As much as I loved the Pushing Daisies panel on Saturday, the Judd Apatow panel on Monday night fulfilled some of my wildest fanboy dreams. Even though I briefly got to meet Apatow and some of the gang at the There Will Be Blood screening, this was their own deal and Apatow got to really do whatever he felt like. Read on for the rundown of the evening.

Follow up:

Surprise guests were Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Gary Shandling. Previously announced guests were Jonah Hill, Jason Segal, Paul Feig, Tom Arnold, Andy Dick, and Busy Phillips. Apatow brought guests up by time period, so he started off with Shandling, who really got his career going. The two were hilarious together, telling some great stories. They showed the clip of Jim Carrey on the last episode of the Larry Sanders show which was great. I really need to get that DVD.Judd then brought up Tom Arnold, who seemed kind of out of it (I think he might have had a cold or something) but told some really funny stories. Tom gave Judd his first writing gig, writing for his stand up and HBO specials. I was not aware of this so it was cool hearing about it.

Judd then brought up the Freaks and Geeks gang to much applause and they showed the clip of Kim and Lindsay at Kim's house when they get caught lying to Kim's mom and chased out of the house. It was great listening to them talk about F&G and Undeclared. Apparently Jason Segal was Judd's first pick for the lead for Undeclared, the suits said no, so he suggested Rogen, whom they also rejected, so they went with Jay Baruchel, who was hot from Almost Famous at the time. Rogen was later given a part and got his start as a writer while on the show. Segal commented that after Undeclared he didn't work for like 2 years and almost gave up on acting and writing.

They then brought up Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd and talked about the various movies. They showed clips from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which featured a Jason Segal full frontal nude scene (!), and a clip of a car chase from Pineapple Express, which looked great. Shandling commented how much he liked Paul Rudd's performance in the hotel mushroom freakout scene so they showed that clip.

They then finished up by bringing out Andy Dick and talking about the Ben Stiller show. Andy looked pretty good and said that Tom Arnold was his NA sponsor. Tom then noted that he was also Chris Farley's sponsor so he doesn't have a very good track record. That was kind of sad. After all the various guests and stuff they only had time for two questions, which was kind of a bummer, but it was an amazing evening nonetheless. If any of you folks get a chance to go to a PaleyFest event next year, definitely do it.