Judd Apatow Got Roasted by Don Rickles at 11 Years Old

Judd Apatow is known for making long movies, from comedies like Funny People and This Is 40 that balloon past two hours, to documentaries on his comedy heroes like the two-part, four-hour films about Garry Shandling and George Carlin. So it was somewhat of a shock when he dropped a 20-minute short last month about the lifelong friendship between Don Rickles and Bob Newhart. “I’ve changed,” he jokes. “All my movies are going to be shorts now, no matter the genre.”

In this bonus episode of The Last Laugh podcast—his third appearance on the show—Apatow breaks down what made those two stylistically opposed icons a perfect off-stage pair. He also weighs in on how the art of roasting has evolved over the years, shares memories about his friend and mentor Norman Lear, and explains why he thinks Lena Dunham’s Girls is finally being fully appreciated more than a decade after its premiere.

Speaking from his dressing room shortly before he would go on stage to open for his lifelong friend Adam Sandler in San Antonio this past week, Apatow says it wasn’t long after Rickles died six years ago at the age of 90 that Newhart called him up and asked if he would make a film about their friendship and respective comedy legacies. “‘I don’t want people to forget about Don,’” he remembers Newhart saying.

Read more at The Daily Beast.