The actor and director explained he’s “gotten a lot out of” the risqué request over the years.

Seth Rogen reveals NSFW advice Judd Apatow ‘screamed’ at Knocked Up cast

The actor and director explained he’s “gotten a lot out of” the risqué request over the years.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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September 13, 2026 4:56 p.m. ET

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Seth Rogen in ‘Knocked Up’; Judd Apatow at the WIF 2025 Honors in Beverly Hills last year. Credit:

Emma McIntyre/WireImage;Universal Pictures

- Seth Rogen says Judd Apatow gave him some NSFW advice on the set of* Knocked Up.*

- The actor explained that Apatow encouraged the cast to bring “less semen, more emotion” to a scene.

- “Honestly, as I’ve gone on to make films, it’s amazing how much I come back to ‘less semen, more emotion,’” Rogen remarked.

Seth Rogen is still thinking about the very NSFW advice Judd Apatow gave him.

During a Visionaries panel at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, the 44-year-old actor, director, and writer revealed that Apatow once shouted some risqué yet unexpectedly sage guidance at him while on the set of the 2007 film *Knocked Up**.*

“This advice is going to sound crude at face value, but there’s actually a lot of depth to the advice, especially as it applies to what I do a lot for a living,” Rogen told the audience. “At one time, when we were shooting* Knocked Up,* we would improvise a lot, and we were improvising, and Judd screamed from the other room, ‘Less semen, more emotion.’”

Rogen attending night one of the 78th Emmy Awards on Sept. 5.

Todd Williamson/Invision

The *Superbad* star acknowledged that Apatow’s request “seemed a pretty crude thing to scream at someone” and “maybe not the most helpful or deep direction in the world,” but explained that it has actually continued to benefit him over the years.

“Honestly, as I’ve gone on to make films, it’s amazing how much I come back to ‘less semen, more emotion,’” Rogen remarked. “And how many times I’m writing with my friends after making ourselves laugh, and then we stop and we go, ‘You know what? Less semen, more emotion.’”

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The *Neighbors* actor also pointed out an important distinction in Apatow’s initial request.

“He didn’t say no semen. He just said less semen, to be clear,” he clarified. “I think, honestly, that understanding how to balance humor and emotion and reality and comedy and how to navigate tone actually I think is something that’s been very helpful to me throughout my career. Weirdly, there’s a lot baked into that one sentence that I’ve gotten a lot out of over the years.”

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But Apatow isn’t only dishing “crude” advice. Rogen also noted that the *Trainwreck* director also encouraged him to “write honestly” about what he’s experienced throughout his life and to create the films he’d want to see onscreen.

“That was always really good advice,” he said. “And he would let us do what we want. There were many times [when] we were writing *Superbad*, and he was producing it, and he was just like, ‘I wouldn’t do this. This is not what I would do. But you’re the writers of this movie, and so if this is what you want to do, go with God.’”

Rogen and Paul Rudd in ‘Knocked Up’. Suzanne Hanover/Universal

Rogen explained that it was “very empowering” to know Apatow trusted him and his writing partner Evan Goldberg at the time.

“We were 23 years old, you know? And so the fact that he would give us that much trust and autonomy over our screenplay was really remarkable,” he said, before jokingly adding, “And, again, I think now if I was producing a movie written by some f---ing 23-year-old kid, I’d be like, ‘You shut the f--- up and listen!’”

Apatow and Rogen’s collaborative connection goes all the way back to the 1999 cult classic television show *Freaks and Geeks*.  They have since teamed up on projects like *Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Funny People, *and* Knocked Up.*

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