Anyone who’s followed along with Steve Carell’s career knows that 2004 and 2005 were huge years for him. After working as a correspondent on The Daily Show since 1999, he was cast as Brick Tamland in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, then in the following year, he started playing Michael Scott in The Office, as well as wrote, executive produced and starred in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell’s popularity quickly skyrocketed, and as it turned out, The 40-Year-Old Virgin originated from an A+ comedy sketch that he pitched director Judd Apatow during the making of Anchorman.
Apatow, who both helmed The 40-Year-Old Virgin and co-wrote the script with Carell, shared this information while reflecting on the comedy movie turning 20 years old. Carell already knew Apatow from the latter having produced Anchorman, and it was during that shoot that he was asked to come up with feature ideas. As Apatow recalled to THR:
Steve was so hilarious on set every day while we were making Anchorman. So I just asked him if he had any ideas where he was the lead, and he came to me with a few. The third one was this idea that was based on a sketch he had played around with at Second City but had never completed. The sketch was a man in a poker game, and everyone is telling really filthy stories, and when he tells his story, it’s very clear he’s never had sex before.
Yes, long before Steve Carell was interacting frequently with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, he was part of the Second City comedy troupe, and a classic case of this being a small world, future fellow Daily Show alum Stephen Colbert was his understudy. Carell’s idea of a guy boasting about sexual escapades that never happened didn’t work out as a sketch back then, but over a decade later, it proved prime material for turning into a feature film. We even get that very poker game in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, where Carell’s Andy talks about how a woman’s breast feels like a “bag of sand.”
It’s a good thing Steve Carell mentioned this comedy sketch to Judd Apatow as cameras were rolling on Anchorman, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten one of the best movies of the 2000s. Carell was joined onscreen by Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Romany Malco and Elizabeth Banks, among others. Although The 40-Year-Old Virgin remains the sole time Apatow directed Carell in a movie, the two crossed paths again when the latter produced Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
Stream The 40-Year-Old Virgin with a Prime Video subscription if you feel inclined. Steve Carell’s most recent movie, Mountainhead, can be viewed with an HBO Max subscription, and Apatow’s last comedic directorial effort, The Bubble, is accessible with a Netflix subscription.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
