Judd Apatow and Bernie Mac on when it's okay to not get laughs
Apatow: "It’s okay to not get some laughs if the ideas are interesting."
Judd Apatow, on Neil Brennan’s The Blocks podcast, on when it’s alright to not get laughs:
It’s okay to not get some laughs if it’s all interesting, if the ideas are interesting. People will stay involved if you have something new or deep to say…That’s what takes me out of that terror of not getting a laugh. Because this might be enjoyable to watch even if some of these things aren’t scoring yet.
Right after, Brennan talks about Bernie Mac’s advice to Godfrey:
You don’t have to kill the whole time. It just has to be you and interesting the whole time.
The way I think about it: If they’re on the edge of their seats, you’ve already accomplished a lot. Ideally, you convert that into laughs. But the worst case scenario is you’ve got them fascinated – and that’s still pretty damn good. And that also buys you time to keep doing the bit until you’ve figured out where to go with it that’s funny.