Tanya Mosley

Our managing producer is Sam Brigger.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman.

Our digital media producer is Molly Sivinesper.

Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson.

Thea Chaloner directed today's show.

With Terry Gross, I'm Tanya Mosley.

This is Fresh Air.

I'm Tanya Mosley.

If you've laughed at a comedy in the past 30 years, there's a good chance my guest had something to do with it.

Judd Apatow directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Trainwreck.

He produced Superbad, Bridesmaids, and Anchorman.

He executive produced the cult classic Freaks and Geeks, which launched the careers of Seth Rogen and Jason Segel.

And he's written for comedy legends like Gary Shandling and Roseanne Barr.

And he's mentored a young Lena Dunham, executive producing all six seasons of Girls.

But here's the thing about Judd Apatow.

He's also a collector.

Since he was 10 years old, autographs from his idols sealed in plastic, letters he wrote as a teen to and from his favorite comedians, photographs from every movie and TV show, and

Scripts covered in notes and journals, documenting every high and devastating low.

Now at 57, he's letting us get a glimpse of his collection, which he compiled in a new book called Comedy Nerd, A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures.

It's really unlike any Hollywood memoir I've ever read.