Montreal, July 29 (IANS): Filmmaker Judd Apatow, who presented Jim Carrey the Generation Award at the Just For Laughs festival here, has hailed the actor for his work and termed him "the best".

Apatow first talked about Carrey's genius when watching him do improvisations in Hollywood comedy clubs during the late 1980s and 1990s.

"He's the best. He would go on stage every night and improvise his entire set. His goal was not to repeat one line from any other night. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life," Apatow said on Friday on Carrey's early performances at The Improv comedy club franchise, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Around that time, Carrey asked a young Apatow to co-write comedy sketches, and gave him $5000 for the work he did. 

"That paid my rent for about a year," Apatow said.

Carrey also recalled the moment when he first met Apatow.

"He said to me, 'Hi Mr Carrey, I'm a young comedian. My name is Judd Apatow," Carrey said.