Apatow's latest: Piecing together a life in comedy

His scrapbook autobiography, 'Comedy Nerd,' covers a career that helped shape 21st century humor

- ROBERT LLOYD

WHEN I was young this is the type of book I wished existed,” writer-director Judd Apatow says.

(CHRISTINA HOUSE Los Angeles Times)

There are many books in the production offices of Judd Apatow — bookshelves full of books in rooms full of bookshelves. All sorts of books. Biographies, photo books, children’s books, essays, stories. Has he read them? “So little,” he says. “But as long as you buy them, that’s 90% of it. As long as I have a lot of books, I’m immortal — you can’t leave the Earth when you have more books to read.”

Apatow has a new book of his own coming out Tuesday, “Comedy Nerd,” following the interview collections “Sick in the Head” and “Sicker in the Head.” It’s a thick, glossy, photo-filled, browsable scrapbook that covers the entirety of a life and career — from fanboy to mogul, as writer, director and producer — that shaped 21st century comedy, encompassing the highlights, the lowlights and the never-lit. (Apatow’s profits after expenses go to Fire Aid, helping those affected by the January wildfires, and the literacy charity 826 National.)

You've just finished a documentary on Mel Brooks, with your partner Michael Bonfiglio, and you’re working on another about Norm Macdonald. Did they whet your whistle for the book?

I love having the opportunity to tell the story of these people's careers but, more important, their lives. Mel Brooks is the reason why so many of us went into comedy, is why young Jewish boys thought it was possible to get into show business. So to get to talk to him for 10 hours about what it felt like to be Mel Brooks, what was it like to be in World War II and then become a good TV writer and struggle in Hollywood and then figure out your approach to comedy.

I was a big fan of this “Saturday Night Live” scrapbook when I was a kid, because I loved the show and wanted to know more.