheap shot to take at an old guy, any old guy, really.
Lewis gave his opinion, his stated reason was not some blanket statement about women, but his own personal perspective. There was nothing sexist about, it was an opinion, he didn't find women funny.
Uncle Miltie has more to tuck than Ru, as for that suggestion he probally did and lost a shoe in the process.
Lewis didn't say women WERE baby producing machines. He said he can't appreciate them as comediennes because that's how HE thinks of them. You see, Lewis is from a bygone era when women were still proud to be mothers. It wasn't a sexist remark – it was an honest one.
Be that as it may Lews still made a sexist remark. Not uncommon with men from the older generation though. That's just the way a lot of them are
I think Kristen Wiig is funny. I also think Ellen Degeneres is funny. That being said, I just don't find a majority of female comedians funny. That's not "controversial", that's just the truth of my opinion. And if you look at Jerry Lewis' comments, he OBVIOUSLY intended for some of it to be tongue-in-cheek. Saying women are "producing machines that bring babies into the world" was as un-PC in '98 as it is now. The difference is comedians are being actively shut down because of it now. Judd Apatow is just a whiny little, PC nazi b*tch in my opinion.
"Nam62" didn't say he should be prosecuted. He said he wasn't going to see the movies.
Jesus, so the first amendment doesn't apply to Nam62 then and HIS response? Gotcha.
Actually, the most offensive thing of all is Apatow putting his very unfunny and unappealing wife Leslie Mann in nearly every movie he does.
Jerry Lewis stopped being funny when Dean Martin left the act. I respect Jerry Lewis, I think he is a great man. But his comedy required a decent straight man, and when he decided he was a solo act he lost me
"How ballsy."
Modern Hollywood wouldn't know a set resting on their chin. Modern Hollywood has nothing but contempt for their pioneers!!!
There's no gotacha! Apatow is entitled to his opinion but he didn't have to drop the F Bomb to do it. He could have said, "…with all due respect, I think we proved Jerry Lewis wrong." It doesn't have the same impact but sometimes less is more.
No, not really distorted nor has he changed his opinion. He is a man of a different era, that's all.
That's why there were no female comedians on the MDA telethon.
Sexist would be saying that a woman can't do comedy, or should not do comedy. All Lewis said was that he didn't find them funny. If you think that's sexist, then you obviously can't tell the difference. And yes, Apatow is a jerk for calling out a 14 year old remark from a man whose socks Apatow is not fit to fold. I've seen Apatow's "comedies" and can honestly say that Lewis can do comedy, while Apatow would make a comedy seem as funny as a funeral.
LOL, I'm not from the older generation but I cannot get used to a woman doing play-by-play on basketball or football games. Don't know if that makes me sexist or not, but it just doesn't sound right.
Watched it once. It was crap. If you take out all the sex jokes all you got is a guy in an electronics store.
Prog/Libs like Judd Apatow (and "Thay_Live") are like ex-spouses (ex-wives in particular); they have to bring up every "hateful" remark, every "hateful" action, that their ex-spouses said or did to them years ago as "examples" of their ex-spouses' "cruelty" to their friends and family, no matter how long ago it happened. It often backfires, making them look vengeful and petty.
"like" the Nazis? Heck, man, they ARE the Nazis!
You’re right. Self-deprecating humor among comediennes is non-existent. (When was the last time you saw the word comedienne for that matter.) You can really make fun of women? They can’t make fun of themselves. It’s a cultural phenomenon. And I will go so far as to say it’s insecurity. The female culture in America—in the West, (I don’t know anything about comedy in the East) but in the west, you have to be security about yourself to make fun of yourself. Lashing out at other, even in an attempt to be funny, more often than not, is just attention seeking behavior, and it’s not funny.
I'd have to respectfully disagree, And as evidence, here ya go:
The Disorderly Orderly
Who's Minding The Store?
The BellBoy
Visit to a Small Planet
Don't Give Up the Ship
The Nutty Professor
Which Way to the Front?
Own them all, and love them. Better to watch these a hundred times than to watch one piece of trash Apatow "comedy."
The epitome of the "class" of the left . . . accept an award — insult someone.
Apatow couldnt carry Jerry's jockstrap!
I think most of the Hollywood crowd is in their own little bubble – playing to themselves and seeking approval among themselves. I don't think Lewis could care less about what Apatow thinks about him – Lewis has a legacy – Apatow doesn't nor will he.
Well, I do think Apatow is being a jerk. And he's certainly not as funny as Jerry Lewis. Yet, I have to say that I disagree with Jerry Lewis' statement as well. Why, one does not even have to look past actresses Jerry Lewis worked with to find some funny ones. Kathleen Freeman, who played in many of Lewis' movies, was quite funny. And he even hired Glenda Farrell, who was downright hilarious in many movies, in "The Disorderly Orderly".
However, I'm wondering if Jerry Lewis' comment was taken out of context. He's a comedian, and he says a lot of things to be funny that he doesn't really mean.
Fair enough. Guess I haven't seen any Apatow movies.
Me too… Then I remember that she is the Secretary of State, and I start to cry…
Yeah, Jerry Lewis' comment was pretty sexist, especially since the women in his movies often WERE pretty funny.
So I can see a subtle, gender-sensitive artiste like this Apatow fellow being in such dudgeon about it. I mean, it's not as if Lewis ever did anything for charity or anything like that…
Pathetic attempt to make his bones as a liberal character assassin.
"Not uncommon with men from the older generation though. That's just the way a lot of them are"
Spoken with TOTAL ignorance. Thay_Li(v)e just demonstrated his myopic concept of "Life-Before-ME" learned from TV and movie scripts. Never mind that domestic violence is at record numbers, in 2000 25% of women reported being abused. Spouse abuse and respect are polar opposite.
My parents were born at the turn of 1900. They raised their children to share responsibilities equally. Sure there are hard-wired differences. So did their brothers and sisters. That is why we have ALL been married for 30- 40 years to our original spouses.
Thay's ASSUMED Older generation being sexist falls directly in line with the rest of his Fantasy Life gleaned from Movies and TV – titillating, distorted, warped – for entertainment purposes only.
Pay no attention, perhaps the kid will GROW UP – SOMEDAY – but today Thay is a mindless Zombie living in his 'self created Fantasy Life' attempting to have us believe his world functions.
The kid is confused. He has, in his Udopian Mind, obliterated ALL the structural differences that lead directly to job gender assignment, which in turn leads to a comfort with one sex generally taking over a job, baseball, football, boxing etc.
From reading his posts I'd be willing to bet money he admires the Hollywood Types – which in itself demonstrates 'horse blinders', a Theoretical View of reality taken off a Script written merely to provide entertainment for the Masses. Much like the view Hollywood provided during the 1920's and especially the 1930's when scripts were written almost exclusively to get the viewers minds off the Depression that was palpable outside the dark theater, Thay_Li(v)e is a viewer in said theater.
Well there goes the French distribution…
This is unfortunate because Judd Apatow's movies have had a definite streak of conservative values in them (if you look beyond the potty humor). 40-Year Old Virgin: Being a virgin doesn't make you a freak. Superbad: Drunken hookups aren't so good, why not try actual dating. Knocked Up: Take responsibility for your actions and grow up. Bridesmaids: Get some self-respect, stop sleeping with jerks, stop blaming others for your own problems.
He's another one of those Hollywood types who is really a Republican but hasn't realized it yet
Leslie Mann is lovely and hilarious. I remember wondering what had happened to that girl who was in the Cable Guy and George of The Jungle, so sad her career didn't pan out. Then I found out she got married and raised a family, and thought, "Oh, she is doing just fine".
Sounds an awful lot like Apatow's still smarting from Katherine Heigl's critique of Knocked Up as sexist. Well, you all know the old saying, "If you can't laugh at yourself…make fun of other people!" (credit Bobby Slayton)
"There was nothing sexist about it, it was an opinion, he didn't find women funny."
Pamplona are you arguing that opinions cannot be sexist? Forgive me but this doesn't make a bit of sense. Because OF COURSE opinions can be sexist. Just like opinions can be racist. For instance if I were to say, "Maybe it's just me but I don't find black people interesting. Or funny. Or even very bright, for that matter. But that's just my opinion and you're entitled to disagree"
– Well, isn't that opinion kind of racist?
Now, you and I are allowed to HAVE those sorts of opinions. We're even allowed to express them — at the top of our voice if we want to. We live in a wonderful country which guarantees our right to express diverse opinions even when those opinions are as clueless and idiotic as the one I stated above. Or as Jerry Lewis's was. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
But let's not pretend that Lewis's opinions weren't sexist. Because of course they were.
Just like I won't pretend that Judd Apatow wasn't pandering to the insufferably self-righteous, Politically Correct blowhards who make up the majority of Hollywood. Because of course he was.
Nolte's right. It was "fake ballsy" — the most popular brand of testicular fortitude you will find in this town.
Yeah, I have to agree with Argyle on that one. Leslie Mann is beautiful and very funny. That said, I think she is the exception to the rule these days. I hate to say it but there just aren't that many funny women around anymore.
It was honest AND sexist (remarks can be both). But John Nolte's right — Apatow dredging up and crapping on a few idiotic remarks Lewis made 14 years ago was PC pandering of the highest order.
Point taken.
…so if you're a cubicle commando, do you get a helmet? And gun?
That brilliant conservative Dennis Miller said it best: "Why is it that I never find Jerry Lewis funny when he's trying to be funny, but when he's trying to be serious, I think he's hysterical?"
I agree with Miller. I think Lewis's comedies suck. They really really suck. (And yes, even THE NUTTY PROFESSOR is only just okay). What's more, I think Lewis's opinions were definitely sexist. And who in their right mind would argue that opinions can never be sexist, or racist, or pro-life or pro-choice or pro-American or anti-American? Because of course they can be. And I thank GOD I live in a country that guarantees our right to express them.
But Judd Apatow's comedies nauseate me also — in a completely different way.
What's more, Apatow was a smug, insufferable, self-righteous b*stard to dredge up a 14 year old remark and say what he said about Jerry Lewis. John Nolte's right: It was PC pandering of the highest order.
Don't let him hear you say that – libs being called republican or conservative is like holding a cross up to a vampire…or another lib.
C'mon, Nam. That "What happened to the 1st Amendment" nonsense is what the Left resorts to every time WE throw a quote back in THEIR faces. And we're better than that… or should be.
Apatow may be your typical Leftist blowhard and I despise the kind of self-congratulatory, PC pandering he was indulging in regarding Jerry Lewis. That being said, he wasn't advocating for taking away Lewis's right to express himself.
William this is so far off the mark that it isn't even wrong. It's like your assertion exists in a different universe. I despise Tina Fey's politics — I mean I despise them, William — but are you kidding me when you say that "women can't make fun of themselves" — because Tina Fey does it all the time. Watch her (overrated) show 30 ROCK some time and you'll see what I mean: Her humor is based to a large extent on self-deprecation. And so too is Kristen Wiig's humor in BRIDESMAIDS.
And don't misunderstand: I hate what Judd Apatow said the other night every bit as much as you do. John Nolte's right — it was PC pandering of the highest order. But when you come on here suggesting that today's female comics are unwilling to make fun of themselves, my only response to that is, What planet is this man living on?
No one is disputing Lewis's right to his opinion…. least of all Judd Apatow. Everyone has a right to their opinon, and Apatow was just expressing HIS opinion that LEWIS'S opinion was idiotic.
That being said, Lewis's remarks, however clueless, are 14 years old, and Apatow was being a sanctimonious, pandering little jerk to do what he did.
It was definitely a cheap shot.
Nah, Lewis meant it. And his opinion was unreasonable. In fact, he came off like a clueless blowhard. Just like Apatow was being a smug, sanctimonious, twerpy little blowhard too when he quoted the guy in order to diss him.
Moving on…
Wouldn't you say Eve Arden was one of the funniest performers EVER to grace the big or small screen? A brilliant, hilarious, classy lady.
"Wouldn't you say Eve Arden was one of the funniest performers EVER to grace the big or small screen? A brilliant, hilarious, classy lady."
It's rather strange, since I've watched a lot of 1930s-1950s movies, but I don't remember ever seeing anything with Eve Arden in it. I might have to track down a few of her movies now.
filmklassik
No pretending necessary because Lewis's remark/opinion wasn't sexist. If you want to say maybe he has mommy issues, I'd agree on that point.
Lewis was refering to something that is subjective, and in no way can be compared to saying something like "I think all black people aren't very bright".
If that comparison were fair then anyone who doesn't like rap/hiphop is a racist. Don't like Woody Allen's humor, you're anti-semitic. Women who don't like the Three Stooges hate men.
His opinion about women and humor would be no different than his taste in food. It's all subjective.
"If that comparison were fair then anyone who doesn't like rap/hiphop is a racist. Don't like Woody Allen's humor, you're anti-semitic.."
Pamplona that is not a valid comparison and you know it, because Lewis wasn't singling out a SPECIFIC comedienne. He wasn't saying he didn't like — I don't know — Joan Rivers or someone like that. Or Carol Burnett. Or Lucille Ball. Lewis was saying, "Women — ALL women — just aren't funny."
And just to get personal for a second, I happen to despise rap and hip-hop. To me it sounds TERRIBLE, like nails on a chalkboard. But that isn't a racist opinion. However, if I were to stand up and declare, "Black people have no talent for music" — well, to my mind that IS a racist opinion.
See the difference?
Now thanks to the 1st Amendment, Lewis has the right to hold and express any opinion he wants to, and I for one would hate to live in a country that DIDN'T protect one's right to come off sounding like a jackass on occasion. But America does. And Jerry Lewis did.
Apatow, though his comedies have some funny moments, mainly does crude, bottom-of-the-barrel humor type of stuff. Not very hard to do. Never watched Bridesmaids because I know the movie will not match the hype and because I know what to expect from Apatow.
Okay I can't take this seriously; did no one get the irony with Apatow? Admittedly I've only like a handful of the movies he's been attached to, but even I can see the joke wasn't so much about Jerry Lewis but the perception that women aren't funny, which I'll still say is around 95%true anyway.
I know who Jerry Lewis is. Who's this 'tard?
"Jerry Lewis pushing ninety and this jerk is making his life miserable over a 14 year-old remark?"
I see and agree with your point, Mr. Nolte, but I actually have a hard time believing this putz could cause Mr. Lewis any misery beyond the small effort required by Mr. Lewis to scrap him off the bottom of his shoe.
If you express your opinion and some one responds by shouting 'f___ You' in your face, he is not disputing your opinion, he is, in fact, disputing your expression of your opinion.
The great thing about Jerry is that you never know when he's trying to be funny. A recent documentary of him shows him to be the consistent professional showman, but always in control, from the props to the music. I seriously doubt Miller had that kind of control over anything he's done.
Katherine Heigl was complaining because Knocked Up portrayed women as smart, ambitious, responsible , and in control, while men were portrayed as selfish, irresponsible, lazy, arrested adolescents. Which is a sad commentary about the values of her generation.
Leslie Mann smacked her down for it too.
The irony of Bridesmaids is that the breakout star of the movie was Melissa McCarthy who essentially played a man in this "female comedy"
"I seriously doubt Miller had that kind of control over anything he's done."
You may be right. I won't quibble about that. And I don't dispute Lewis is and has always been the consummate professional.
That being said, Miller has made me laugh approximately 12 miillion times over the years. Jerry Lewis, never.
Nah. Everyone on these boards (well, almost everyone) has uttered that phrase at one time or another — either directly in someone's face or (more typically) to some blowhard on TV. In fact it is difficult NOT to use that phrase anytime Piers Morgan comes on.
But that doesn't mean we'd vote to repeal his right to free speech.
"Why not just get on his knees and beg for love?"
There are SO many ways you can go with this…I'm just going to set it down and walk away….
…away…
Yet to see a Judd Apatow flick, Period.
All SUCKED.
NO!
Ya think he might want to?
Hmm. Lot of vitriol there. Like there's dish on this woman I don't know about.
Did Eve Arden break up your grandparents' marriage or something…?
He probably would, and then vomit on it, and think that was hysterical, and use it in his next movie!
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