A Comedy Smackdown in the Making? - New York Times (blog)

PARK CITY, Utah— Comedy beef alert! Judd Apatow was serious in his dislike of Ricky Gervais. Or his material at the Golden Globes, at least. On Saturday, when Mr. Apatow hosted the Producers Guild Awards, he took several potshots at Mr. Gervais, according to The Hollywood Reporter, beginning by calling him "mean."

Mr. Apatow, the filmmaker and progenitor of man-boy cinema ("Knocked Up," "40-Year-Old Virgin," went on to criticize Mr. Gervais (who was not present) for his jokes about the weight of Jorge Garcia from "Lost" ("Let's be honest — Ricky Gervais just lost weight. Even now he's four pounds away from not being allowed to do a joke like that. Did he lose weight just to make fat jokes? You think that's how mean he is?") and about the Angelina Jolie-Johnny Depp flop "The Tourist." He defended Tim Allen, another of Mr. Gervais's targets. "(Gervais) made a joke about Tim Allen who was standing next to Tom Hanks," Mr. Apatow said. "Who looks good standing next to Tom Hanks? We all look like a piece of" you-know-what "standing next to Tom Hanks. Warren Buffet would look like a piece of" you-know-what "next to Tom Hanks…. Leave Tim Allen alone."

Mr. Apatow apparently also made good on his promise to use jokes he solicited via Twitter, calling out their authors by name. Courtesy of Hank Layton of Lansing, Kan.: "I want to make this quick. I know we're all worried about our butlers finding and snorting all our coke." From Camille Santochi of Los Angeles: "Inception is really about Hollywood. everyone's constantly trying to ruin your dreams so they can make a buck."

No word from The Hollywood Reporter on how the material played in the room, though Damon Lindelof, a creator of "Lost," liked it – "@JuddApatow is killing at the PGA Awards," he wrote on Twitter – and Mr. Apatow was pleased. "I think it went well but I already feel my normal after show shame," he tweeted to Mindy Kaling, a writer and actor on "The Office."

More recently he defended his own hosting against fans who thought he went to far. "Ricky Gervais doesn't need your protection," he wrote. "He does jokes about celebs but HE is a celeb and doesn't care if people make jokes about his joke."

Got that? Mr. Gervais isn't on Twitter, but the Bagger looks forward to this beef escalating, hip-hop style, into a series of self-released mixtapes and vague threats on live radio interviews, and then being re-enacted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway when they host the Oscars. Maybe Mr. Franco will up the ante with his Suzanne Somers wig.