The Best and Worst of Ben Stiller, A to Z
Ben Stiller’s professional onscreen career is officially turning 30 this year — that’s roughly 412 in comedian years. In a business where funny people tend to quickly exhaust their limited charm and sink from telling jokes to becoming a punchline, the restless and versatile Stiller has managed to sustain one of the most consistent comic careers this side of Bob Hope. From his days as a bit player to his later emergence as a force of nature in front of the camera and behind the scenes (you have his production company Red Hour to thank for recent Comedy Central highlights Another Period and Big Time in Hollywood, FL), the man who invented Derek Zoolander — all due respect, Mugatu — has made himself into one of contemporary pop culture’s most indispensable figures.
With Zoolander 2 now in theaters, we’ve taken a step back to bring you the ultimate overview of his working life — from Madagascar‘s Alex the Lion to that zipper scene from There’s Something About Mary, it’s an alphabetical breakdown of best (and worst) of Stiller’s creative life and career.
A for Alex the Lion
Stiller might not be remembered for his voice work as a singing zoo lion in Dreamworks’ animated Madagascar trilogy, though anyone under the age of eight is a big fan (as is his accountant — the movies grossed almost $2 billion at the box office, i.e. one billion for each kid whose college education Stiller will eventually have to pay for). The actor did everything he could to make these movies better, even roping in his Greenberg collaborator Noah Baumbach to punch up the script for the third installment.
B for The Ben Stiller Show
A hilarious alt-comedy hodgepodge that introduced the world to Andy Dick and Janeane Garofolo (in addition to first introducing Bob Odenkirk to David Cross), Stiller’s sketch show died twice before it could live forever. First launched on MTV in 1990 before its brief resurrection on Fox a few years later, it was an unsupervised mess of pop-culture parodies, music videos, and endless Star Trek gags. Paving the way for everything from Mr. Show to Adult Swim, this cult-TV curiosity announced Stiller as a generous comic talent who’s most comfortable when he’s given total control.
C for “Como estas, bitches!”
Anchorman is peak Will Ferrell from the moment it starts, but the movie doesn’t truly achieve greatness until Ron Burgundy finds himself in the middle of a royal rumble with all of San Diego’s TV news teams. That’s when mustached Spanish language anchor Arturo Mendez arrives on the scene looking like the bastard offspring of Tony Montana and Indiana Jones. Stiller only needs a single line to immortalize the character on ill-advised t-shirts you might have worn in college.
D for Derek Zoolander
“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking, and I plan on finding out what that is.” With those inspirational words, cinema’s most beloved male model set out on a quest that would change the world forever. Physically flawless and technically sentient, Stiller’s high-concept moron may not have been an instant favorite (releasing the film in the immediate wake of 9/11 didn’t help), but Derek Zoolander has since become an icon of contemporary comedy and fashion-conscious narcissism. Just say the words “Blue Steel” to anybody and watch what happens.
The Best and Worst of Ben Stiller, A to Z, Page 1 of 5