Judd Apatow is looking back on how Steve Carell ‘s hilarious turn in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy helped launch one of his biggest movies.

During an appearance on The Lamorning After Podcast , the comedy filmmaker revealed that Steve ’s scene-stealing work as Brick Tamland directly inspired The 40-Year-Old Virgin .

“ Carell was so funny that it was blowing everyone’s mind,” he said.

“It was this thing where everyone was killing it, but people were especially shocked at how riotous Steve was being all day with these crazy improvs. And it was just something magical happening with Carell doing Brick.”

At the time, Judd was known for spotting and elevating rising talent, like Jason Segel in Knocked Up before Forgetting Sarah Marshall , and Seth Roge

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