Judd Apatow Reveals The NSFW Criss Angel Joke The Studio Made Him Pull From Get Him To The Greek
Some jokes are over the line.
Making a comedy in the studio system has to be a push-and-pull of negotiations regarding what jokes can be made, and which ones have to land on the cutting room floor. With regards to the new comedy Bros starring Billy Eichner in the lead, so many of the jokes are rooted in pop culture, and take aim at everyone from Debra Messing to Garth Brooks. This is part of the reason why Bros is being referenced alongside some of the best romantic comedies of our generation, and is also receiving so many positive reviews. Part of the reason why Bros so successfully navigates the choppy waters of studio politics is because producer Judd Apatow and director Nicholas Stoller have been down this road so many times before, and have hilarious stories to tell regarding the process.
Before helming Bros, Nicholas Stoller cut his teeth on two Neighbors movies, the classic breakup film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Russell Brand’s Get Him to the Greek. His experiences with adult comedies taught him how the MPAA feels about genitalia, which led Judd Apatow to relay this very funny and awkward story about a Criss Angel joke they almost included in Greek. Stoller and Apatow appeared on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast and told us:
Criss Angel is an extremely popular magician and a Las Vegas icon. He’s usually known as The Mindfreak, and he almost got his own movie back in the day. So including him in a joke because the location of the scene was Vegas makes sense. Angel has been active on the scene since 1994, so audiences in the theater for Get Him to the Greek in 2010 would have recognized him and laughed along at the punchline. Though, as Judd Apatow notes, he’s not essential to the laugh in this case.
Maybe not Gabe Kaplan, but we get the idea, Judd Apatow. As was the case with Get Him to the Greek, there are more than enough jokes in Bros that leaving a few of them out of the final cut doesn’t affect the finished product. Billy Eichner spoke about some of the sex scenes that he wrote into the movie, while co-star Luke Macfarlane opened up about why his Hallmark Movie fans will enjoy what they see in Bros now that it’s in theaters. We’ll see how the comedy does in theaters during its opening weekend, compared to other upcoming 2022 movies that are heading to multiplexes in the weeks to come.
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Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.