Would you rather work with someone mediocre who's really easy and kind and fun to deal with,

or would you rather work with a genius as a pain in the ass? I would rather work with a genius.

What does it take to stay emotionally grounded in an industry that is built on ego? Welcome back.

Or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Jermay, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist.

Today's guest is the legendary writer, director, and producer, Judd Apatow,

whose work has helped launch some of the biggest names in comedy.

Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Amy Schumer, Jack Black.

We explore the inner workings of a master of craft. I try to look at each

project as if none of the other projects exist. Having succeeded the last time does not do anything

for you this time. How empathy, vulnerability have shaped his creative process. Having people feel

encouraged that I care about their ideas. So you work on the scene and you

write the scene and you rehearse the scene, but then you don't want to hold it so tight that

something else can't happen. And that's the moment that you never could have thought of in the

writing. I want to encourage you to tune into how Judd is really skilled at staying connected to his

emotions, not being overrun by them.

There's always like a dark, dark side to fighting for what you believe in and behaving in ways

that you're not proud of, sometimes in service to the work, sometimes in service to your ego

and fear that it's going to get screwed up.

Let's jump right into this fantastic conversation. Judd Apatow.

Comedians scare me.

Because I don't know where you're going to go.

Judd, this feels like a long time coming.

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