"The Ben Stiller Show" (1992) TV series 1992-1993

Creators:

Judd Apatow
Jeff Kahn
Ben Stiller

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

27 September 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

This comedy/variety show specialized in parodies of movies and television shows and commercials. Often...

Plot Keywords:

Actor Playing Multiple Roles | Sketch Comedy | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Himself - Host / ... (13 episodes, 1992-1993)
Andy Dick	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1992-1993)
Janeane Garofalo	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1992-1993)
Bob Odenkirk	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1992-1993)
John F. O'Donohue	...	Various Characters / ... (13 episodes, 1992-1993)

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

HBO Independent Productions

Trivia:

In college, playwright Jenelle Riley wrote her graduate thesis on The Ben Stiller Show's effect on comedy. It was subsequently published rumored to be used as an aid when putting together the DVD.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The timestamps on Ben's video diary segments never increment, even though the individual segments usually last more than a minute. This is probably due to the fact that they were added in post-production, and weren't a result of a real camcorder's time/date stamp.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Soundtrack:

Groove Holmes

Watchable? Yes. Recommendable? No.

"The Ben Stiller Show" certainly wasn't a highlight of television comedy, but for all the (justly) bad reputation it has gotten, it isn't as bad as you might think. Although you might not find yourself laugh out loud more than once when watching this show, it's still somewhat enjoyable and entertaining. The kind of thing you watch when nothing else is on. For someone like me, who is living outside the U.S. and never had the chance to see this show when it was new, it's also a pretty intriguing look at pop culture of the early nineties and the so-called "Generation X". It's stunning how far away this period of time already is and how aged the jokes seem, because none of them are really relevant anymore. Melrose Place/Beverly Hills, Grunge and Tales From The Crypt are all getting spoofed, some quite cleverly, but since those shows and trends aren't as immediate anymore, the humor has been lost along the way (if it's ever been there in the first place). The cast does a lot to save some of the very predictable sketches. Ben Stiller in particular is a shining light and shows much more versatility than he did in his last movies. His impersonations of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, to name but a few, are dead on and get a chuckle out of you now and then. Still, Colin Quinn gets it right when he states in one of the episodes that Ben Stiller is making fun of Melrose Place-type T.V. characters, but is no different himself. The intro of the show alone will make you cringe with it's "we are young and independent, yet totally in fashion" kind of-vibe. It's exactly the kind of program the corporate MTV guy (played by Stiller) made out of Winona Ryder's "documentary" in "Reality Bites". Stiller seemed to have a hard time being any different from the characters he parodied. Well, we all know how the story continued. Stiller became one of the most successful comedians of today despite the failure of this program. "The BS Show" (BS stands for Ben Stiller, in case you were wondering) is where it all began and good for a few hours of slight amusement. Don't expect much more, though.