Seth Rogen reveals the best advice he’s ever received: “Less semen, more emotion”

Seth Rogen has opened up about the best advice he has received in his career.

The actor and comedian has been active since the late 1990s, first breaking out in Freaks And Geeks before gaining prominence in comedy films such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad and Knocked Up – the latter few in collaboration with Judd Apatow. In recent years, he has led Apple TV’s The Studio and comedy film The Invite.

Speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rogen recalled advice he got from mentor Apatow that he still uses, admitting it “is going to sound crude at face value, but there’s actually a lot of depth to the advice”.

“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!’” he said (via Variety).

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

Rogen shared that the words taught him “that understanding of how to balance humor and emotion and reality and comedy and how to navigate tone”.

Meanwhile, back in July Rogen revealed an awkward moment he had with Pharrell Williams at a dinner party, recalling to Entertainment Weekly: “I was at a dinner and I had made the Lion King movie and I sing in the movie.

“And I had been doing interviews and I’ve been talking about how Pharrell Williams got really frustrated with my singing. Then I was at a dinner and Pharrell was there and he was like, ‘Hey, I don’t like how you suggest that I got frustrated with your singing.’”

He added: “I was like, ‘you did [get frustrated]’, and then he was like ‘I don’t like you suggesting that I feel frustration’. And I’m like: ‘you’re feeling it right now, Pharrell. It’s happening. It’s happening at this dinner.’”

Earlier this year, Rogen spoke about the “unbelievable challenge” of making the second season of The Studio without star Catherine O’Hara, who passed away in January.