At the top of so many comedian’s list of heroes of the genre is Steve Martin, that wild and crazy guy who brought the absurd into living rooms and movie theaters thanks to brilliant albums and flicks like The Jerk. In that nearly endless list is Judd Apatow, who was such an admirer of Martin that, as an adolescent, he stalked him relentlessly.
When he was 12, Apatow got wind of where Steve Martin lived, and so found his way to the curb one day. Recounting the story in Interview Magazine, Apatow said, “He was outside washing his car or something and I asked him for an autograph and he said, ‘No, I don’t sign autographs at my house.’ And then I said, ‘Well, will you sign it in the street?’”
Steve Martin has a history of being impersonal with autograph hounds, once handing out cards that read, in type: “This certifies that you have had a personal encounter with me and that you found me warm, polite, intelligent and funny.” So this is really no surprise – but Apatow was having none of it. “I go home and I write him this letter to be funny, but I am kind of annoyed. ‘Dear Steve, I’m your biggest fan, but you treat your fans like garbage. You wouldn’t live in that house if I didn’t buy all of your records and go to all your movies. So if you don’t send me an apology, I’m going to send your address to Homes of the Stars and you’re going to have tour buses passing by 24 hours a day.’ And then I put it in his mailbox, which is the ultimate stalker move, no stamp. Six months later, he sends me an autographed book of [Martin’s 1979 book] Cruel Shoes. And in it he wrote ‘To Judd, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize I was speaking to the—underlined three times—Judd Apatow, 1980.’”
Judd Apatow and Steve Martin have never formally worked together on the big screen, but the director did manage to rope in Martin for a portion of Vanity Fair’s Comedy Issue back in 2012, which would be one hell of a thing to tell a pre-teen Apatow. Both have also separately contributed to online courses series MasterClass, both, naturally, on comedy.
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