Seth Rogen, Jason Segel say Judd Apatow shouted about semen on set

Seth Rogen and Jason Segel have revealed some comical verbal ejaculations they recalled filmmaker Judd Apatow shouting on set in the past.

Ahead of the 2025 Emmy nominations, the Apatow alums teamed up for a new interview reflecting on current TV comedy projects like The Studio and Shrinking, and they didn’t hold back when it came to joking about past interactions with the director.

Rogen confirmed that Apatow has told him to act with “less semen, more emotion” in a scene, while Segel quipped that the filmmaker once told him the opposite: “Less emotion, more semen,” he said in a new Hollywood Reporter roundtable discussion.

When Nobody Wants This star Adam Brody inquired, “Is the semen referring to, like, dick jokes?” Rogen confirmed.

“I think that was code for, like, less dick jokes, more on story emotionally, basically, which is a good note to get,” the 40-Year-Old Virgin star said. “Judd would also just scream ‘Booooo’ from the other room sometimes if he didn’t like what we were doing.”

Segel, who first worked with Apatow on the TV series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, then remembered, “He once screamed at me, ‘Every time you laugh [during a scene], it costs me thousands of dollars!'”

Rogen said he was thankful for a piece of advice that Apatow gave him, too.

“He also told me the only way you’re going to make it is if you write your own material,” Rogen reflected. “But the best advice I ever got was from an ex-girlfriend who said, ‘You should never take parts that another actor could do.’ She’s like, ‘You’re a weird guy. Lean into it. Only take things that you can’t imagine someone else playing.'”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Apatow for comment.

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Rogen and Segel have long worked with Apatow on a variety of projects. In addition to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Rogen also appeared in Apatow-produced or -directed movies like Anchorman, Knocked Up, Superbad, Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express, with Apatow even appearing on screen as himself in the Rogen-produced film The Disaster Artist.

Following the aforementioned TV shows, Segel teamed with Apatow for the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, (Segel and starred in the film, while Apatow produced), as well as The Five-Year Engagement and This Is 40.