In short
Podcast Summary: In Depth With Graham Bensinger - Judd Apatow’s Best Advice: Overdeliver. Don’t be a d!*k | Forward Progress
Episode Overview In this episode, Graham Bensinger interviews acclaimed filmmaker and comedian Judd Apatow. The discussion revolves around Apatow's work ethic, personal struggles, and advice for aspiring professionals in the comedy industry.
Key Themes and Insights
Work Ethic and Overdelivering
- Inadequacy and Hard Work: Apatow reflects on a feeling of inadequacy except for his dedication to hard work in comedy. He emphasizes that hard work provides a sense of control and safety.
- Overdelivering: His mantra for success is to “overdeliver” on expectations. He believes that by exceeding what is asked, people will want to collaborate with you.
Balancing Work and Personal Life
- Shifting Focus: As Apatow aged, he realized the importance of balancing work with personal life responsibilities, such as picking up his children from school.
- Managing Time: He shares that early in his career, he worked long hours but learned to condense his work schedule as he prioritized family time, shifting to a more structured workday.
Mental Health and Catastrophic Thinking
- Coping Mechanisms: Apatow acknowledges his tendency to think catastrophically, a habit stemming from childhood, which often leads to anxiety and distraction.
- Therapy’s Role: He discusses how therapy and hypnotherapy have helped him explore and manage these thought patterns, although he admits the struggle to maintain mental peace is ongoing.
The Challenges of Show Business
- Pressure and Paranoia: Apatow discusses the pressures of the entertainment industry, mentioning that a constant focus on potential disasters can be unhealthy but also drives success in show business.
- Learning to Let Go: He highlights the difficulty of leaving work-related worries at the door when returning home.
Key Takeaways
- Professional Advice: Apatow’s advice for success in any field is centered around the principles of hard work and being dependable.
- Balance is Essential: Finding a balance between professional aspirations and personal responsibilities is crucial as one navigates through life stages.
- Mental Health Awareness: Understanding and addressing mental health struggles is important, especially in high-pressure professions like comedy and entertainment.
Conclusion This episode provides a candid look at Judd Apatow's journey, offering insights into his work ethic, personal challenges, and valuable advice for aspiring comedians. The discussion is both entertaining and thought-provoking, emphasizing the importance of hard work, balance, and mental health.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOOverdelivering in Comedy
1:13 to 2:03
Judd discusses how working hard and overdelivering has shaped his career.
“You've said before, I used to always feel inadequate in every way except my ability to work hard enough to succeed in comedy.”
Balancing Work and Life
2:06 to 4:45
Judd shares insights on balancing work demands with personal life and mental health.
“How many hours did you find yourself working and how over the years have you found that impact either health or personal life?”
Therapy and Personal Growth
4:48 to 5:34
Judd explains how therapy and hypnotherapy have impacted his life.
“How have you found going to a therapist and hypnotherapist helping?”
Transcript
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1:06Judd Apatow:Hope you enjoyed the clip. This week, Judd Apatow. You've said before, I used to always feel inadequate in every way except my ability to work hard enough to succeed in comedy. How so?
1:24Graham Bensinger:I just think that there was something about comedy that made me feel safe because I always connected like, oh, if you just work hard at this, you'll be okay. So if someone says, I need 10 jokes, in my head, I thought, oh, I can write them 100 jokes. And then they'll like me and then I can keep working. So they always felt like there was some control in the work that would support me. because I was always willing to over deliver and I always tell that when people you know ask me for advice I always say don't be a dick over deliver and then people will want you around.
2:06Judd Apatow:How many hours did you find yourself working and how over the years have you found that impact either health or personal life?
2:16Graham Bensinger:Well when you're young that's that's that's all there is you You're just, I mean, you don't think about anything but working. And then as you get older, you have to balance. If we're talking about this interview and you say, I need this many hours, I'm like, I only have this many hours because I have to pick up my kid from school at 5 o 'clock. And you're just trying to figure out what a balance is, where my day might have been 8 or 9 o 'clock until 1.30 in the morning. now I think okay I gotta fit my day into 8 30 to 4 30 and so that I can be a normal human being and it's hard because sometimes you have more work than there are hours or the work is distracting because if something's going wrong you might go home and it's still in your head and so you have to learn how to let it go when you walk through the doors and and get home and if you're upset or like you just made a movie and you think this one may not be working sometimes it's hard to just drop it and but you you spend your life trying to figure out how to be sane and how to how to have some sense of perspective about what's important what's not important well you've also
3:27Judd Apatow:said you'll pretend to be a very positive person but you're anything but in your head well in my
3:33Graham Bensinger:in your head sometimes like you know i have a problem where i'm always like i'm just my head races I'm just like thinking I think some of that is from childhood where you know you're like a catastrophic thinker so for me one of the reasons why I do a decent job but what I do is I'm always thinking if something went wrong what would it be and I try to do something that prevents it but that's a terrible way to think for life because then you're not in the moment you're always in a disaster like even now last night I just saw this thing on the news is that they think there's gonna be a big earthquake in LA soon.
4:10Graham Bensinger:Like all roads lead to a bad earthquake, potentially like in the next month. So I'm just like, okay, where's the earthquake food? Where's the water? You know, do my kids know where to go? You know, and I can spin that out. But I might be spinning 30 of those, some work, some home, and my head is just trying to prevent problems, which is very unhealthy, but in a weird way in show business, it makes you succeed. So it's tricky.
4:45Judd Apatow:And you've been open about this before. How have you found going to a therapist and hypnotherapist helping? Yeah.
4:52Graham Bensinger:Well, it helps you understand all of it. And I don't know how much of it has worked. I mean, if I go through my journals and read what I was writing, you know, in the early 90s, it's almost exactly what I wrote yesterday. In terms of how I feel, what I'm struggling with, what I'm trying to do. I hope it's helped. I guess it probably has. But, you know, it's a lifelong struggle to be sane. It's a lifelong struggle to just find a way to be peaceful and to be a nice person and to not beat up on yourself or be a nightmare to other people.
5:33Judd Apatow:That's it for now. But if you're hungry for more In-Depth with Graham Bensinger interviews, head over to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12-plus years. Thanks again for listening.
5:59Judd Apatow:against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then, Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in. With a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles, you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip-off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at athleticbrewing.com.
6:41Judd Apatow:Your beer, fit for all times.
From the publisher
Judd Apatow on his mentality towards comedic work, his best advice for aspiring professionals and the pros and cons of constantly thinking in disaster mode.
