February 10, 2022
Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Lesli Linka Glatter today announced that Judd Apatow will be back to host the 74th Annual DGA Awards, and Beth McCarthy-Miller has been appointed as Awards Chair for the event, which will take place on March 12, 2022 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.
“What makes the DGA Awards so very special is that it is recognition by one’s peers; camaraderie in celebrating excellence in our craft, and our DGA teams; as well as the special evening we share together as a storytelling family. And more than any other year, we could really use some laughs,” said Glatter. “There is no host that hits all these notes more perfectly than leading director, comedian, writer and industry force, the incredible Judd Apatow. We couldn’t be more grateful that he’s returning to the DGA Awards stage. And behind the scenes, when it comes to all things live and comedy, it doesn’t get better than Beth McCarthy-Miller. With this powerhouse team on board, it’s sure to be a fun-filled evening.”
“I am so excited to host again as part of my ONGOING campaign for the Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Apatow.
“I feel so lucky to be asked by one of my all-time favorite directors, Lesli Linka Glatter, to be a part of this incredible night celebrating the great work that all of my colleagues have done this year,” said McCarthy-Miller. “And I will do my best to explain to Judd that hosting in no way gets you a Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Previously, Apatow hosted the 70th DGA Awards in 2018 and the 72nd DGA Awards in 2020.
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow is one of the most sought-after comedic minds in the industry—having directed, produced, and written many of the biggest comedy films and hit TV shows of the last two decades.
Apatow's next feature is the Netflix comedy, The Bubble, which he directed, produced, and co-wrote with Pam Brady. The star-studded cast includes Karen Gillan, Keegan-Michael Key, Maria Bakalova, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Pedro Pascal, and David Duchovny. The Bubble follows a group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempting to film a movie. Apatow is also co-directing, with Michael Bonfiglio, and producing the HBO Documentary Films two-part George Carlin documentary.
Upcoming, he is producing the romantic comedy, Bros, for Universal starring, and co-written by, Billy Eichner, set for release on September 30, 2022. The film follows two gay men with commitment problems attempting a relationship and is the first major studio film to feature an all LGBTQ+ principal cast. Apatow is also producing a semi-autobiographical comedy about writers and comedians Kenny and Keith Lucas (The Lucas Bros.) and their lives as identical twins in Newark, New Jersey, in which they will star and also co-write.
In June 2020, Universal Pictures released Apatow’s most recent feature, The King of Staten Island. The film starring Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei and Bill Burr, was inspired by events from Davidson’s own life. Apatow directed and produced the film, and co-wrote the script alongside Davidson and Dave Sirus.
In addition to film and television, Apatow gathered journal entries, photographs and essays for an intimate portrait of his mentor and legendary stand-up comic, Garry Shandling to create It’s Garry Shandling’s Book, a testament to the lasting impact Shandling had not only on Apatow personally but in the world overall. Published by Random House, the book expands on Apatow’s HBO documentary The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. The documentary, which released March 2018 won Apatow the 2018 Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Apatow also authored, Sicker in the Head, an all-new collection of honest, hilarious, and enlightening conversations with some of the most exciting names in comedy, a follow-up to his New York Times best-seller Sick in the Head, as well as, edited the collection I Found This Funny.
In television, Apatow executive produced the highly acclaimed Crashing on HBO, which starred comedian Pete Holmes in a semi-autobiographical look at his life and career. He also served as the co-creator of Netflix’s Love, which is streaming the complete series on Netflix, and executive produced the multi-award-winning series Girls, Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, The Ben Stiller Show and The Larry Sanders Show. His Netflix comedy special Judd Apatow: The Return, marked his comeback to the stage after a 25-year hiatus.
Apatow directed the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, This is 40, and Trainwreck. He produced the Academy Award®-nominated The Big Sick and Bridesmaids, as well as, Superbad, Pineapple Express,Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Popstar.
Apatow lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Leslie Mann, and their daughters Maude and Iris.
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Like any talented director, Beth McCarthy-Miller has impeccable timing. One of the hottest directors working in television today, she began her career at MTV at the most opportune time— just as the channel was diving into an ambitious original-programming initiative—directing such shows as MTV Unplugged, Half Hour Comedy Hour, The Ben Stiller Show, MTV Video Music Awards, and numerous high-profile concerts, including The Eagles: Hell Freezes Over. “I was the luckiest girl in the world,” she said of those early days. While still at MTV, she launched Jon Stewart’s first late night talk show, which, after three seasons, got picked up for syndication. When that show was canceled, she thankfully received a call from Saturday Night Live, and her background in live television events, music videos, comedy, talk and news shows helped her follow in the footsteps of the show’s longtime director, Dave Wilson, and guide the program into a new era. As a young woman and only the third director coming onto the scene of a twenty-year- old show in 1995, she earned the respect of SNL veterans through her extremely high standards and attention to detail as well as her overall drive to “create action.” McCarthy-Miller went on to direct SNL for 11 seasons, working with some of the most popular comedic talent in film and TV today and countless actors and high-profile celebrities. During her tenure, she found time to land such plum directing jobs as two Superbowl half-time shows, America: A Tribute to Heroes, the post-9/11 telethon for which she received one of her four Directors Guild of America Awards, and various shows including the original pilot for RENO:911 and MAN-UP. Since her departure from SNL in 2007, Beth has primarily directed multiple episodes of numerous sitcoms from Modern Family, and The Good Place to Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99 and 30 Rock, the NBC sitcom created by her onetime SNL colleague Tina Fey, and the show which won her several nominations and a Directors Guild Award in 2014. McCarthy-Miller has been fortunate enough to be the “go-to” director on several long standing and new sitcoms, and has also spent some time working on more dramedy projects like House of Lies and Californication for Showtime, Veep for HBO, for which she earned a DGA Award in 2018, and the critically acclaimed, award-winning Netflix series The Kominsky Method. She has also executive produced and launched various specials and series including The Comedy Awards, and Important Things with Demetri Martin for Comedy Central and Lip Sync Battle for Spike/ Paramount TV. Always enjoying the challenges of live television, McCarthy-Miller directed the hugely successful live, 3-hour broadcast of The Sound of Music starring Carrie Underwood, Stephen Moyer, and an A-list group of Broadway’s elite. She also earned a Clio for directing the live commercial for The Greatest Showman. McCarthy-Miller continues to tackle the live event arena with directing performances like Adele: Live in NY for NBC and Bill Maher: Live in Oklahoma for HBO, both of which earned her multiple award nominations.
She has also helmed multiple TV pilots including Great News and Bob Hearts Abishola, a series she continues to direct across multiple episodes, as well as executive produce.
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