Judd Apatow will return to host the 76th Annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards, which will take place on February 10, at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Also returning as DGA Awards chair is Beth McCarthy-Miller.
This will be Apatow’s fifth visit to the DGA Awards podium, as he previously hosted the 70th DGA Awards in 2018, the 72nd DGA Awards in 2020, the 74th DGA Awards in 2022, and the 75th Anniversary DGA Awards in 2023.
McCarthy-Miller is now in her third consecutive year as DGA Awards chair. She said, “I’m honored to return as Awards Chair and to be a part of such a stellar night that highlights the amazing work my colleagues have done this year. I’m thrilled that Judd will return as our host, keeping our ceremony grounded in connection, camaraderie, and, comedy.”
Apatow said, “It’s an honor to be hosting the DGA Awards for the fifth time. Just three more times and I’ll be eligible for health insurance.”
Apatow
Apatow is one of the most prolific 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. Most recently, Apatow produced Please Don’t Destroy’s buddy comedy Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. In March 2022, Netflix released the comedy feature The Bubble which Apatow directed, produced, and co-wrote with Pam Brady. The star-studded cast included Karen Gillan, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Pedro Pascal, and David Duchovny. Apatow also co-directed, with Michael Bonfiglio, as well as produced, HBO Films’ Emmy®-winning two-part documentary George Carlin’s American Dream, and produced Universal’s critically acclaimed romantic comedy Bros, starring, and co-written by, Billy Eichner.
Off screen, Judd gathered journal entries, photographs, and essays for an intimate portrait of Garry Shandling to create "It’s Garry Shandling’s Book," a testament to the lasting impact Shandling had on Apatow personally and in the world. Published in 2019 via Random House, the book expands on Apatow’s Emmy® award-winning HBO documentary The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. 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." Previous director credits include The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, This is 40, Trainwreck, May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers (with co-director Mike Bonfiglio) and The King of Staten Island. He produced Academy Award®-nominated The Big Sick and Bridesmaids, as well as Superbad, Pineapple Express, Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Popstar. For television, he executive produced Crashing (HBO), Girls, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared, and co-created The Ben Stiller Show and Love (Netflix). His Netflix comedy special Judd Apatow: The Return, marked his comeback to the stage after a 25-year hiatus.
McCarthy-Miller
Director McCarthy-Miller 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. 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 20-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, McCarthy-Miller 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 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, three-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.
