Bill Hader is well known as the most generous “laugher” in comedy. But when he’s talking about his increasingly dark HBO series ‘Barry,’ those laughs come with a razor sharp edge. In this episode, the ‘Saturday Night Live’ alum goes deep on the “dumb idea” that fuels his hitman character in the long-awaited third season and reflects on his anxiety-filled SNL experience, why he and John Mulaney never made that rumored Stefon movie, the specific genius of ‘Documentary Now!’ and why he couldn’t stop laughing at Paul Rudd’s final ‘Mac and Me’ prank on the final week of ‘Conan.’ 

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Rhea Seehorn may be best known for playing the very serious Kim Wexler opposite Bob Odenkirk on ‘Better Call Saul,’ which premiered its highly anticipated final season this week. But for the first 15 years or so of her acting career, she couldn’t break out of the “sitcom” box. In this episode, the actress opens up about getting “pigeonholed” in the comedy world, fighting to get the role that transformed her career, and then proving that she can still be hilarious by going toe-to-toe with Julia Louis-Dreyfus on ‘Veep.’ Plus, Seehorn teases season six of ‘Better Call Saul,’ including what it’s been like to have Bob Odenkirk back on set after his heart attack, how she feels about Tony Dalton’s Lalo surviving last season’s finale and what those finger guns were all about. 

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This episode was originally published on October 1st, 2021.

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Craig Robinson spent years stealing scenes in movies like ‘Knocked Up,’ ‘Pineapple Express,’ and ‘This Is the End’ and on TV—most memorably as Darryl on ‘The Office’—before scoring his first major lead role in ‘Killing It,’ a new streaming series that lands on Peacock this week. In this episode, Robinson talks about the challenges of working with live snakes in the new show and looks back on highlights from his career, including trying not to laugh opposite Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, why he’s glad he didn’t know Leslie Mann was Judd Apatow’s wife while filming ‘Knocked Up,’ singing a duet with Rihanna in ‘This Is the End’ and a lot more.

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It has now been more than 20 years since Stephen Merchant and his comedy partner Ricky Gervais changed TV comedy forever with their original British version of ‘The Office.’ Now, after co-starring with Gervais in ‘Extras’ and creating his own HBO comedy series ‘Hello Ladies,’ Merchant is back with ‘The Outlaws,’ a surprisingly intense crime thriller—with plenty of laughs throughout—that co-stars Christopher Walken and just landed on Amazon Prime Video. In this episode, Merchant talks about creating that series with an ex-convict and how they got Walken to paint over an original Banksy piece in the finale. He also tells stories about the early days of ‘The Office,’ what he thought about the even more successful American version, his complicated relationship with Gervais and a lot more. 

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Judd Apatow has spent much of his career trying to illuminate the deep emotional core of humankind through comedy. Now, after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, he just wants to “make people happy.” In a return appearance for the 150th episode of this podcast—taped before everything that went down at the Oscars—Apatow talks about why he decided to go for “hard jokes” in his new Netflix movie ‘The Bubble’ and shares his unvarnished thoughts on everything from his daughter Maude’s performance on ‘Euphoria’ to the Pete Davidson-Kanye West feud to his upcoming George Carlin documentary to his comedian friends who “can’t handle” criticism and a lot more.

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In this preview of our 150th episode featuring the return of Judd Apatow, dropping next Tuesday, the director of ‘Knocked Up,’ ‘This Is 40,’ and the upcoming ‘The Bubble’ on Netflix addresses all of those ‘Euphoria’ fans who just found out that star Maude Apatow has “some director” father.

Subscribe to ‘The Last Laugh’ now to hear our full conversation when it’s released next Tuesday, March 29th. 

Follow Judd Apatow on Twitter @juddapatow and Instagram @juddapatow

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Buy Judd Apatow’s new book ‘Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy’

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After bursting onto the comedy scene at just 14 years old nearly two decades ago as George Michael Bluth on ‘Arrested Development’—followed by the box office hit ‘Superbad’ and Best Picture nominee ‘Juno’ in quick succession—Michael Cera has been laying pretty low of late. So his latest gig as Amy Schumer’s love interest in the comedian’s new semi-autobiographical Hulu series ‘Life & Beth’ is kind of a big deal. In this episode, Cera explains why he said yes to his first regular TV role since ‘Arrested Development’ and opens up about how he “freaked out” when he suddenly became super famous at such a young age. 

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From his breakthrough gig as a writer for Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth’ to his breakout role as Walter the Lovebug on the new spin-off ‘Human Resources,’ Brandon Kyle Goodman has a lot to say about what it means to be Black and gender-nonconforming in comedy right now. In this bonus episode, Goodman opens up about how he knew his only path to pop culture success would be writing for himself, reveals how his own coming out story came to life on ‘Big Mouth’ and shares his reaction to Netflix’s handling of the Dave Chappelle debacle. 

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“The pandemic was so long I transitioned,” River Butcher jokes near the top of his impressive new half-hour special ‘A Different Kind of Dude.’ It’s the comedian’s way of reintroducing himself to the comedy world and addressing the reality of his personal evolution since breaking into the stand-up scene nearly a decade ago. In this episode, Butcher discusses the unique challenges of being a trans comic in a moment of widespread anti-trans comedy and breaks down how he uses humor to combat hate. Butcher also opens up about his public divorce from longtime comedy partner Cameron Esposito and what it was like to be one of the only comedians to ever perform stand-up on ‘Ellen.’ 

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Taylor Tomlinson started performing stand-up at church shows when she was just 16 years old. Still just 28 years old, she is one of the fastest rising stars in the comedy scene, premiering her first hour-long special “Quarter-Life Crisis’ on Netflix in March of 2020 and now dropping her second Netflix hour ‘Look at You’ this week. As Tomlinson breaks down in this episode, she had to make a hard break from her religious upbringing to be accepted into the mainstream comedy world, trading in her “clean” material for jokes with a “darker” edge. 

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This episode was originally published on September 28th, 2021.

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