He spent much of the year or so hiatus caring for newborn Iris, but it also marked an unexpected turning point: Apatow began reading more than he ever had in his life. "I think it was the specificity of describing the human condition [in these books] that, through osmosis, reoriented me somehow. I got less dumb," Apatow tells Bustle ahead of the release of his latest book, Comedy Nerd.