How esteemed is Judd Apatow right now? Apparently enough that he can manage to get blow job jokes — visual and verbal ones — on national television. The new trailer for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which Apatow produced, premiered this week on Access Hollywood, and has the most obvious fellatio gestures I’ve ever seen permitted on anytime NBC, let alone pre-primetime NBC. Did nobody at NBC/Universal (which is also distributing the movie) notice? Or did they think the old ladies who watch Access Hollywood wouldn’t notice? Well, the execs didn’t really have to worry, because if you actually look at the version of the trailer shown on the air, it ends before the blow job jokes. Regardless, people who watch the show may have decided to go to the Access Hollywood website and watch the trailer again. This time wondering what’s so funny about a newly acquired necklace.
So, did nobody at the MPAA notice or get the jokes? This trailer may not be put on television in its entirety, but it’s certainly going to be playing to theater audiences comprised of all ages. I guess in relation to the general content of Apatow’s movies, as well as his R-rated viral videos and red-band trailers, this ad is considered pretty tame.
Eventually Judd Apatow’s schtick will no longer be fresh. But it may continue to be funny, even after the viral marketing backlash. Case in point: this new sketch/advertisement for Walk Hard, which takes Apatow’s viral brand to a mega-meta level. As much as the idea of fake fights involving Apatow and his actors is now a tired concept, the video is hilarious. And as much as Apatow’s self-referential jokes about being self-referential about being self-referential are as obvious as they are mind-wrapping, the video is still hilarious.It helps that this time around, there’s more funny guys involved and more going on at once. It’s not simply funny to watch Craig Robinson chasing after Judd Apatow because he’s pissed about being in another one of his “fucking commercials”, but it’s comedic gold to inter-cut it with Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Justin Long realizing they no longer have to talk about Apatow’s movies and can freely discuss their desire to see Michael Clayton.
Funny is funny, regardless of the situation or the motive.
